Slash makes you more valuable? Or even poorer and busier?
](The author of this article まろ is the author of the light novel “Southern Cross”. In the spirit of “taking from the Internet and giving back to the Internet”, we share personal experiences, covering entrepreneurship, business strategy, business management, marketing planning, psychology, etc. Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.
The essential difference between slash and difference
A while ago, “slash” suddenly became a trend, and the media (especially career-related online media) released new articles every one or two days. From the beginning, it seemed that if you didn’t have a slash, you would be eliminated, and now it has turned to the slash to make people more poor and busy, which made me sigh in my heart, “Are you okay?”
I believe that slashing should not be a topic used for hype, especially the views of some media, which seems to have a distorted sense of “telling others to be slashing even though they are clearly not slashes.” Although this is not a strange thing, the “self-creator” movement was very popular in the past few years. Today, the media is hyping up the saying “have all the self-creators been wiped out?”
Before getting into the topic, I would like to ask you to think about a question: “What is the difference between slash and concurrent?”
Well, speaking from my own experience, being a writer or a writer is not my main job. My main job is a software designer (online services). In general perception, as a writer, I can be considered a member of the slash.
Suppose I drop by to do meal delivery today, is that considered a “slash”?
Of course I don’t want to criticize any job. Professions are inherently neither noble nor cheap. But, that’s not my definition of “slash”.
If I were to give a precise definition of slash, I would put it this way:
In addition to their own professional skills, people can also learn a creative and long-term value field. Until the field reaches professional-level standards, one can only consider himself an amateur and continue to hone himself to professional-level standards. Learning in its field can be converted into three values: self-realization, outside income, and the ability to change tracks when the original job vacancy disappears due to force majeure.
For example, suppose you are a driver and you have foreseen that in ten years’ time, AI self-driving cars will replace human driving, so you have two choices:
-
Continue to be a driver, but learn other skills during off-duty hours to prepare for the disappearance of the “driving” industry.
-
Become a top driver and become an AI driving instructor in the future.
The first option fits my definition of “slash”. It’s just that I think the second option is also good, but it doesn’t necessarily require a slash. Unless, you want to create this new industry out of thin air.
For example, in order to become an AI driving instructor, you study computer science and even use racing games to train the AI. Eventually, you could sell training data directly to manufacturers of AI self-driving cars. In this situation, it is better to say that it is a business than a slash.
Selection strategy for slash items
However, we have a real problem. You only have 24 hours and limited money every day; therefore, learning is essentially an investment, and investments naturally lead to gains and losses. So I believe you must have heard some “slash people” say that they have become poorer and busier.
Why?
Everyone’s circumstances are different. We cannot say that poor and busy people don’t work hard. But I believe that if the direction of efforts is continuously calibrated, something will be gained during the busy process. Maybe not immediate monetary income, but at least there will be assets such as connections and a sense of accomplishment.
Okay, so what’s the core of the problem?
I think the core lies in the choice of “slash” items.
Does your slash job help you in your current job? I’m not saying you have to “slash” the same job again, but “integrate” another job.
Suppose you are a programmer and you want to make games, so you learn to write stories. In the future, you have several possibilities:
-
Work as a game planner in a game company.
-
Become an amateur novelist.
-
Maybe one day you really don’t want to write programs, you can write stories.
-
If you have the opportunity, you can design your own story into a game.
Yes, the above reasons are all my reasons for “slash”, and the first two have been realized.
As an engineer, I have creative experience and can produce competitive game plans.
As a creator, I use management methods from the engineering field to communicate with other creators (illustrators, editors).
Therefore, I can let my “slash” work multiply each other instead of consuming my time, energy and money together.
In the career I set, there is no option for “car god”. No matter how cool I think “Initial D” or “Fast and Furious” is, or what others say about how profitable driving is, it has nothing to do with me. Because if I can’t integrate the ability of “driving” into my original “programmer”, it means that I have to pay a very high price to develop my own ability again.
Moreover, the original “programmer” position is not helpful at all.
Various “slash” occupations that have no fixed opinions and follow what others say will really make people poorer and busier. That is a fact. If you look back and think about the process of starting from scratch in your career, how many years did it take? How much money? Are you sure you want to do it again?
Practical examples of progressive slashes
If your current job is really not directly related to your self-realization. Instead of slashing straight to your dream job, I recommend a “progressive slash.”
Let me share an interesting example. I have always wished I could draw and bought a drawing tablet. Like many people, I couldn’t draw well, so I put the drawing tablet away. When I started working on the illustrations for “Southern Cross”, in order to communicate with the illustrator about drawing adjustments, I also used a mouse to draw lines and circles at first, but it was too troublesome, so I used a drawing tablet instead.
One day a year later, I suddenly discovered that I could use a drawing tablet to draw pictures as I wanted, but the speed and quality were not as good as those of professional painters. Then I drew a new picture and showed it to my friends. They all said that compared with the past, it has improved by leaps and bounds. How did it happen?
In fact, I just use the drawing board to communicate with the illustrator every day. (laughing)
This “slash” trajectory appeared in front of me:
I studied science and engineering because I like games → I collaborated with my classmates and was assigned to write scripts → The script was developed into a novel → I joined a game company as a PM → Gradually commercialized my works and became an “amateur writer” → During the commercialization process, I communicated with illustrators, so I got used to CG creation → Maybe I could become an “amateur illustrator”?
Maybe if I continue to “slash” all the way, I can reach my ultimate goal—my own play will become a game or movie. If you don’t consider the financial problem, I already have the technical ability to “adapt it into a game”. After all, I am a programmer. (laughing)
Please remember that your slash trajectory should continue to increase your value, allowing you to continue slashing into other areas until the ideal in your heart is realized.
Give me a fulcrum and I can lift the whole earth. ─Archimedes
Let your slashes become excellent levers and fulcrums, rather than just a candle burning at both ends.
Yes, slashing will put you in a state of “burning a candle at both ends”, but you should choose to slash in areas that make the candle more “brave”. I hope my sharing can clear up your confusion!
