The Multi-Hyphen Life explores the non-traditional career paths that younger generations face.

I found this a really helpful read! It was nice to explore the balance between forging your own path and creating meaningful work while protecting your energy and making a living in an economic situation that is increasingly difficult for Millennials and Gen Z.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I appreciated this book immensely because it authenticates my work choices. With my personality, I thrive when I have a mix of various aspects of my career as an SLP. Having this mix allows me to stay engaged, curious, creative, and avoid burning out in one part. Emma Gannon explains this concept of the multi-hyphen life in terms that are easy to comprehend and provide great examples. She discusses how the “traditional” work-life is slowly fading away. Now, people are finding “side-passions” that spark joy and also bring in supplementary income to their primary jobs. Before this book, I thought my mix of roles was described as “insane” by others. This is not true because of my part-time SLP flexibility; I’m able to diversify my clinical and professional experience and also feed my creative passions with reading, bookstagram, and bookmark designing. My creative outlets replenish my “cup” to continue helping others during their speech, language, cognition, and swallowing rehabilitation. I am grateful for this book and hope to review it each year!

Thank you, NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love self help books . This was such a helpful book full of such useful, and practical advice to take away and implement. No matter what you're dealing with it also brings up things to question on your own and what you can do about it. It really teaches you how to take control of your work life and how it can benefit you.

Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this. I thought it made a compelling case for embracing a multi-hyphen life while touching on the downsides - including having to explain what you do to others and the stigmatisation of being a 'Jack of all trades'. It covered topics I didn't expect, e.g. finance and added scientific research for emphasis, without relying on it to justify the point, which I loved. Emma's narration is both insightful and warm, resulting in a informative and believable narrator. I loved she had included her own journey and was happy to describe the difficulties she found in as much detail as the other topics. Making this book relatable and her narration, likeable. I will definitely read/listen to more of her work. Excellent.

This is such a good book. There is lots of talk about the way work life used to be and how things are changing. As well as many tasks to keep you on track. I am going to be rereading the physical copy of this book since I listened to the audiobook. I find that there are many useful things in here. There are many that I was familiar with as well. Anyone new to selfhelp business books will likely find this book helpful but I do feel it has something to offer those of us who have been reading them as well. Everything in this book seems to be practical advise and thought. I also agree with the section that talks about our education system not being ideal for this new era.

Go check this book out to help you in your path to financial growth and work sufficiency.

This book was recieved for free in exchange for an honest review by Netgalley.

I was so excited by this the book, the description was very alluring. It was interesting, and I did enjoy learning more about why something like this might be advantageous to my lifestyle. However I doubt I would read this again, or recommend it to a friend. I didn’t feel any better equipped to manage my juggled lifestyle after reading this book, I did feel like I had wasted a bit of time. :/ sorry.

The Multi-Hyphen Life is motivational and gives the reader/listener the tools to start their very own side hustle, or hustles, without having to sacrificing their day job or main source of income – you can have your cake AND eat it too! It’s informative in a way that really made me look at things differently. In my opinion, it really started to click and get interesting around chapter six; up until then it seemed to be the same statements repeated through out each chapter. One section I thought was particularly interesting was where the author breaks down why the stereotypes for each generation, i.e. the Boomers, Gen X, etc., and why they are incorrect, it made me see each in a different light. The main concept I took away from the book is to not set aside my new ideas just because I am already working on one project or at one job – I need to multi-hyphen my life because I truly can do both.

It is my second book to listened to in NetGalley Audiobook. I am also impressed on this platform because the Audiobook version is much more engaging, and the mere fact Emma Gannon is also the narrator is an A+.

The Multi-Hyphen Method was released two years ago. It highlights the new kind-of-work we have in this generation. Gone are the days when we stick up for just one job title, and now– you can be anything you want. It is an open arm for a new freelancer and to also “you” who was hesitating if you need to take a high road.

If I read this book two years ago, it will not cross into my mind to take a risk in freelancing. So, What did I learn? The list is just my takeaway and does not have any work experience in a side hustle industry.

Planning
Time

First thing first, time is a must need, especially when we have a lot of things to juggle on. Plan on how you can insert your side-hustle in your everyday life and what are your strengths and current skill you want to offer. Aside from that, being self-aware of how you consume your social media feed. Sometimes, we are not aware that we spend too much time mindlessly scrolling on our phones. (I am guilty of this lol). Since our attention span changed, we also have to self-analyzed how to operate our time, for example, applying any productivity methods that would work for you. Personally, deep work or The Rhythmic Philosophy of Deep Work Scheduling works for me. It is more effective to finish my task and to conserve my energy.

Organizing
Practice Self-Care

Side-hustle allows you to meet other people and to expand your skills. But, do not also forget to take care of your well-being. Allow yourself to meditate and to zone out, to recharge your energy. These also include on whom you follow on Social Media, as this will affect how you think in the long process.

The Confidence Gap

Here is the scary part for (me)– I am afraid to take the first step because I tend to over-analyze my actions. But, what I liked about this book is how raw it was, and Emma’s guide book was both powerful and challenging. She reassures the first-timer to take the risk and to practice over-and-over again to master the skill.

Execution
Act Micro, Think Macro

What I learned during the pandemic is about future-proofing myself. I have retail job experience, and book blogging is just my hobby, freelance did cross my mind. However, due to my previous work availability, I do not know how and when to start. Then the pandemic happened, and I realized the importance of my hobby. So, I spent many hours equipping in the freelancing industry. With this strategy, just like what Emma said, “opportunities will forge your new path and to be looking ahead on what your chosen field will look like”

Network. Network. Network

Go out of your comfort zone and meet a lot of people in your chosen field.

Aside from my takeaways in the book itself– this is relevant today, now that we are in a health crisis, our lives have fundamentally changed, and even our work life has a massive shift from what we used to. Thanks to the technology because it helped us to deal with the current situation and to connect to other people virtually.

Question of the day: Have you already read this book? What is/are your takeaways from this book and any advice you can give to the freelancers? 🙂

I wanted to read/ listen to this book ever since it first came out in the UK. In her podcast Emma Gannon makes the multi-hyphen life look like the dream and the book further explores the merits of it. There are practical tips on how to achieve that as well as some data on why it would work for you. The concept is very intriguing, even more so when you are stuck in a job you don't particularly like. I presume that the book won't be of much use for those who are already multi-hyphenates and am not sure how applicable all of the advice is outside the UK/US/Canada and similarly developed countries. However, it's a good book if you're thinking of doing multiple jobs/ having flexible work hours etc.

This book really resonated with me and I would recommended it to anyone who doesn’t feel like having one direct straightforward career or one single organization in sight for their professional journey. People interested in considered options in their path, reinventing themselves and potentially looking to have more than one source of income (especially if they are from unrelated professional activities).

Why I found this book as a good reflection, but also a great collection of new ideas:
1. The author goes deep in analyzing changes in the job market and the transformation in the traditional ways of working, including statistics and context for some of the statements. Some of the statistics seem to be focused in the UK market, but in my view it still provides strong context for workers in other locations.
2. The book includes lessons, thoughts and personal recommendations from the author and other professionals that have experienced the multi-hyphen life.
3. There are suggestions in how to improve the daily ways of working. Topics like working hours, email management, job sharing, flexibility, burnouts, collaboration, overworking, productivity and “being busy” were reflected on… which made it very relatable.

In terms of format, I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author, and even though it could get a bit slow at times, really enjoyed the experience. My original plan was to give 4 stars to the overall book, but after some thinking, I will go with the 5. Will probably get the book again in another format in order to add some notes…

Audio narration: 4/5
Overall book: 5/5


*I voluntary read a free copy of this book through Netgalley.

The title of the book seemed quite promising which led me to get this book for Advanced Review. Though the narration was good, done by the author herself, I didn't find anything to be called a breakthrough. The book underlines that the definition of success is different for different people and it's okay to have multiple job profiles and income sources in today's day and age. While this proves to be true in the current scenario, it felt like the book was rushed through without providing prominent knowledge. Could have been executed in a better manner.

This is a good read for people who wish to have a multi hyphen life, different working life. As today's work environment is changing we need to change with that. Change is the only thing that remains constant. In this COVID time, we all are in a cash crunch working from home. We know the difficulty in leading a life only with one job. Many don't think it is a good idea to have multiple careers. Learning new things always help you. Having a day job and other side hustles became part of life to many. We need different streams of income as well as flexibility, work-life balance. We usually think there is only one goal or destination in life but it is a series of goals to be achieved and breakthrough after breakthrough along the way.

The author clearly indicates how success definition differs from person to person. We should have our own definition of success guys. The author explains how we should find our niche and how we can have blended work and life. We should have control of everything as the technology is connecting people across the globe as well making us work 24 X 7. We should always have a schedule and say no is important at a certain time.

The author speaks about the importance of networking and how we should deal with money. There are 10 chapters each with unique valuable lessons. The last sentence in the 10th chapter I really loved it - "Let's not be afraid to be many different things".

This book really speaks to me. It's filled with advice on how to craft a more complete identity and/or working life by diversifying what you do. Whether it's done for money or not, whether it's a step along the way to a career change or not, doesn't have to be decided at the outset but can still be a huge benefit right from the start.

I've considered on and off over the years whether I could make a living from something creative. I've always done various crafts but the option of doing something like that to make money made me anxious - what if I commit to it and don't love it anymore once there's pressure and timelines? I know already when I've done something small for commission that it made me miserable so I could rule that route out straight away.

What I really loved in this book was that it's not about making a full change from 100% traditional job to 100% creative dream job. It's lower stakes than that and therefore feels like permission to feel your way and figure out what works. It talks about the importance of setting boundaries on your working hours and this is something I've been very much doing during lockdown. Paid overtime went away so I've been strict in not giving away my time for free. Some of the sneakier practices of big corporations are also discussed, including tactics to make the workplace so fun you don't want to leave and it even mentions that Facebook offers to freeze employees eggs in the hopes they'll put off motherhood until later in life (what dystopian hell is this?!). I especially thought the pay transparency discussion was interesting. I've worked at companies that are open about pay levels and at companies where salaries are secret, the ones where it's secret always feel underhanded to me and as the author mentions, it's usually to hide inequalities they don't want revealed.

I love the idea that even if you never do your creative thing/side hustle as a way to make money, it's still important to make space for it and it can still be a big part of your identity. We're moving slowly away from defining people by their paid occupations and this seems a much healthier way to live.

The book is intersperced with advice and anecdotes from other multi-hyphenates, showing lots of different examples of how people are making this approach work for them.

As a multi-hyphenate myself, I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, even though I admittedly tuned in and out over the course of a couple of weeks. The discussions of generational expectations when it comes to the workforce were particularly enlightening.

Plenty of useful tips and personal experiences when it comes to balancing a day job and a creative side-hustle read by the author.

Gannon’s analysis of the modern work environment and move towards freelancing and multi-hyphenate life is truly inspiring and reassuring for readers. Imposter syndrome is a real problem, especially for young women in the workplace, Gannon gives tips and assurance that you are worthy and successful in pursuing multiple creative outlets and work/income streams rather than feeling that you do not measure up to the outdated standards of the modern workplace.

Although I was excited to listen to this audiobook and found the narrator's voice engaging, the book felt too simplified and seemed to tread fairly obvious ground. For those accustomed to the gig economy, it won't seem very new or enlightening. However, it could be helpful to someone with extremely traditional views of work who needs help understanding how to leave or supplement a traditional job with a more entrepreneurial approach.

The Multi-Hyphen Life has an upbeat, encouraging approach to change. I admit that the strong accent was noticeable throughout and sometimes distracted me from the message. Overall, though, Emma Gannon reminds us to fully participate and helps break down the expectation of having just one label or career and to embrace the possibilities, talents, skills and opportunities. Emma Gannon offers helpful and insightful advice on how to plan for the future, to pivot one's perspective and to embrace the opportunities as they come.
#TheMultiHypenLife

Read this book exactly at the time I needed the message. Emma discusses redefining what success means to you, non-linear career paths, and career vs passion. I will re-read and take notes to make the message more applicable to my life.
The book gets repetitive and contradictory at times. Emma warns against stereotyping generations then list generational differences or using technology & social media for your advantage then taking technology detoxes. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

4/5 stars
I happened across this book months ago as an eARC, but I decide I didn’t have time to pick up another read. So, when it crossed my path as an audiobook on NetGalley a couple weeks ago, I could resist no longer. This nonfiction read is weirdly relative right now with everything going on. The first chapter of The Multi-Hyphen Life focuses on how the job market is constantly shifting and changing. Yet we are prepped through life to only consider following “traditional career paths,” even though those are a diminishing in the modern workplace. Enter the “multi-hyphen life” concept, where you diversify your time, take on multiple titles, and hustle to the end goal. I enjoyed the read, but I feel like the content would have been much more earth-shattering to me 4 years ago, when I wasn’t [unknowingly] already living a multi-hyphen lifestyle. For me the information in this book broke down to: 25% Things I’ve thought before but was nice to have reassurance of now, 15% Things that were incredibly obvious to me but might not be to others, 25% Really good information that is instantly applicable to my life, 35% Really good information & resources that are not currently applicable to my life. I’ve already decided to pick up a physical copy when I can, so that I can tab & highlight all the great resources for later use.

*Thank you Net Galley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*