How to Keep Your Dreams and Your Day Job

In the struggle to integrate work with a meaningful, fun, and fulfilling life, many of
us find our big dreams colliding with our occupational realities. As much as we'd like
to be starting our own businesses, finishing our novels, selling our albums, or getting
out to those casting calls, we feel chained to our chairs, shackled to our
spreadsheets, drowned in our dead-end day jobs.

And the prevailing wisdom is that you just have to quit the job, cut the cord, take the
leap from the job that you tolerate to the work that you love. Unfortunately,
following that wisdom has led far too many people to financial ruin, frustrated
ambitions, and unfulfilled dreams. There's a better way -- and it doesn't involve
quitting your day job to chase your dreams.

Don't be a quitter

Jon Acuff's book, Quitter, is filled with wise ideas about why keeping your day job is
a better path to achieving your dreams. Here are just some of the reasons Acuff
gives for keeping your day job while you pursue your dreams:

When you have a day job that meets your financial needs, you have the freedom to
pursue only the things that move you closer to your dreams. When you quit your day
job, you might have to say "yes" to things that make you money while actually
pulling you further off course.
When you have a day job that you can contain and control, you have the time to
truly plan your strategy, make connections, and lay the groundwork while still
making an income.
When you have a day job that isn't quite your dream, you have the motivation to
hustle in ways that move your dream forward.
From his experience and perspective, the people who build and actually achieve their
biggest dreams aren't those that cut the cord rashly and irresponsibility. Instead,
they're the ones you have the discipline and determination to use their current
situations to support their ambitions. Here are some quotations from Quitter to give
you some food for thought:
"When you keep your day job, all opportunities become surplus propositions rather
than deficit remedies. You only have to take the ones that suit your dream best."
"Quitting a job doesn't jump-start a dream becau se dreams take planning, purpose,
and progress to succeed. That stuff has to happen before you quit your day job."
"I know it sounds crazy, but people with jobs tend to have more creative freedom
than people without."
Finding creative freedom in your day job