Artist day

Do you have a day job? Something you, at times at least, regard as mundane or as something temporary before you figure out what you really want to do in life? Something you don't particulary like because you cannot express your creativity fully in the work?

Don't worry, I'm not trying to talk you into quitting immediately - even if I think you should definitely consider leaving a job if you dislike it. But I shall attempt to persuade you indirectly. I shall show you a different path.

If you yearn for more creative or artistic work - work that shoots its figurative hand in the air the moment you ask yourself what you'd like to do most in the world - then I merely suggest that one Saturday (or if you work on Saturdays, then one of your days off), you organize everything in your day so that it seems to both you and observers that your job is that creative work; that you are an artist.

Like to paint? Write? Shoot movies? Bake cakes? Code? Draw buildings? Sculpt? Design wedding dresses?

Plan your day off so that you'll wake up as your chosen artist and go about the day as the artist. When will the artist wake up? What will he do first? When will he start his work? Where will he work? How does he work? What the work includes? What kinds of tools does he use in his work? What does he wear? Does he take breaks? Where and when does he eat his meals? How long will he work? When does he finish the day? What is his routine after the workday has ended? How does he spend his time off after the workday? When does he go to sleep?

Figure it out in advance - write it on a piece of paper to check from in case you forget something - and when your day off arrives, execute it. See if you like it. See if it makes you feel better than that mundane job. And see if you managed to create something you haven't created before.

Then go back to your day job and observe. Does this feel the same, or better, or worse? Is this job worth it? Could you risk it, quit and switch for the creative lifestyle as an artist?

You'll never know unless you try it out in practice, and this way you can try it out risk-free.

RK