As I wrote earlier, many aspiring writers, actors, animators, singers, what-have-you are waiting tables, pouring coffee, pushing papers, or lugging boxes to make ends meet. The justification is that they're just "paying the bills", and this is true. But one thing they don't consider is that they're not necessarily making the best use of other talents they may have in the interim.
Take someone like myself - university educated, leadership talents thanks to the Fraternity and other organizations, intelligent, with high technical skill - and put them doing something from 9 to 5 that makes little use of these other talents - like administration or other entry level posts - and what do you have? Work dissatisfaction. Personal stagnation. Stress. Anxiety. Feelings of malaise and disappointment.
Why do we do this to ourselves? "Why," we say, "I'm just doing this until [fill in the lucrative artsy career goal], nothing more." Why do we do this? "It's just what I've always done." And every word of it is true, but eventually, working below our potential on a daily basis will cost us those other talents. They will atrophy.
As such, it's important to envision a second-tier dream, while bigger ones are pending.
Artists usually don't do this, especially if they, like me, use tools like the Law of Attraction and intention-based mindset practices to fulfill goals. "If I go after something else, won't I be compromising my dream? Won't I be spreading myself too thin if I get a job that's too involved?"
The questions makes sense, and the answer to both is, well, yes and no. Yes, because no longer is your vision of seeing your book on the bestseller's shelf at Borders or winning a Grammy going to be the only one you have. No, because the second-tier dream runs parallel to the main one: in fact, the second tier dream underlies the first.
You see, Aspiring Career Artist, you're going to have to work a job no matter what until you get to that moment of fulfillment. That means you have an opportunity to not only pay the bills, but to develop other skills that you might be sidelining in favour of your chief talent.
Cindy Crawford may be a world-famous model now, but she had won a scholarship to study Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University. Mind you, she only studied for one academic quarter before modeling took off, but the point is that she definitely had talents that she would have applied in the working world.
Twin career pursuits can lead to cross-fertilization that can only enhance your bigger dreams. For instance, if you become a team lead in some capacity at a company, you'll build leadership and organizational skills that you can then internalize enough to help keep you on track with your novel-writing. Sales skills garnered anywhere from furniture stores to the financial sector can enhance your abilities to read people, which you can then translate to better character portrayals as an actor.
If it's that simple, why don't more people have twin careers? That's the thing: they do. In my modest thirteen year work history, I've met several dozen individuals like this, each with their own "thing on the side". And many, if not most of the people I've actually talked to about their bigger dreams, feel as though they're not normal, that they're deviating from what society says they "should" be doing. That's because we're conditioned as children, especially boys, to think about one career only.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" isn't typically a multiple choice question, but it should be, because most human beings aren't one-trick ponies.
We spend 40 hours a week at a full-time job. A third of your day, at least half of your waking life (assuming we're splitting the 24 hours three ways, including sleep). If it's making you feel miserable, if you feel like a misfit, that's a sure sign that you should be looking to trade up anyway, artsy career goal or not.
But if you are an artist, take it from a guy who worked at three different places in the three years it took him to start and finish his first novel: don't suffer the present for your future needlessly. Don't stagnate at a place just because "it's a job".
You've got other talents, and if you can explore them at a day job that helps you grow in those directions, that will put you (back) in a mindset of confidence, leadership, ambition, and excellence, then that's where you should be looking.
That's what I'm looking for. After finishing the exercise that my ex gave me the other day, I concluded that what I'm looking for boils down to a few key elements: a leadership role in a big private sector company; a large team environment where I interact with lots of people each day; a Monday to Friday day shift; at least 10k more a year in take-home money than what I'm making now; a fair, consistent, and people-centric management philosophy; and someplace that has a strong participatory corporate culture (i.e. company teams, events, parties). That's broad enough that I'm sure I can find such a place in my area, but specific enough that I reduce the risk of repeating past mistakes in approaching a potential job.
To my friends who are still in school, high school and up, do yourselves a favour: set yourself a secondary, as well as a primary dream. Contrary to what your parents, educators, and physics may have taught you, you can be in two places at once.
And who knows? You might discover that your second tier dream is actually the thing you really want to do for your working life. Of course, today, that's not me. Definitely not me....
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