Does Holding Down a Job and Paying Your Bills Mean You Sold Out Your Dream?

This morning's eNewsletter from AEON began with an excellent article by Thomas Maloney titled, The Creed of Compromise: Don’t throw in the day job to follow your dream. The subtitle elaborates the them: Join the bifurcattors who juggle work-for-pay and their work-for-love.

The article is directed toward every person who has ever wondered if they should quit their day job to follow their passion.

You know the issue. You have talent. Maybe you're an artist or writer, an actor or musician. You feel like you're selling yourself short by not going after your dream. Then again, you look at the numbers and you know you need the money to pay the bills.

Maloney's article is directed directly at people in this situation. In his case he's a writer, but it could be someone who wants to start his or her own business. Part of the article deals with the dilemma.

The problem has many facets. One of them has to do with what kind of employment path to take to pay the bills. "Some choose a job that corresponds with higher dreams," he writes. "Others work in a disparate field for the money so as to not contaminate their passion."

Maloney chose to work in at a hedge fund. I myself pursued a career that utilized my skills, landing a job as a writer and building on that to a career in advertising. For both Mahoney and myself it was a compromise, but one we accepted. We also each felt fortunate that we had jobs that were sufficient to take care of our needs. Not everyone is so fortunate, as he notes here.

"What’s certain is that not everyone has the opportunity to do a stint in a well-paid but mildly perplexing job, even if they wanted to. Many school-leavers and graduates face a choice between several uninspiring jobs that are all badly paid, and a passion that pays nothing at all."

Maloney's article explores all the facets of this issue, like a jeweler examining the faces of a gem from multiple angles. When it comes to the matter of moonlighting he writes that "moonlighting is undoubtedly an uncomfortable business. By dividing finite time and energy between two endeavors, bifurcators inevitably feel they aren’t doing either as well as they could."

Further on, he places another aspect of the matter on the table. Whichever path your pursue, the dream or the job, you can still end up experiencing regret.

Advocates of dream-following, of commitment and career leaps of faith, often say: ‘You’ll regret it if you don’t.’ They might be right about that (actually, they almost certainly are). But here’s the rub: regret is not the sole preserve of the cautious compromiser. A failure to compromise can also beget future unhappiness. Some of your sacrifices might come back to haunt you.

If you've ever wrestled with any aspect of this dilemma,  I recommend the full article here on Aeon.

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Last summer I attended an Op-Ed workshop with author Michael Fedo who was in Duluth for a book signing, a book that also addresses this very same topic: Don't Quite Your Day Job. A review of Fedo's book is at the end of my blog post Notes from an Op-Ed Writing Workshop.

Whatever you choose, choose to make a difference.