Stowe Boyd, who I had the pleasure of meeting in San Francisco last year, has posted an inspiring and deeply thoughtful discussion on the sacrifices we make as creative workers. I know personally that my work-life balance frankly, isn't and the blurred line between what is work and what isn't grows ever more blurry.
The quotes below resonated particularly strongly with me:
It's only work if you have to make yourself do it. If you have to hold yourself back, it's play.
This life calls us, we don't pick it. And it has an austerity to it, since the majority of the time spent practicing our craft, perfecting the art, is time spent alone...
...Another good reason to work apart from others, so you don't have to hear all that negativity. Close the door, and sharpen your pencil.
Like making a fire from rubbing sticks together, creativity's heat comes from work. Work requires dedication. Dedication involves sacrifice, specifically of time and the absence of what might have been done instead.
One of my big aims for acidlabs in 2008 is to break my reliance on long, onsite contracts and move to a model where I have several ongoing small contracts that let me work independently with interesting clients or with small, creative groups that really understand the type of work we do. I am tired of corporate cube farms, which are lonely and dehumanising.
If you are a creative (for a broad and blurry definition of the term) worker, you should read Stowe's post, and the post from gapingvoid's Hugh McLeod that inspired it.
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