It’s Your Move

In retrospect of all of the years experimenting to find my niche, I have learned that the non-routine jobs tend to make my home life more routine than the rhythmic nine-to-fives. I have heard repetition of tasks is meditative; like falling into the trance of a drum rhythm. When I worked jobs that were constant in tasks, I would leave with my creativity brimming. It was as if my energy and expression were stockpiling throughout my shift, without an outlet until I got home. Working the routine jobs, I spent more time writing or drawing, exercising or playing the piano than I even have time to think about now. The nagging question hangs in the balance: Am I willing to sacrifice a meaty paycheck in order to reclaim my creative energy?

In today’s fast-paced mindset of staying ahead of the eight ball, it is not uncommon to find a lion’s share of ambitious, intelligent people putting their talent and potential on the back burner. Cutting off its employees to spite its budget, Corporate America has become notoriously efficient in streamlining hard-working Americans into one robust worker. Give the work to the busy person, right? Many of us are guilty for saying ‘yes’ when our inboxes are full and desks overflowing. We strive to succeed with a Piece Work philosophy handed down from our fathers. Meanwhile, the Corporate Godfathers have posted their notice of a parcel hiding unlimited gold, in exchange for a branded $80,000 piece of paper. Let’s face itâÂ?¦ we’re all out to find the first nugget and stake our claim. In the passion of the moment, we are sold on the promotion that the hard work will pay off in residual droves; that the long hours, the heat, and the ill-competition with fellow diggers are worth the reward. Has this really become the acceptable work ethic nowadays?

It is easy to get lost in the dust cloud of excitement; and just as easy in that moment to hit rock anticipating gold. The fact is, success = quality x quantity^2. Many people miscalculate the formula, and large corporations are quick to take advantage of their naive desperation to overproduce unproductively. Individuals find themselves, after years of breaking ground, that they are in the same spot from which they initially started digging. Work can become so overwhelmingly convoluted, that we lose sight of the big picture and the goal we originally set out to achieve: find the gold. The motive to achieve this modus operandi however, differs for every individual. For me, it is the energy wasted, boxed into the productivity corner, that motivates me to pursue a better means of allocating my creativity and more freely. For others, it may be the cadence of stagnancy that shakes their motivation out of the side pocket and into action.

I can only speak vicariously in saying the truly successful individuals get ahead by controlling the success equation. This means, they apply half their energy and all of their expertise to the final product; leaving their remaining energy for activities outside of work. Be it a routine bit, or a complex shank, the key is to not let stagnancy, monotony, or the hypnotic influence of Corporate America drill your creativity into a bore.

Is the salvation of your creative freedom worth sacrificing a plot on your parcel or a few nuggets stolen in the current of this competitive economy?