The Creatives Guide On How Not To Hate Your Job!

Buzz….Buzz…..

Buzz…Buzz..

I hit snooze on my alarm its 5:15 am and I have to get up for work. I sit on the edge of my bed and thank God for another day, then I get up and start my morning routine. Shower, pick out my outfit (which is most likely a hoodie), cook breakfast, make my lunch, and let my dog out. Now this routine sounds normal to most and I would be fine with that if I didn’t have to be chained to a desk for 7 hours!! Oops… sorry to be rude, I am Lauren Chalaire and I am a spoken word artist/songwriter/writer. I am a part-time thug, but that’s neither here or there. I am half of the spoken word duo Mosaiq (check us out at www.bmosaiq.com). So before I carry on you can get the sense that I am a critical and unorthodox person who despises rules and loves art.

However back to regular programming…… My job!?!?

Now don’t get me wrong I am grateful to have a job but the monotonous typing, repeating the same phone script, and copying and pasting e-mails slowly chip away at my soul. For most this is a legit lifestyle to have a desk job with a moderate sense of freedom and a consistent paycheck. However, this is a nightmare for creatives like myself. I would rather be somewhere performing poetry or writing a book NOT behind a desk suffocated by corporate structure and routine. I am constantly strangled by the “rules” or written up for innovating other ways to do my job. Creativity is the arch nemesis of the corporate world it seems. I often imagine that I am the last of the creative superheroes and I constantly fight working drone zombies by challenging their mindset. Did you buy it??… Well if not atleast I tried. I have discovered 3 tips for a creative to survive in a corporate workplace setting.

Tip #1

Express yourself creatively during your breaks

If you are writer/poet like myself I take some scrap paper and just jot all of my thoughts out that come to me as I work.. Kind of like a free-write if you will. I get out all of my thoughts and save them until I get home or to a free space where I can make them into something. Ironically these pieces have help create some really dope poems.

Tip #2

Listen to music or sing your favorite song to yourself quietly.

If you’re lucky you can listen to music at work. You can kind of find your groove spot where you drown out your co-workers and surroundings. I find when I listen to my favorite song it motivates me to create more freely and allows me to completely immerse myself into creative mind space.. instead of a desk. If you cant listen to music just think about how your favorite song makes you feel. Try to think about where you were mentally and physically when you first heard it. Normally these feel good emotions will energize the creative spirit.

Tip # 3

Become a lens, observe your surroundings and create a mental pathway out of the hamster wheel.

Look at your surroundings from an outsider’s point of view which is not too far fetch considering that you are a creative. Observe the patterns and routines of the workplace which means paying attention to your co-workers mannerisms and actions. Use these observations as fuel for your art to ignite something within these drones when they hear, read, or see your work. Corporate America needs a wake up call! You should be the ONE to do it because you can relate and you know that there is more to life. Oh, don’t forget to research your art, find out the history, the culture, and most importantly how you can use it to GET OUT of the corporate Gotham city. (I am going to make at least one hero references work one way or another lol)

These tips have been helping me so far. Let me know if it works for you.

LC signing off,

Later!