"How can I think outside the box, if I work in a cube?" is a T-Shirt that I pass by in a Hallmark storefront daily on my way to and from work. I never wanted to go the Big Four route until I got to grad school and was basically told that "it's the equivalent of Harvard on your resume." So, here I am putting in long hours, even days, putting personal life on hold and wondering if it's something I want to do for the rest of my life. I always thought of myself as a creative person and while my first (and favorite) tax professor always said that "tax is for creative people," I feel that I'm not living up to my full "creative" potential. Despite all of my complaints (as that's what I do best), I truly like what I do, but would I sacrifice everything for it? No. Is it something that i want to do for the rest of my life? No. Do I dream of doing something more creative? Yes! Yes! Yes!
My philosophy on education has always been as follows:
(1) You have a talent - Pursue it.
(2) You have a great passion - Pursue it.
(3) Pick something practical that you can live with.
Guess which route I took, with my personal approach of "get in, get out." I'm out and still regret never having taken an art class as a kid. I feel like I have "a good eye", I know I do, but at this point in my life, how do I pursue it? According to another interesting NYT article, it's the age of the right brain. Yet, my event planning "business" is kind of the sidelines and I am dying to do something creative, something exciting, to have my own business and make money doing so, but where do I begin?
this song comes to mind (although it has nothing to do with the topic at hand):
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Realistically your answer is within your post.
ReplyDelete(1) You have a talent - Pursue it.
(2) You have a great passion - Pursue it.
(3) Pick something practical that you can live with.
The thing that is holding you back is RISK. You are afraid to step out of the cube and try something creative, because you are not sure what to do and if it will succeed and provide enough income.
Once you decide to take a chance I’m sure things will go your way and if they don't you have to keep trying. This is not for everyone so if anything you can always do what you do now.
Rizhkin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, but in reality it's not that simple (much like everything else in my life.)
You're 100% right about the Risk/Reward ratio, but I'm not a risk taker. I can be, but I need someone to push me, to hold my hand as I leap. As for the success of my leap, I feel that I have a talent but not enough; I have a passion, but I'm lazy; I'm a virgo, therefore, practical by nature, so I'm an accountant trying to come to terms with the right side of my brain.
Well
ReplyDeletea. everyone has something creative,
b. if everyone did something creative who would be left to do all the "boring work"
Any creative endeavor, is a risk, because art is more subjective then anything else (unfortunately for you creativity in taxation is judged by only one place IRS).
You really have to have a passion for art, if you don't, or become lazy you're doomed to fail. Its not only how good your art is but what you're willing to go through to promote it. And it all takes time... and don't forget that you're not the only creative person in NY, and there are 1000s of creatives coming here looking for work every day... you're just a needle in the hays stack :)
sux I know
Yes, forgot, another route is do what Mark Kostabi did
ReplyDelete"Kostabi studied drawing and painting at California State University, Fullerton. In 1982 he moved to New York City and by 1984 he became a leading figure of the East Village art scene. During that time he also developed a provocative media persona by publishing self-interviews which commented on the commodification of contemporary art. By 1987 his works were widely exhibited in New York galleries and prominently throughout the United States, in Japan, Germany and Australia. In 1988, inspiring extensive international press coverage, he founded Kostabi World - his large New York studio known for openly employing numerous painting assistants and idea people. "
1. Not EVERYONE is creative
ReplyDelete2. Many people are lazy or uninterested or choose the safer route
3. Talent is 99% perseverence (or however the saying goes)
I'm not saying that I'm the most talented nor am I saying that I'm ready to quit my day job. All I'm saying is as the expression goes, "I'm stuck between limbo and libido" and I want to pursue something, but I'm not exactly sure what. However, first step in the right direction - www.planacoordination.com is officially my domain. :-)
1. I think creativity (depending on how you define it) is more learned and developed as if being just born with it. I mean every talent is developed. If you grow in a creative environment, and you look at cool and creative things all the time, of course you'll be creative. Otherwise, if you're born on a farm... chances for you showing any creativity are rather slim.
ReplyDeleteAs far as you go... ""I'm stuck between limbo and libido" and I want to pursue something, but I'm not exactly sure what." Its a choices that you make, if you have creativity you have to take risks, if you're not ready for that, then don't complain (even though you do it best, as a friend of mine said it "jews are born to complain", and you're a prime example :-) )
As far as www.planacoordination.com...
a. you need a better design for the blog.
b. you want people to come there not only "work related" but to hang out and read INTERESTING AND ORIGINAL (or semi-original) content related to the weddings or planning, or fashion (like http://www.weddingbee.com/)
this way you'll not only get new clients but will be able to generate some revenue from the sponsors.
:-)
There's always (at least) two ways of looking at things. I'm not sure who said it and I'm sure I mentioned this somewhere in my post, but talent is "1% inspiration and 99% prespiration." In order to achieve anything in life, you must bust your popachka, because seldom things come on a silver platter (blyudechko s goluboy koyomochkoy), but there's another saying of "the harder I work, the more luck I have". Again, I'm not sure who said it, but it's true when you devote yourself to something, hard work will pay off ("in the future, lazyness pays off now.") <-just couldn't resist. :-)
ReplyDeleteCreativity does not necessarily stem from your surroundings, however. Many famous authors, artists, painters, actors had no "creative" background and did in fact grow up on a farm. Creativity stems from within and can be explored on a farm, in an attic, basement, etc.
Those that know me well, know that complaining is what I do best, even if I have nothing to complain about. Just an aside.
Regarding planacoordination.com, I don't want to discuss that on this blog and I'm working on the design and have been for some time. I've asked several friends for assistance as I neither have the expertise nor the ability to create webpages, but everyone is understandably busy (unless they need something) and I will not spend money to get this done at this point in time.
My problem is that I want my creative side to shine, I'm just not sure how to incorporate my creativity into my practicality.
Please email all suggestions ...
he he he :-)
I'm not saying that none of the creative people were born on the farm. I'm saying that creativity is grown... it really depends on environment + having a mental illness (Particularly strong links have been identified between creativity and mood disorders, particularly manic-depressive disorder (a.k.a. bipolar disorder) and depressive disorder (a.k.a. unipolar disorder).)
ReplyDeleteMost of the artist, given that they had some basic talent, studied, apprenticed etc etc and were influenced by the peers and public of their time. Name 5 famous artists who grew up on a farm and were just "discovered" :-)
Oh, as for Virgo practicality, here's a list of a few artists who were born as virgo.
ReplyDeleteGrandma Moses, Greta Garbo, Leo Tolstoy,Ray Charles, Sophia Loren... just look here.. I'm sure you'll see a lot of familiar names http://www.who2.com/zodiac/virgo.html
I've read the virgo list, but it doesn't have to do with the stars as much as it has to do with you as an individual.
ReplyDeleteAs for people that grew up on a farm, Anne Frank, it wasn't really a farm, but an attic, and everyone knows the story. Most artists of the past died penniless and unknown and got discovered only after their death. Here are a few (although I'm not sure where they all grew up, in 18th century, everything was pretty much a farm):
One of my favorite poets, Emily Dickinson
Johann Sebastian Bach
Henry David Thoreau
Vincent Van Gogh
Franz Kafka
So, yes plenty of people achived fame and riches and "got discovered" only after they ceased to exist. As for the psychological disorders - many of them have to do with drugs, other are simply disturbed people. I'm sure there are statistics to prove all this, but 93.7% of statistics are made up on the spot. :-) and I never claimed sanity. . .
To go on a bit of a tangent . . . http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/24/celebrity-winfrey-dion-biz-media-cx_lr_0524rags.html (can't insert hyperlinks into comments).
out of all te artists the you've listed, pretty much every one of them hanged out with the other artists, looked, listened, read other peoples work etc. their creativity didn't come from no where, they were influenced by others...
ReplyDeleteand no, 18th century, not everything was a farm, just look at the salons in Paris ... :)
and btw. there's a clear distinction between art and commerce, even though as of late people are trying to blend the line... there's commercial painting, photography, music and there's a fine art....
if you're looking to make money with your art then its probably not "art" per se. Although I think I've just opened a can of worms :)
and no, psychological disorders are not directly liked to the drug use, and as Van Gogh said it (and he's known to have bi-polar disorder) that his best art comes not from the disease but from battles with the disease :)
1. No such thing as hanged, hung
ReplyDelete2. I think you mean saloons in Paris, not Salons
3. There's places outside of Paris and no, not all roads lead to Rome, but I think either way it's irrelevant to this discussion.
4. There's no clear distinction between art and commerce because a lot of art became commercial and a lot of commercials became art, where do you draw the line? Who is the judge? I'm still not sure how one gets to be an art critic.
5. I never said that psychological disorders are directly linked to drug use. And yes, it's obvious that most creative peope are/were mentally unstable - or what's considered unstable in the current society. It all has to do with the other side of the brain.