Job-Jobs vs Passion Projects

Many factors contribute to someone’s overall creative life including: access to the arts, cultural norms, family values, financial stability, personality types, caretaking responsibilities, health, navigating turmoil, keeping up with news (whoa!), and many more. 

But what I find most creative people share is a push and pull between passion work and paid work.

For very few, paid work is truly your passion work. Some don’t need to work because financial stability comes from elsewhere - and of course some are retired. If any of these are you, congrats! Bring on the passion projects. For everyone else, you’re not alone. 

Balancing passion projects - which creative people need to stay sane - and job-jobs - which range from pretty close to not at all related to your passion - is hard for most. Some integrate easily into job-job work culture, but let the passion projects go. Some are highly allergic to job-jobs, but can passion project all day everyday. Some struggle with both.

Do any of these sound familiar? 

• You often question why things are the way they are 

• You feel a lot of feelings

• Idiots at work really piss you off 

• You don’t always do your best work between 9am-5pm

• You wish people/teams at your work collaborated better

• You wish your team was more engaged and happier

• It’s really hard to work somewhere not aligned with your values

• When not being consistently creative, you verge on malfunction and can get a little [insert your out-of-sync trait here]

• You don’t feel like you have the time/energy in your long ass day for your passion projects and that makes you sad

Yeah.

The ideal balance is: 

• You like your job (or at least it doesn’t cause mental or physical distress)

• You have consistent time/energy for your passion projects

• You have enough money to not be stressed

But how do you get there? 

The most important first step is believing that:

• Being creative matters to your well-being

• You deserve to not be totally drained by work

• Having a job-job doesn’t make you a hack

Next, take an honest look at where you are now:

Do you wish any of your answers were different? Feel you could use some extra support?

Obviously this is where I say I’m here to help you with clarity and accountability:

• Prioritizing your passion projects

• Excelling at (or at least coping with) job-jobs

• Your work team operating and collaborating better

We tailor to your needs while making it fun AND productive. Reply to this email or schedule a free 15-minute confidential consultation here! See more details and rates here too.

Boost Your Creativity By Doing More Of What You Love

It’s important to think about creativity - both at work and in your personal life - as more than just the time spent actually making/doing your thing. Like stretching in addition to exercise (if that’s fun for you).  

I call these Creativity Boosters. These are the activities that open your mind, calm you down, inspire you, and help create your right conditions for creating. These are are SO important - AND SO FUN cause it’s literally about doing what you enjoy. 

There are some common Creativity Boosters, but really they vary for everyone.

I created this worksheet (aka funsheet?) to help you identify and remember yours (while also removing Creativity Drains):

• Prioritize Your Creativity Boosters - download for free!

Want another awesome resource?

If you consider walking or journaling a creativity booster then Walk & Wonder: A Journal To Spark Curiosity With Every Step by Kate Pocrass is for you. It’ll reinvigorate your routine walk, encourage you to seek new paths, and even has a spread on how walking has inspired “philosophers, poets, writers, truth-seekers and spiritual leaders” throughout history. And the book itself is so beautifully designed. Buy it here.

The Most Inspiring Part of June: Lucy On Bass

My Dad turned 75 in June and for his birthday party (80+ people to be in attendance) asked me to organize songs being played by a handful of other musicians who were going to be there. He sent me a list of his favorite songs to choose from (literally looked like this - 35% involve Bob Dylan) and I got to work.

At the same time, my 10-year old daughter, Lucy, had just started bass lessons. I immediately knew she had to be in the line-up.

Which song on the list had the most recognizable and achievable bass line? My Girl. Plus it would be his wife, daughter AND granddaughter performing it I MEAN COME ON (with professional musician Cary Matthews thank god - check her out here - she’s amazing!).

So every single one of Lucy’s bass lessons for three months was spent learning My Girl, which turns out is not so simple AND HAS A KEY CHANGE (shout-out to her bass teacher, Luna).

She killed it, my dad was over the moon, and it was one of the most fun collaborations I have ever experienced. Not because we sounded exactly like The Temptations, but because we worked hard at it, it was super meaningful, we had fun, and thankfully didn’t suck.

It’s so much fun to be reminded of the beginnner’s mindset too. I loved watching Lucy light up when what she was practicing actually started to sound like My Girl. You’re never too old to try something new and get that feeling.

We created a Spotify playlist to continue her bass inspiration and education. Check it out and let me know any songs you think we should add.

Next up: Olivia Rodrigo which “doesn’t sound so old.”

And that concludes newsletter Vol 3, July 2024. Please share with others who may enjoy it! They can sign up at the bottom of my website.

Reply to this email or book a 15-minute chat here with questions, suggestions or to inquire about working together.

Thanks for reading!

Kate