A "Multiple Streams" Mindset

Years ago, when I was doing liturgical theater in Seattle, my Director and Mentor was asked about how she dealt with the idea of pleasing the mainstream as a black actor in a predominately white industry. She would stand solidly, chin raised and arms swirling to indicate the space all around her, and state, "The mainstream is whatever stream I'm standing in."

What she was talking about was a mindset. We didn't call it that back then, of course. But this idea of centering oneself and deciding to own the space you physically occupy, in spite of the circumstances and expectations, in spite of the often combative nature of the stream you're standing in, struck me then and strikes me now. It did not mean pretending; this isn't some postmodern reinvention of truth, though that's what a lot of people sound like these days.

The "mainstream" is an idea that suggests the import and value of what's in it. Centering oneself in the idea of a mainstream sets your mind to the work of occupying that space, of becoming visible. That means deciding you are worthy, valuable, talented and relevant within an industry that might not reflect the same.

What if I expand that metaphor? What if I think about how that mainstream idea reflects my income and impact? Why does the main stream of my income, like a job that may not fully reflect my values, or really create space for my whole self, get to be the measure by which I judge my success or failure? What happens when I decide to not just occupy that main stream, but take up the power to multiply and divide that occupation into other streams that could impact and transform my world?

What would it mean to acknowledge that, even though I'm standing in that main stream, I have multiple streams as a Creative and/or Academic professional?

Yep, I want to claim the mainstream, that platform of my professional life, AND I want to multiply it into other streams. I want to be someone who stands within the main stream and creates other streams that welcome and reflect other parts of me--and everyone I represent. I'm ready for the mainstream to do more than flow all around me. I want to change its trajectory, create alternative flows, and manifest a multiple streams mindset.

A multiple streams mindset acknowledges the mainstream that profits and sustains us, like that job or organization. We've learned a whole lot about the ebbs and flows. We have learned to balance within it. We know its intricacies and its challenges. Some of us know it so well that we are no longer swayed by its rushing forward, its pressing backward, or its temporary calm. For me, that mainstream is higher education. For you, it might be a corporate space. It's a space that we understand well.

Even so, standing in that stream may have prompted ideas--as well as irritations. I have found that my presence in my main stream has caused it to split and divide into interesting new opportunities. It's not that the mainstream is gone or that I'm leaving it; it's that I am beginning to more deliberately direct it from where I stand. I'm taking up a multiple streams mindset.

Some of us are itching to take up a multiple streams mindset. Maybe we desire to expand our impact. Of course we want to expand our incomes. Either way, we may have started leaning into a multiple stream mindset. We want more options and more assets working for us. It means we are unimpressed with the status quo anymore--or at least with our dependence on that single stream.

We all have the capacity for a multiple streams mindset because it simply takes having an interest in the variety of ways that money, opportunity, and relationships can flow to you and from you. No, I don't think a multiple stream mindset is just about money. I think at the heart of it is really how we decide we want to access our value and flow more freely, more deliberately, more authentically.

--Dr. Helane

You can multiply your talents and use God's investment in you to create new streams for greater impact. If you want a jumpstart, get my free guide: 3 Ways to Jump Start Your Vision and follow me @drhelanewrites on Instagram or at Prose4Pros Writing Services on Facebook.