I’ve picked up a new job. It’s not music-related, at all. It’s menial, and tiring, and the hours are long. But it pays the bills. In short, it’s what others refer to as a “real” job.
Three times a week, I now go to bed at 9pm, wake up at 3am, and drive to the workplace, where I serve customers as a barista from 4-11am.
I then go home, stretch, nap, then work as much as I can on my musical projects before the evening. Which hasn’t been much so far, but I’m adapting – today is already one of the best so far.
You might think this would bother me, but so far at least, it hasn’t. And I think that is almost entirely due to something I love talking about in this blog – my mindset.
To be honest, I worried I would hate the “real” job. The closest work I’ve done that’s similar to this is the first job I ever took on, flipping burgers at McDonalds.
It might be tempting to think of returning to a service job like this as a giant step back – especially if you’re locked into a mindset that says every new job has to be more fun, exciting, or just better than the last.
It’s important to shelve our ego at times like these. I just don’t see the practical value of putting ourselves at financial risk, simply because the jobs available aren’t very glamorous.
And even the most tiresome task can be reframed as something that does in fact take us closer to the work we REALLY want. For example, by paying the bills until we get there.
There are caveats of course: It’s harder to think this way if the work takes up a huge amount of your time, or is emotionally draining. If you have a lot of bills, a full-time job may be required just to keep you in a holding pattern.
BUT a lot of the more difficult aspects of taking on more work can be mitigated if you can connect it to your passion in some way – because then you become passionate about IT.
For example, my job helps me cover my expenses, and improves my listening and people skills (both very important in any business).
And by pushing myself to do well at work, I create the possibility of future pay renegotiations that can help me cover other things, like audio equipment.
Thinking this way can engage us more in our work. The more we engage, the better we do. And the better we do, the more fun it gets.
A lot changes when the work stops being tedious and becomes another unique challenge. And the growth required to meet those challenges can be exciting too.
As someone with ADD, I never expected I could make an order, pass on information to my colleagues, and interpret the static-ridden messages of drive-thru customers at the same time.
Sometimes taking on a job similar to one you did when you were younger can remind you of how far you’ve come mentally since then.
The whole thing can even take on aspects of a game, with faster delivery time and higher customer satisfaction representing the ‘score’.
I realize I might be accused of a little hypocrisy here. I mean, it’s easy to talk about reframing one’s part-time job, when my wife handles all the big expenses.
But then again, if I was single, I would likely be living in a smaller place, in a more transit-friendly city (i.e. no car required), so my bills would be comparatively less.
I’m not saying this is an easy thing to do, nor am I suggesting there aren’t aspects of my work I wish weren’t there.
I AM saying that if we can see that “real job” as something other than drudgery, if we can make it more than just working for a paycheck, then it can become almost as enjoyable as working on our dreams themselves. It’s all in the mind.
Credits:
‘Man in White Polo Shirt Using a Tablet Computer’ by Artem Podrez from Pexels