Quitting your day job - not literally
November 2nd, 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.
One of my close blogging buddies Dan is taking the month of November off from blogging, to recharge his batteries, read and watch some stuff and generally come back all refreshed. It has inspired me not so much to take a break but to refocus a little.
My original intention was for the site was to encourage myself to stop the day job from over running the rest of my life, to discover my passions and to share them. At the same time I wanted to encourage others to do the same. I think QYDJ has really helped me in my life and I’m a much fuller person for it (with a long way to go still), but I really want to encourage others more and so I’m going to be taking a little more time out to write about ‘quitting your day job’.
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Categories: QYDJ | Tags: craft, day job, passion, practising your craft, Quit Your Day Job, QYDJ
Very thought provoking post.
I think for me the hardest part of becoming a stay at home parent was that I couldn’t go home from my children. My children, my home and all that is within it became my job, my workplace. Trying to convey this concept to hubby was a little difficult at first. He seems to have a better ability to compartmentalise than I do.
For me I’ve learnt to take time for me where and when I can and to ask for help. I try to keep doing my stitching because that is my craft and it keeps me refreshed.
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By Lee on November 2nd, 2008 | Reply
That’s it Marita, the idea isn’t that your ‘day job’ is a bad thing at all and by ‘day job’ it describes all manner of things including stay at home parents.
But it is the ‘day job’ and you need to practise your craft and it sounds like you know what it is. Which is awesome.
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It’s essential for you to be able to quit your day job in the field that I work in (mental health nursing). If I carried my work home with me then I’d end up ill myself I think.
Looking forward to the new direction, but keep some old direction in there too ok as I love coming here.
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By Lee on November 2nd, 2008 | Reply
Yeah I imagine that would be the case man and I think in looking at your Flickr account and reading your blog that you do have a handle on practising your craft (obviously your family is a huge part of that).
Don’t worry all the regular stuff will still be here
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I’ve got parents who sometimes have had difficulty taking of the work coat..my dad being a teacher and my mom working as a ‘home-nurse’ but they’re getting better at it. I don’t have a dayjob yet (being a student) but I’ll try and stay vigilent for the sticky workcoat in the future.
Arjans last blog post..Jurassic Park and a Ravener
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By Lee on November 2nd, 2008 | Reply
Even studying though can be treated as a day job - you need to indulge yourself in your craft outside of uni.
Yopue soundtrack blog or your Warhammer stuff would qualify.
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Great post, Lee, and something I can definitely relate to! I have only just lately found my ‘inner crafter’, and it makes such a difference to your life when you have something that you’re passionate about, that you love thinking about and doing. I almost never find myself thinking about work when I’m away from it now… though I do think about my craft probably more than I should when I’m at work!
Jesss last blog post..Amazing Hibiscus…
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By Lee on November 4th, 2008 | Reply
I think it’s important to have something to escape into and just to live. Children seem to have this naturally built into them and it slowly gets ground down as we become adults and start living adult lives devoid of actual life, I know so many people who are bitter and miserable and for good reason but there has to be something at their core that they can find simple joy in.
My father and I never got along and he was a very angry and frustrated man for reasons I now understand better. But I always assumed that he and I were completely different then one day I was given his collection of cigarette cards and it suddenly clicked that we had this in common and I saw a completely different person.
I wish I could have told him that. But I think it’s enough that I know.
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[...] is for Lee, Dan practising his craft TAGS: canon450D, dan, [...]
My day job is swirling tepidly at the moment in a swirl of ennui and terrible meetings…this was a great reminder the cheer the hell up! Thanks!
Michael Lees last blog post..A walloping in Kingston
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By Lee on November 4th, 2008 | Reply
That’s good to hear Michael, not the bit about the swirling but that you got something out of reading this post. So you are most certainly welcome and I hope you’ll share with us what your craft is!
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