For some reason or the other I thought that Quit Your Day Job had been running for four years but apparently it is three. Which is still awesome and a decent chunk of my life that I’ve been chronicling here.
I also think this is the first time I’ve managed to hit on the actual anniversary day (I set it in Outlook to remind me this year, all month it has been blinking blog anniversary). Although like every other year so far I don’t have anything big or appropriate prepared!
The last twelve months haven’t always been so easy, we lost a lot of the posts in the grand move over to a new host and I’ve found my attention wavering on more than one occasion. But as I said last year:
This site has honestly been an absolute delight to write and made more so by you guys, especially those who leave comments (come on you lurkers – why not say hi!).
Thanks a lot everyone!
I thought it might also be appropriate to repost, at least partially a post I did talking about Quit Your Day Job back in November 2008:
People are often confused about this blog’s title, I know I get a few hits off people looking for get rich quick on the internet schemes or magical work from home ideas so they can avoid the daily grind of going in to a job they hate.
This isn’t that kind of site.
Not that I don’t encourage the idea of leaving your day job to pursue your craft but the sad reality is that not everyone can do it and still survive. I love illustration but there is no way that I could support my lifestyle on it alone. Not that I don’t want to but I’m a realist.
This site is not about literally quitting your day job, it’s about setting the artist free. It’s about not letting your entire life being engulfed into your day job no matter how much you love that job (or hate it).
Say you work in a call centre doing customer support. It’s a drag, I’ve been there and I know. However the company you work for are buying your time not your soul. So do the absolute best job you can at that day job but then when it comes to quitting time leave the work stuff at the door and focus on your craft.
Your life and your craft are like a coat that when you come into work in the morning you remove and replace with your work coat. At the end of the day you need to remove the work coat and put your life coat back on. All too often we forget to get that life coat back and wander out the door still wearing that work coat.
How can you tell? There’s lot’s of ways like you spend time thinking about work, you go through the motions in a bit of a daze, you eat dinner just to eat something, you spend half the night getting ready for work tomorrow and you do this every night. Obviously most of this stuff is necessary, you should be ready for work and you definitely need to eat and sleep! But it shouldn’t be your focus (unless of course your passion is cooking) and you certainly shouldn’t spend your time thinking (worrying) about work. You’re wearing the wrong coat.
Thanks again guys!!!
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