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In the beginning of your creative career, the goal is to find that job in your industry where you can apply your skills and creative abilities. Landing that job is like finding the final piece to the puzzle.
Much of our training and education grooms us for that opportunity. However, what we don’t learn is what happens if we rely on our job to be the only avenue of creative expression. Over time if our job becomes more about producing versus creating, we can eventually end up feeling creatively stagnant.
In this current economy, companies are expecting more from the creative professional. An article titled “Is Your Job Killing Your Creativity?” published in the Business News Daily reveals what was discovered from a survey sponsored by Adobe, a software developer. Ned Smith writes that, “three out of four respondents said they are under growing pressure to be productive rather than creative, despite the fact that they are increasingly expected to think creatively on the job.”
Many of my clients who after working in their industry for several years, eventually found themselves burnt out, uninspired by their work and no longer felt they were utilizing their creative potential.
There are several reasons for this, one of them being that they relied entirely on their job to express themselves creatively. Even in the most creative working environment, your creative needs can be fulfilled only up to a certain point.
In order to maintain this balance, it’s important to immerse yourself in other forms of creative expression outside of your primary work. Not doing so can make you susceptible to burn out or job dissatisfaction.
The key to maintaining passion and motivation for your creative work is to find avenues in which you can regularly replenish your creative well in new and inspiring ways.
Top image from Imgembed.
This is a cross-post from The Art of Mind.
Lisa A Riley, MA, LMFT is a Creativity Coach and has spent more than nine years working with creative individuals such as artists, actors, designers, musicians, writers, and actors. She “helps to empower clients to take steps towards enhancing their creativity and move closer to becoming the artist they envisioned themselves to be”. See her multiple ‘Products for Your Creative Success’ on her site The Art of Mind.