Sometimes, a job is just a job

Today’s edition of Wishful Working is a 4 minute read.

This week’s edition of Wishful Working was written by Alexa Phillips, author of the Creatives Anonymous newsletter.

From a young age, we're conditioned to find what we love or are good at and create an entire career around it. We must figure it all out at 18 and beat ourselves up when we want to change course at 28. We think that when we get our “dream job,” we’ll have hit the professional jackpot. 

But the reality isn’t as glamorous as we want it to be. Most of us are in jobs that we don’t love. For many, our job is just a way to make ends meet. We might do something we’re good at but not necessarily passionate about. Added pressure comes when we think our jobs must also be our source of creative fulfillment. 

I’ll let you in on a little secret: You don’t have to love your job. Or let it be your source of creative fulfillment. 

In fact, most of our creative fulfillment comes from outside of work. 

It comes from the walks we take, the books we read, and the art we create. It can be found in our hobbies, our communities, our side quests, and with our friends. We don’t have to find it in pouring lattes or knee-deep in Excel spreadsheets (unless that gives you creative fulfillment). 

We don’t have to strive to love our job or find something that brings us joy. We can just clock in, do the work, and go home. We don’t have to climb corporate ladders or feel ambitious.

Our jobs act as a security blanket that allows us to have the freedom for creative fulfillment. They give us that paycheck we need for stability while allowing us to do the work that nourishes our souls. This stability enables us to take creative risks or to try something new without the risk of failure. It allows us to explore and play. 

And in some cases, it’s probably better not to do the same type of work you do for your day job that also scratches your creative itch.

Finding creative fulfillment outside work helps us develop more well-rounded personalities and build up other parts of our lives. It gives us the “church” and “state” separation we crave between our work and personal lives. 

We can’t talk about work without bringing up the A word: ambition. 

Just because we don’t want to be ambitious at our day job doesn’t mean we aren’t ambitious about something else. 

This is what can be referred to as “soft ambition.”

Ambition is extrinsic, driven by what the world perceives as “ambitious.” And most of the time, it’s money and power. Most people tend to associate ambition with professional life. 

But true ambition is individualistic; it’s whatever gives us meaning and what we find important. Soft ambition is intrinsically motivated ambition driven by passion versus obligation. There are no “shoulds” with soft ambition; it’s all wants. 

That said, there is no right way to be ambitious, and it can have little to do with our day jobs.

We can be ambitious about the non-profit we volunteer at, our photography hobby, or that novel we’re writing. 

We can be ambitious about the things that creatively fulfill us. When we stop putting pressure on our jobs to fulfill us creatively, we open many more possibilities to find the things outside of work that truly fulfill us. 

Because at the end of the day, a job is just a job. 

A huge thank you to Kara for letting me guest on this week’s issue of Wishful Working! You can read her guest issue of Creatives Anonymous here. 

Alexa Phillips is a writer, brand strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder and Chief Brand Architect at Bright Eyes Creative, a Seattle-based creative studio that helps creative entrepreneurs build media-first brands to lead conversations and deeply connect with their audiences. She is also the author of Creatives Anonymous, a weekly newsletter that explores what it means to be a modern-day creative. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.