I'd love to say I just found this idea online, but I'll admit, I totally was stalking someone through a social networking site. I saw the list they had made of similar goals, which came from this site. If you're reading this and this looks familiar, S, thanks, and I'm sorry I kinda stalked your blog. I'll blogroll you if you see this, but I figured I'd err on the side of letting you have your privacy.
So, 101 goals. 1001 days. I don't even know what day 1001 days from now is, but I'll be 30 years old. I'd love to see anyone else's goals - and if you could be of any help in any of these, please let me know, I'd be happy to return the favor!
Taking the lead from the GRS site, I've categorized these.
Health & Fitness
1. abstain from smoking cigarettes for 365 days in a row.
2. complete a marathon
3. Eat exclusively organic for two weeks in a row.
4. Drink only water for one month.
5. See the dentist and have a clean bill of health twice in one year’s time.
6Do the neti-pot every day for six months straight.
7. Floss every day for one year.
8. Ride a bike 500 miles in one month.
9. Meditate every day for one year.
10. abstain from the tanning bed for 365 days in a row.
11. Get my eyes checked and obtain correct glasses and/or contacts
12. Work out every day for 60 days straight.
13. Do three chin-ups or pull-ups without assistance.
Home & Garden
14. Sell my old Insurance Books.
15. Find out if the microwave is fixable, If it is, fix it.
16. Refinish my wooden antique furniture.
17. Repaint every room in whatever house I live in.
18. Eliminate every “catch-all” junk drawer, basket, folder, bin and box in my house.
19. Plant and raise a garden, even if it’s a window garden.
20. sell my old clothes in the basement to consignment
Financial
21. Turn a profit in art and writing.
22. Pay my dues to my sorority for two years straight.
23. Donate 10% of one year’s income.
24. Pay every bill on time for one year.
25. Get my credit to where I COULD qualify for a home loan.
26. Balance my checkbook on the computer every week for two years.
27. Do my own taxes correctly, but have them double-checked professionally.
28. Save $1000 and don’t touch it until the end of the 1001 days.
29. Become 100% financially independent.
30. Buy one horrendously expensive purse with money that I have earned through art & writing after all that month’s bills are paid.
Personal
31. Get my grandmother’s story on paper.
32. Buy a Wii.
33. Learn to knit and finish one item.
34. Make a quilt.
35. Create and sew an outfit on my own.
36. Make something out of www.bitchyinthecity.com with Celeste.
37. Plant a tree
38. Walk into my favorite stylist and allow them to do ANYTHING they want to my hair.
39. Get on Jeopardy.
40. Design and make a gingerbread house.
41. Make every Christmas present I give without giving presents that suck or leaving anyone out.
42. Take a class on something I know little to nothing about.
43. Write down my life story.
44. Have a tasteful nude photograph taken while I like my body.
45. Train Colonel Mustard to walk off the leash without fear of him running into traffic
46. Meet Dolly Parton.
Self Improvement
47. Donate a day of time to a charity
48. Learn to write HTML & CSS code.
49. Recycle everything possible for three months straight.
50. Use non-disposable bags 50 times instead of plastic or paper.
51. Create ten recipes on my own.
52. Clean out my computer clutter and back everything up outside of the Time Capsule.
53. Give a wedding gift in the appropriate gift-giving window.
54. Learn to speak a foreign language.
55. Stop using a computer for one week straight (the work is still possible, just requires some forethought!)
56. Make a list of five things I am grateful for every day for a year.
Adventure
57. Take a day trip to New York by myself.
58. Hike a mountain.
59. Drive across the country.
60. See Paris, France.
61. Go to a foreign country by myself.
62. Go on a girls’ vacation.
Family
63. Have an argument with a family member without crying.
64. Send birthday cards to every brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandparent, close friend and child of the above for one year.
65. Send my mother on a vacation to Greece.
66. Scan pictures of our childhood onto a disk for my mother, father, brothers and sisters.
67. Take all of my brothers and sisters to lunch at the same time.
68. Mow my mother’s lawn for free.
Entertainment
69. See all Oscar-winning movies for best picture.
70. Read the Bible, cover to cover.
71. Complete scrapbook of Italy and Greece trip
72. Go to a movie by myself.
73. Read 100 best book of all time
Professional
74. Update my art resume.
75. Copyright my existing work
76. Create a sculpture.
77. Write a business plan.
78. Create and print postcards and business cards.
79. Do creative sparks every day for a year.
80. Complete an Egg Tempera portrait.
81. Teach someone to draw.
82. Open an Etsy shop.
83. Create a mixed-media piece.
84. Take a figure drawing & critique class.
85. Complete series on quitting your job to do what you love.
86. Complete a self-portrait in oil.
87. Take a watercolor class.
88. Phase out crappy art supplies.
89. 50,000 RSS subscribers.
90. Publish something in a magazine.
91. Publish something in book form.
92. Sell a painting with no commission and no discount.
93. Organize and run a one-woman show.
94. Organize blog for effectiveness – put art on art, etc.
95. Start a business.
96. Print and frame a collection of 30 black and white photographs
97. complete and publish my website
98. Create 75 paintings of fine art – no commissions, no portraits.
99. Write a novel
100. Have my portfolio reviewed by a non-related professional whose opinion I value.
101. Meet every professional deadline for one year.
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
12 tips for quitting your job to be an artist (or whatever you want to be...)
How to quit your job, Part Two: FAIR WARNING.
If you read Part One: My Story, arose from your cubicle chair, pushed the wall down ala Office Space, gave your ugly plant to your secretary, told the annoying girl in the corner that you really don't give a damn what stupid fucking flowers she picks for her bridesmaids' nosegays-not-bouquets and walked out the door with a big old middle finger in your boss' direction, I commend you. You much bigger proverbial kahonays than I do.
But you might want to get a plan.
As promised, here's my advice on how to actually quit your job.
1. As I said earlier, don't think it's going to go away.
I mean this in a bigger way than you might think. Say it bigger than you think you need to: I am not THIS job. I will go be THAT instead, and I am still me, regardless of it all. "I am" is a complete sentence in and of itself - the labels that follow are up to you, and only you can identify them.
2. Accept and grieve the loss of what you might have achieved in your current job.
The reality was not that I was a dumb insurance broker or that I was capable of "doing" the job. In fact, I was, and am, pretty darn smart. I could have gone pretty far in it. We're somewhat conditioned in high school and college to steer toward the career path that makes the most possible money while still falling within the range of our intelligence, talents and range of tolerancy. I wanted to be an artist. But I was smart enough for and could tolerate (at least for a while) an MBA and insurance. I could be making a lot more money, drinking Stoli-Doli's at the Capital Grille in Pencil Skirts, and talking to hot little businessmen from Underwriters' offices every day. But I made the wrong decision. So I had to go back and make the right one.
Truth be told, I can't say that I don't walk by commuters in Center City, sing Dolly's "9 to 5" in my head and feel a pang of jealousy sometimes. They can afford Starbucks - with an extra shot. They get conversation with adults. They get built-in feedback from all kinds of people while I second-guess myself. If they mess something small up, they don't run the risk of not being able to pay the rent. The list could go on and on.
But do I bottle that jealousy up and cover it up by getting on my high horse to scream to the world about how they're "sheep" and that their lives aren't tolerable in the "corporate slave" world? No. I'll leave that to the thousands of hipsters running around this city crying at Dashboard concerts. I had to admit to myself that while I wanted to be what I am more than anything and was willing to sacrifice what I needed to, it didn't mean that I couldn't miss certain parts of my former life. When you go through such a big change, it is quite literally like a death. You have to let that person go - but it doesn't mean you can't remember the good times.
When you acknowledge that you will have those pangs from time to time, you'll be better tuned into whether or not you regret things or whether or not you just have natural human envy. The envy passes, I assure you. While I'd love to sip fancy cocktails in cute little suits from time to time, I know that I don't really want the whole corporate shebang ever again.
3. Figure out how much you are willing to give up - then double it and triple it.
Or halve it or third it - whatever. The point is that it is harder than you think. When you have that amount of money - because let's be honest, it comes down to money sometimes - that you are, bare minimum, willing to live on, cut it again and figure out what you can do for supplemental income. More on this later.
4. GET YOURSELF INSURED.
I pay $483 a month for health insurance under COBRA. I consider this a travesty in the world's most developed country, who considers expression of one's self to be a founding principle, but that's another blog. My point is that you can NOT risk getting sick in this day and age. Take it from me. When I had zero money, I developed an ear infection, went to the doctor, and found out that because of lifelong frequent ear-nose-throat infections, I needed surgery within months or I risked losing my hearing. I was in surgery for nine hours. Yes folks, that's pricey. I was unable to commute ten feet into the studio for two weeks. Had it not been for that Cobra coverage, I could have literally gone deaf - there just wasn't the money available to go pay for surgery on my ears and sinuses. Furthermore, when you are hurt while working for an employer, you are entitled to Workers Compensation benefits that provide for your care. If you are self-employed and therefore not subject to the Workers Compensation Act and/or have dependents, it is all the more essential to find and keep health care coverage - that policy is your only source of health care. While chasing after your dreams is a wild adventure, it just doesn't mean you should risk life and limb just to prove that you're a starving artist.
The details:
You are allowed, under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, to elect continuation of your current coverage for up to eighteen months after you have left your job. If you have access to equivalent coverage (if you get a new job or are covered under student insurance if you go back to school), you may be required to pick this up instead. The catch: you may be required to pay UP TO (yeah, they COULD charge you more in other cases) 100% of the premium. You can find coverage for you and your family - even with the SAME or better coverage - for much less through sites like this. Please read the fine print - mental health coverage is excluded, as is ANY and ALL preexisting conditions (except pregnancy) in most of these policies.
Please note that I have used my experience as my basis for this statement. While I am licensed in insurance in Property & Casualty Insurance in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I am not, nor was I ever, licensed in Life & Health Insurance. I do not have the moral or ethical authority to counsel you on insurance matters. Your HR representative will answer any of your questions or point you in the right direction for further information.
4. Go on a "stuff" diet.
I didn't even say "spending diet" like Oprah's gurus say to do or whoever. Welcome to the Wild West, because you're headed for LEAN TIMES, settler. Spending, saving, selling, reusing, robbing Peter to pay Paul - you name it, I can do it. This is such a big topic that I'm going to address in a later post, but do yourself a favor and sit down and take inventory - of everything. Everything you have, everything you owe, all of your ongoing bills, everything. If you have access to your bank statements, go through them for the past year and sort through by LOCATION. Put all the Starbucks, all the Targets, all the Krogers, all the CVS' together to get an idea of what you're spending if you have no idea. We'll get to work later on this.
5. Banish the phrase "Backup Plan" from your vocabulary. I'm not kidding. It's amazing how quickly you can get what you want when you make what you WANT your full-time job. I'm not saying you have to quit the gig now - I'm just saying to change your thinking. Do not say "I'm an executive assistant right now, doing the acting thing on the side until I can afford it full-time". If you don't think you're an actor, no one else will. Say "I am an actor." You may have a part-time gig that consumes 40-80 hours a week for extra cash, but you're an actor. One of the most valuable lessons I learned in business school was that Plan B is almost always devised for people and businesses who truly believe they need them. Solution? Work harder on Plan A. If you happen to need money along the way and there is no possible way your bills will be paid by your passion that month, then by all means, go find a way to make ends meet.
6. Seek advice.
Find people who know you, know your field, know what it's like to have experienced such a job change, and know the ins and outs of how to make this thing work. People who are good at something innately have a desire to mentor others that remind them of themselves or their experiences. I've called my grandmother for advice on acrylic paint more times than I can count and I've asked the advice of many artists - never once have I had someone tell me "I don't have the time to talk to you." Likewise, talk to your friends and family that know YOU the best. You'd be surprised at how many of them want you to succeed and are willing to help. I am not kidding you when I say that without exception, every single person who knows me has said "I know you made the right decision" at least once throughout this journey. Finally, find people who know the sheer logistics of how to make it work - and think outside of the box. On a lark, I called a friend in the financial business and simply said "tell me how I can quit my job." I was surprised to find that he gets a lot of people calling and asking the same question - how they can continue some semblance of their lifestyle while pulling in less income. News flash: they do this for a living - it's called retirement planning. Inventory your personal resources - and use them.
7. Forget about #6 - Don't pay any attention to advice. At least some of it.
There will undoubtedly be some people who think this is the dumbest idea you've ever had. I find they fit nicely into three categories:
a) people who wish they had the balls to do it as well
b) people who don't know you very well
c) assholes.
Criticism is part of life - and at the end of the day, I'd rather listen to the critic known as ME rather than one of the above characters. When my younger brother and I spoke right after I had made "the big announcement" to my family, he said something that proved invaluable -
"I want to see you do it - because I think you have the talent and skills to do it - and I want to see you do it on your own, if not for anything else than just to prove to people 'look, I did it, and you didn't think I could. So fuck you.'"
I know, we swear a lot in my family.
My point is this: yes, it is entirely possible that the critics could be right. I could die penniless. But I'd still be dead, and I don't see any armored cars following hearses of rich people either. Neither of us can take it with us. But I'd die knowing that I did what I loved and listened to myself rather than taking the advice of people who I never even liked to begin with.
8. Stop shopping for that crystal ball.
Yes, you could die penniless. But you could also hit it HUGE. That's the great thing about pursuing what you love - you just don't know. You DO know one thing for sure, however. No one is going to come barging down your door begging you to do this, and you will never know what you're capable of until you try.
9. Work your ass off at this.
One of the things that truly pisses me off about celebrities is that they always seem to give this song and dance of "I'm just so blessed. I'm so lucky to have ended up where I did."
Shut the eff up.
Though I appreciate their bad attempt at humility, it's just not the whole truth. There is an element of luck involved with their success, but rest assured - they worked their asses off to get where they are. Even - God, I can't believe I'm giving her a compliment - Paris Hilton works her tail off at being famous for being famous. This country was founded on entrepreneurs and The American Dream, and it's almost never achieved without a huge amount of good old-fashioned elbow grease.
10. Meditate.
Every day. Non-negotiable. You can think I'm new-age and full of shit all you want, but even Dr Oz agrees - it works. It spurs creativity, allows a better outlook on life, and creates an environment in which you will find what you need.
Don't tell me that you don't have the time - five minutes is all you need. It doesn't have to involve chanting or incense or anything, it just involves you letting go of your mind. In that great book I mentioned before, Eat Pray Love, the author went to India to learn the spiritual side of herself in an Ashram after learning the pleasurable side of herself in Italy. She talked about how difficult it was to meditate at first - like me, she was raised in a Protestant home in typical American fashion. You are not turning your back on any faith that you hold dear, I assure you, you are simply listening to God instead of talking to God in prayer. If you are Atheist or Agnostic, it still works - you are recalibrating your body to prepare it for another go-round of this crazy world.
I highly recommend Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now if you'd like further information, and there are numerous resources in your community and on the internet surrounding effective meditation.
11. Cut the excuses.
Dr Phil haunts me every time I come up with one, because he puts it very plainly when a guest gives him excuses on why they can not get toward a goal. No time, family obligations, financial constraints, the list is endless. While they're all perfectly logical and reasonable excuses, to use his words...
"and how's that working for you?"
For a more upbeat and inspiring take on it, watch Dr Randy Pausch's Last Lecture video .
It's over an hour but worth it. This man is dying of cancer as we speak and he speaks volumes on the importance of following dreams. One of the most important points he makes is regarding the obstacles that generate these excuses:
"Brick walls aren't there to stop us. They're there to make us prove how badly we want something."
Godspeed, Dr Pausch. I couldn't have said it any better than that.
12. Finally, enjoy the ride.
Every so often, I can not pick up a paintbrush or look at my laptop to write as I truly think it's driving me insane. I go get a cup of coffee. I walk the dog. I go to the Art Museum. I go have a beer with an old friend. I call my mom. And I always remember why I got into this insanity in the first place.
Sanity is overrated, but happiness is not. Find the happiness.
If you read Part One: My Story, arose from your cubicle chair, pushed the wall down ala Office Space, gave your ugly plant to your secretary, told the annoying girl in the corner that you really don't give a damn what stupid fucking flowers she picks for her bridesmaids' nosegays-not-bouquets and walked out the door with a big old middle finger in your boss' direction, I commend you. You much bigger proverbial kahonays than I do.
But you might want to get a plan.
As promised, here's my advice on how to actually quit your job.
1. As I said earlier, don't think it's going to go away.
I mean this in a bigger way than you might think. Say it bigger than you think you need to: I am not THIS job. I will go be THAT instead, and I am still me, regardless of it all. "I am" is a complete sentence in and of itself - the labels that follow are up to you, and only you can identify them.
2. Accept and grieve the loss of what you might have achieved in your current job.
The reality was not that I was a dumb insurance broker or that I was capable of "doing" the job. In fact, I was, and am, pretty darn smart. I could have gone pretty far in it. We're somewhat conditioned in high school and college to steer toward the career path that makes the most possible money while still falling within the range of our intelligence, talents and range of tolerancy. I wanted to be an artist. But I was smart enough for and could tolerate (at least for a while) an MBA and insurance. I could be making a lot more money, drinking Stoli-Doli's at the Capital Grille in Pencil Skirts, and talking to hot little businessmen from Underwriters' offices every day. But I made the wrong decision. So I had to go back and make the right one.
Truth be told, I can't say that I don't walk by commuters in Center City, sing Dolly's "9 to 5" in my head and feel a pang of jealousy sometimes. They can afford Starbucks - with an extra shot. They get conversation with adults. They get built-in feedback from all kinds of people while I second-guess myself. If they mess something small up, they don't run the risk of not being able to pay the rent. The list could go on and on.
But do I bottle that jealousy up and cover it up by getting on my high horse to scream to the world about how they're "sheep" and that their lives aren't tolerable in the "corporate slave" world? No. I'll leave that to the thousands of hipsters running around this city crying at Dashboard concerts. I had to admit to myself that while I wanted to be what I am more than anything and was willing to sacrifice what I needed to, it didn't mean that I couldn't miss certain parts of my former life. When you go through such a big change, it is quite literally like a death. You have to let that person go - but it doesn't mean you can't remember the good times.
When you acknowledge that you will have those pangs from time to time, you'll be better tuned into whether or not you regret things or whether or not you just have natural human envy. The envy passes, I assure you. While I'd love to sip fancy cocktails in cute little suits from time to time, I know that I don't really want the whole corporate shebang ever again.
3. Figure out how much you are willing to give up - then double it and triple it.
Or halve it or third it - whatever. The point is that it is harder than you think. When you have that amount of money - because let's be honest, it comes down to money sometimes - that you are, bare minimum, willing to live on, cut it again and figure out what you can do for supplemental income. More on this later.
4. GET YOURSELF INSURED.
I pay $483 a month for health insurance under COBRA. I consider this a travesty in the world's most developed country, who considers expression of one's self to be a founding principle, but that's another blog. My point is that you can NOT risk getting sick in this day and age. Take it from me. When I had zero money, I developed an ear infection, went to the doctor, and found out that because of lifelong frequent ear-nose-throat infections, I needed surgery within months or I risked losing my hearing. I was in surgery for nine hours. Yes folks, that's pricey. I was unable to commute ten feet into the studio for two weeks. Had it not been for that Cobra coverage, I could have literally gone deaf - there just wasn't the money available to go pay for surgery on my ears and sinuses. Furthermore, when you are hurt while working for an employer, you are entitled to Workers Compensation benefits that provide for your care. If you are self-employed and therefore not subject to the Workers Compensation Act and/or have dependents, it is all the more essential to find and keep health care coverage - that policy is your only source of health care. While chasing after your dreams is a wild adventure, it just doesn't mean you should risk life and limb just to prove that you're a starving artist.
The details:
You are allowed, under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, to elect continuation of your current coverage for up to eighteen months after you have left your job. If you have access to equivalent coverage (if you get a new job or are covered under student insurance if you go back to school), you may be required to pick this up instead. The catch: you may be required to pay UP TO (yeah, they COULD charge you more in other cases) 100% of the premium. You can find coverage for you and your family - even with the SAME or better coverage - for much less through sites like this. Please read the fine print - mental health coverage is excluded, as is ANY and ALL preexisting conditions (except pregnancy) in most of these policies.
Please note that I have used my experience as my basis for this statement. While I am licensed in insurance in Property & Casualty Insurance in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I am not, nor was I ever, licensed in Life & Health Insurance. I do not have the moral or ethical authority to counsel you on insurance matters. Your HR representative will answer any of your questions or point you in the right direction for further information.
4. Go on a "stuff" diet.
I didn't even say "spending diet" like Oprah's gurus say to do or whoever. Welcome to the Wild West, because you're headed for LEAN TIMES, settler. Spending, saving, selling, reusing, robbing Peter to pay Paul - you name it, I can do it. This is such a big topic that I'm going to address in a later post, but do yourself a favor and sit down and take inventory - of everything. Everything you have, everything you owe, all of your ongoing bills, everything. If you have access to your bank statements, go through them for the past year and sort through by LOCATION. Put all the Starbucks, all the Targets, all the Krogers, all the CVS' together to get an idea of what you're spending if you have no idea. We'll get to work later on this.
5. Banish the phrase "Backup Plan" from your vocabulary. I'm not kidding. It's amazing how quickly you can get what you want when you make what you WANT your full-time job. I'm not saying you have to quit the gig now - I'm just saying to change your thinking. Do not say "I'm an executive assistant right now, doing the acting thing on the side until I can afford it full-time". If you don't think you're an actor, no one else will. Say "I am an actor." You may have a part-time gig that consumes 40-80 hours a week for extra cash, but you're an actor. One of the most valuable lessons I learned in business school was that Plan B is almost always devised for people and businesses who truly believe they need them. Solution? Work harder on Plan A. If you happen to need money along the way and there is no possible way your bills will be paid by your passion that month, then by all means, go find a way to make ends meet.
6. Seek advice.
Find people who know you, know your field, know what it's like to have experienced such a job change, and know the ins and outs of how to make this thing work. People who are good at something innately have a desire to mentor others that remind them of themselves or their experiences. I've called my grandmother for advice on acrylic paint more times than I can count and I've asked the advice of many artists - never once have I had someone tell me "I don't have the time to talk to you." Likewise, talk to your friends and family that know YOU the best. You'd be surprised at how many of them want you to succeed and are willing to help. I am not kidding you when I say that without exception, every single person who knows me has said "I know you made the right decision" at least once throughout this journey. Finally, find people who know the sheer logistics of how to make it work - and think outside of the box. On a lark, I called a friend in the financial business and simply said "tell me how I can quit my job." I was surprised to find that he gets a lot of people calling and asking the same question - how they can continue some semblance of their lifestyle while pulling in less income. News flash: they do this for a living - it's called retirement planning. Inventory your personal resources - and use them.
7. Forget about #6 - Don't pay any attention to advice. At least some of it.
There will undoubtedly be some people who think this is the dumbest idea you've ever had. I find they fit nicely into three categories:
a) people who wish they had the balls to do it as well
b) people who don't know you very well
c) assholes.
Criticism is part of life - and at the end of the day, I'd rather listen to the critic known as ME rather than one of the above characters. When my younger brother and I spoke right after I had made "the big announcement" to my family, he said something that proved invaluable -
"I want to see you do it - because I think you have the talent and skills to do it - and I want to see you do it on your own, if not for anything else than just to prove to people 'look, I did it, and you didn't think I could. So fuck you.'"
I know, we swear a lot in my family.
My point is this: yes, it is entirely possible that the critics could be right. I could die penniless. But I'd still be dead, and I don't see any armored cars following hearses of rich people either. Neither of us can take it with us. But I'd die knowing that I did what I loved and listened to myself rather than taking the advice of people who I never even liked to begin with.
8. Stop shopping for that crystal ball.
Yes, you could die penniless. But you could also hit it HUGE. That's the great thing about pursuing what you love - you just don't know. You DO know one thing for sure, however. No one is going to come barging down your door begging you to do this, and you will never know what you're capable of until you try.
9. Work your ass off at this.
One of the things that truly pisses me off about celebrities is that they always seem to give this song and dance of "I'm just so blessed. I'm so lucky to have ended up where I did."
Shut the eff up.
Though I appreciate their bad attempt at humility, it's just not the whole truth. There is an element of luck involved with their success, but rest assured - they worked their asses off to get where they are. Even - God, I can't believe I'm giving her a compliment - Paris Hilton works her tail off at being famous for being famous. This country was founded on entrepreneurs and The American Dream, and it's almost never achieved without a huge amount of good old-fashioned elbow grease.
10. Meditate.
Every day. Non-negotiable. You can think I'm new-age and full of shit all you want, but even Dr Oz agrees - it works. It spurs creativity, allows a better outlook on life, and creates an environment in which you will find what you need.
Don't tell me that you don't have the time - five minutes is all you need. It doesn't have to involve chanting or incense or anything, it just involves you letting go of your mind. In that great book I mentioned before, Eat Pray Love, the author went to India to learn the spiritual side of herself in an Ashram after learning the pleasurable side of herself in Italy. She talked about how difficult it was to meditate at first - like me, she was raised in a Protestant home in typical American fashion. You are not turning your back on any faith that you hold dear, I assure you, you are simply listening to God instead of talking to God in prayer. If you are Atheist or Agnostic, it still works - you are recalibrating your body to prepare it for another go-round of this crazy world.
I highly recommend Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now if you'd like further information, and there are numerous resources in your community and on the internet surrounding effective meditation.
11. Cut the excuses.
Dr Phil haunts me every time I come up with one, because he puts it very plainly when a guest gives him excuses on why they can not get toward a goal. No time, family obligations, financial constraints, the list is endless. While they're all perfectly logical and reasonable excuses, to use his words...
"and how's that working for you?"
For a more upbeat and inspiring take on it, watch Dr Randy Pausch's Last Lecture video .
It's over an hour but worth it. This man is dying of cancer as we speak and he speaks volumes on the importance of following dreams. One of the most important points he makes is regarding the obstacles that generate these excuses:
"Brick walls aren't there to stop us. They're there to make us prove how badly we want something."
Godspeed, Dr Pausch. I couldn't have said it any better than that.
12. Finally, enjoy the ride.
Every so often, I can not pick up a paintbrush or look at my laptop to write as I truly think it's driving me insane. I go get a cup of coffee. I walk the dog. I go to the Art Museum. I go have a beer with an old friend. I call my mom. And I always remember why I got into this insanity in the first place.
Sanity is overrated, but happiness is not. Find the happiness.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
How to Quit Your Job and Do What You love - Part One
Since I made the decision to jump ship from the corporate world, I have noticed a few things.
When I get asked the inevitable "...so, what do you do?" and I reply "I'm an artist", more often than not, people respond with "THAT is AWESOME", "I SO wish I could go do THAT", or "you are SO lucky". I love these comments, I admit - I love what I do, and when you can answer the "what do you DO?" question with an answer that you're genuinely happy about, it is a great feeling.
Since I've been having these conversations, however, I have discovered that there is a staggering number of people out there who really and truly want to do the same thing I've done. My friends joke with me that I've convinced quite a few people to quit miserable jobs when I've talked to them in bars like this. A couple of photographers, a few painters and sculptors, a knitter/crochet-er, you name it, I've heard it. At this point, they either tiptoe around or ask me very bluntly - depending on how badly they hate their current position "HOW did you do it?" I usually respond with a very vague, but specific answer:
I'm still learning.
I've had to do a lot to get where I am. Having no art degree, no contacts outside Virginia, and hell - only a small French Grumbacher easel and some student-grade paint that had survived five moves - I knew I had an uphill climb, to say the least, but I had to start somewhere. I read everything I could on the internet, devoured the books I could find on Amazon, and asked everyone I could think of for advice, but I soon found that there's very little practical advice out there - no one wrote "How to Give Up a Big Paycheck For a Career That Typically is Associated With Dying Penniless For Dummies". I was on my own. For all that it's worth, however, I'll begin to give some practical advice over the course of this whole blog.
My ongoing series: How to leave your job to do what you WANT to do.
Part One: My Story
Before you even begin to tackle the who-what-where-when-why, take this one piece of advice.
Give up on the idea that you'll make it go away. Chances are, if you are really considering that kind of leap, you're already mid-air. Tim Burton, the creator of some of the most innovative films of the 20th Century, said one of my favorite quotes: "If you have the creative bug, it isn't ever going to go away. I'd just get used to the idea of dealing with it."
When I decided to finally listen to myself, I was literally scheduling my lunch break every day for one reason: to go into the park and - no, not eat lunch, but have a full-blown, honest-to-God panic attack. It was almost a daily occurrence. I was in Independence Park that day on my lunch break, reading a book called Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I had just gone through the most painful breakup of my life, and I literally needed something to at least distract me from life for one hour. My dear friend Celeste had recommended the book to me, and the first few chapters had blown me away - I literally thought that the woman had somehow written everything I had been going through. Her description of heartbreak is quite possibly the most identifying piece of literature I have ever read, BAR NONE. I sat down and began reading chapter 27 - ironic since I was 27 at the time - and I became terrified at how much the story was speaking to me.
Gilbert, after going through a divorce and a breakup that spurred a chemical depression, took a life-changing year-long trip that began in Italy. In Chapter 27, she spoke of how she and her friend took a day trip to Naples, asking a friend in Rome to recommend a specific pizza place. It made me laugh out loud when her friend took great pains to write down the name of the pizzeria, pressing the address into her hand and saying - with all the passion and emphasis that he could muster - an Italian ORDER:
"You must go there. You must have the pizza margherita. If you do not, please lie to me and say that you did."
Having had my own falling-in-love-with-Italy, I laughed - if you know Italian culture, you know that Italians are passionate about everything. You could ask a Roman or a Neopolitan about his shower curtain and they would convince you that their shower curtain is the best that design has ever had to offer, and no shower curtain will ever compete. Naples is quite possibly the pinnacle of this type of passion. Naples is, however, by far, the most dangerous city I have ever been in. I met a U.S. Marine while traveling who said he felt safer in Fallujah than in Naples. My sister - a seasoned traveler who has walked through dark alleys in Islamic countries - was genuinely terrified when she and I had to transfer trains late at night in Naples. Every guidebook will tell you to JUST NOT GO. But Neopolitans? They love it. They're passionate about everything, and more specifically, about being passionate. Considering they invented both pizza AND ice cream, yeah, it's worth examining despite the travel advisory.
Upon arriving Naples, Gilbert made a beeline for the pizzeria with her Swedish friend, Sofie. They order the Pizza Margherita, and soon fall deep in pizzalove. They look at each other and dare ask:
"Why do we even attempt to make pizza in Stockholm? Why do we even attempt food in Stockholm?"
Yes, it was that good. I realized in that very second something that to this day still brings tears to my eyes.
I was pizza in Stockholm.
Yes, you read that right. I had been trying for so long to make ME into something that I wasn't innately supposed to be, I had completely lost any sense of what I was. I had a great job, a Masters degree, a fabulous apartment, more designer jeans than I knew what to do with, great freaking hair (if I do say so myself)...and none of it was working. I was trying to fill a hole that wasn't ever going to be filled with promotions, jeans, purses, highlights or anything else - except that which I was ignoring. I was a pizza in Stockholm being made with the same ingredients, with the same methods, in the same ovens as the ones used in Italy - but that magic, fabulous pizza just wasn't happening. But Naples...every pizza cook in that pizzeria makes every pizza with the same feeling in every bone in his body -
THIS pizza is the BEST pizza that has EVER been made.
That's it. That's the secret ingredient. The passion. The love. The excitement. That's what made it the best pizza in the world. Nothing else came close.
I decided then and there that I was sick and tired of being Stockholm pizza. I needed to be Naples pizza. Perhaps by some divine intervention, it just came to me: I was never going to be happy in the career path that I had selected. There was no way around it - I needed to go do what I was, dare I say, born to do.
I walked back into work with the most euphoric sense of clarity that I have EVER experienced. I went home, poured a BIG glass of wine and called my mom my to tell her about my decision. I just blurted it out: "Mom I'm going to leave my job and go be an artist." I fully expected her to be stunned, start yelling, tell me I was stupid, or call the loony bin. But she surprised me by pausing and saying what every person who really knew me would later say as well.
"I think that's the best decision you've made in ten years."
That was the easy part.
How did I do the other stuff? How am I still eating? How did I give it up? Stay tuned.
When I get asked the inevitable "...so, what do you do?" and I reply "I'm an artist", more often than not, people respond with "THAT is AWESOME", "I SO wish I could go do THAT", or "you are SO lucky". I love these comments, I admit - I love what I do, and when you can answer the "what do you DO?" question with an answer that you're genuinely happy about, it is a great feeling.
Since I've been having these conversations, however, I have discovered that there is a staggering number of people out there who really and truly want to do the same thing I've done. My friends joke with me that I've convinced quite a few people to quit miserable jobs when I've talked to them in bars like this. A couple of photographers, a few painters and sculptors, a knitter/crochet-er, you name it, I've heard it. At this point, they either tiptoe around or ask me very bluntly - depending on how badly they hate their current position "HOW did you do it?" I usually respond with a very vague, but specific answer:
I'm still learning.
I've had to do a lot to get where I am. Having no art degree, no contacts outside Virginia, and hell - only a small French Grumbacher easel and some student-grade paint that had survived five moves - I knew I had an uphill climb, to say the least, but I had to start somewhere. I read everything I could on the internet, devoured the books I could find on Amazon, and asked everyone I could think of for advice, but I soon found that there's very little practical advice out there - no one wrote "How to Give Up a Big Paycheck For a Career That Typically is Associated With Dying Penniless For Dummies". I was on my own. For all that it's worth, however, I'll begin to give some practical advice over the course of this whole blog.
My ongoing series: How to leave your job to do what you WANT to do.
Part One: My Story
Before you even begin to tackle the who-what-where-when-why, take this one piece of advice.
Give up on the idea that you'll make it go away. Chances are, if you are really considering that kind of leap, you're already mid-air. Tim Burton, the creator of some of the most innovative films of the 20th Century, said one of my favorite quotes: "If you have the creative bug, it isn't ever going to go away. I'd just get used to the idea of dealing with it."
When I decided to finally listen to myself, I was literally scheduling my lunch break every day for one reason: to go into the park and - no, not eat lunch, but have a full-blown, honest-to-God panic attack. It was almost a daily occurrence. I was in Independence Park that day on my lunch break, reading a book called Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I had just gone through the most painful breakup of my life, and I literally needed something to at least distract me from life for one hour. My dear friend Celeste had recommended the book to me, and the first few chapters had blown me away - I literally thought that the woman had somehow written everything I had been going through. Her description of heartbreak is quite possibly the most identifying piece of literature I have ever read, BAR NONE. I sat down and began reading chapter 27 - ironic since I was 27 at the time - and I became terrified at how much the story was speaking to me.
Gilbert, after going through a divorce and a breakup that spurred a chemical depression, took a life-changing year-long trip that began in Italy. In Chapter 27, she spoke of how she and her friend took a day trip to Naples, asking a friend in Rome to recommend a specific pizza place. It made me laugh out loud when her friend took great pains to write down the name of the pizzeria, pressing the address into her hand and saying - with all the passion and emphasis that he could muster - an Italian ORDER:
"You must go there. You must have the pizza margherita. If you do not, please lie to me and say that you did."
Having had my own falling-in-love-with-Italy, I laughed - if you know Italian culture, you know that Italians are passionate about everything. You could ask a Roman or a Neopolitan about his shower curtain and they would convince you that their shower curtain is the best that design has ever had to offer, and no shower curtain will ever compete. Naples is quite possibly the pinnacle of this type of passion. Naples is, however, by far, the most dangerous city I have ever been in. I met a U.S. Marine while traveling who said he felt safer in Fallujah than in Naples. My sister - a seasoned traveler who has walked through dark alleys in Islamic countries - was genuinely terrified when she and I had to transfer trains late at night in Naples. Every guidebook will tell you to JUST NOT GO. But Neopolitans? They love it. They're passionate about everything, and more specifically, about being passionate. Considering they invented both pizza AND ice cream, yeah, it's worth examining despite the travel advisory.
Upon arriving Naples, Gilbert made a beeline for the pizzeria with her Swedish friend, Sofie. They order the Pizza Margherita, and soon fall deep in pizzalove. They look at each other and dare ask:
"Why do we even attempt to make pizza in Stockholm? Why do we even attempt food in Stockholm?"
Yes, it was that good. I realized in that very second something that to this day still brings tears to my eyes.
I was pizza in Stockholm.
Yes, you read that right. I had been trying for so long to make ME into something that I wasn't innately supposed to be, I had completely lost any sense of what I was. I had a great job, a Masters degree, a fabulous apartment, more designer jeans than I knew what to do with, great freaking hair (if I do say so myself)...and none of it was working. I was trying to fill a hole that wasn't ever going to be filled with promotions, jeans, purses, highlights or anything else - except that which I was ignoring. I was a pizza in Stockholm being made with the same ingredients, with the same methods, in the same ovens as the ones used in Italy - but that magic, fabulous pizza just wasn't happening. But Naples...every pizza cook in that pizzeria makes every pizza with the same feeling in every bone in his body -
THIS pizza is the BEST pizza that has EVER been made.
That's it. That's the secret ingredient. The passion. The love. The excitement. That's what made it the best pizza in the world. Nothing else came close.
I decided then and there that I was sick and tired of being Stockholm pizza. I needed to be Naples pizza. Perhaps by some divine intervention, it just came to me: I was never going to be happy in the career path that I had selected. There was no way around it - I needed to go do what I was, dare I say, born to do.
I walked back into work with the most euphoric sense of clarity that I have EVER experienced. I went home, poured a BIG glass of wine and called my mom my to tell her about my decision. I just blurted it out: "Mom I'm going to leave my job and go be an artist." I fully expected her to be stunned, start yelling, tell me I was stupid, or call the loony bin. But she surprised me by pausing and saying what every person who really knew me would later say as well.
"I think that's the best decision you've made in ten years."
That was the easy part.
How did I do the other stuff? How am I still eating? How did I give it up? Stay tuned.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Blog beginning - part 2.
I've just found this thing for the first time since August. I've been busy.
So this is more of the first entry, the other first one didn't count.
I'll give the biggest points of info.
I left the insurance industry around September of 2007. I gave up a gigantic paycheck, fantastic benefits, a 401(k), happy hours paid for by underwriters, and random free sandwiches during the occasional lunch meeting.
What did I get in return? Longer hours, COBRA coverage that expires in January of this year at a price of $463 a month, knowledge of how to save money by cutting my own hair, a crash course in making ends meet, and the abandonment of the dream of ever owning a house, name-brand groceries or a Wii.
Yet, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world - I became an artist full-time. I've holed myself up in a tiny bedroom that has been converted into a studio, got my giant easel up to Philly from Virginia (thanks, mom), and painted my damn ass off. Slews and slews of paintings and drawings later, it's finally coming together a little better. My website (www.mollyharrington.com) will be up soon, thanks to my Dad's wonderful offer to develop it. I may be a starving artist, but had it not been for my patient, kind, generous and non-deserving-of-my-bullshit friends and family, I'd be either in a dumpster somewhere or pursuing a side career entertaining people ala Ashley Alexandra Dupre.
I'm doing lots of landscapes in oil, but am increasingly drawn towards abstraction and non-figurative work, particularly in acrylic and watercolor, as of late. My strengths lay in portraits, which are slowly paying the bills. Portraits are almost always done in pastel, charcoal and pencil, I'm just happier with them that way. I love love love love LOVE color, but I've been increasingly interested in sepia and charcoal images heightened with chalk. If I had it to do all over again, I'd go take a couple of years and study in the Atelier movement, focusing on drawing and building toward painting. I can't stop staring at anything that has come out of Atelier-trained students.
Finally, I'm looking forward to what the next few months and years bring. After two years in the corporate world, I was at the point where I was having daily panic attacks, doing work that I hated, trying desperately to fit into a world that I innately was never a part of, crying at the drop of a hat, going to therapy just to get through the week and literally making myself sick, it's a welcome change to be excited about one's future. I actually am sad to go to bed sometimes because I've enjoyed my workday so much, I don't want it to end. Yeah, that's a little hokey, but whatever. Deal with it.
So this is more of the first entry, the other first one didn't count.
I'll give the biggest points of info.
I left the insurance industry around September of 2007. I gave up a gigantic paycheck, fantastic benefits, a 401(k), happy hours paid for by underwriters, and random free sandwiches during the occasional lunch meeting.
What did I get in return? Longer hours, COBRA coverage that expires in January of this year at a price of $463 a month, knowledge of how to save money by cutting my own hair, a crash course in making ends meet, and the abandonment of the dream of ever owning a house, name-brand groceries or a Wii.
Yet, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world - I became an artist full-time. I've holed myself up in a tiny bedroom that has been converted into a studio, got my giant easel up to Philly from Virginia (thanks, mom), and painted my damn ass off. Slews and slews of paintings and drawings later, it's finally coming together a little better. My website (www.mollyharrington.com) will be up soon, thanks to my Dad's wonderful offer to develop it. I may be a starving artist, but had it not been for my patient, kind, generous and non-deserving-of-my-bullshit friends and family, I'd be either in a dumpster somewhere or pursuing a side career entertaining people ala Ashley Alexandra Dupre.
I'm doing lots of landscapes in oil, but am increasingly drawn towards abstraction and non-figurative work, particularly in acrylic and watercolor, as of late. My strengths lay in portraits, which are slowly paying the bills. Portraits are almost always done in pastel, charcoal and pencil, I'm just happier with them that way. I love love love love LOVE color, but I've been increasingly interested in sepia and charcoal images heightened with chalk. If I had it to do all over again, I'd go take a couple of years and study in the Atelier movement, focusing on drawing and building toward painting. I can't stop staring at anything that has come out of Atelier-trained students.
Finally, I'm looking forward to what the next few months and years bring. After two years in the corporate world, I was at the point where I was having daily panic attacks, doing work that I hated, trying desperately to fit into a world that I innately was never a part of, crying at the drop of a hat, going to therapy just to get through the week and literally making myself sick, it's a welcome change to be excited about one's future. I actually am sad to go to bed sometimes because I've enjoyed my workday so much, I don't want it to end. Yeah, that's a little hokey, but whatever. Deal with it.
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