Slack off at work. Save your energy for art!
An essay for those who hate their job and just want to create
One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was do work I didn’t want to do. That feels like a ridiculous sentence to write. But I’ve never been more depressed as I was when I was navigating work that didn’t light me up. I wanted to write. I wanted to tell stories. I wanted to have a life of meaning and creation. Working for someone else, doing work that I didn’t care about took a tremendous toll on me. And I tried all the different jobs, it didn’t matter whether I was a waitress, or personal training, I didn’t want to do that work. I wanted to tell stories. Having a job wore away at me spiritually, it left me empty.
I felt so embarrassed to be struggling so hard. Everyone else could handle having a job they didn’t love, why couldn’t I? But, I demanded a life that sparkled. I wanted a life of art. I wanted a life I loved.
I am so in awe of the past version of me who did work they fucking hated for so many years, whilst also building a life of creativity on the side. So I am writing this essay to her, and to any of you who are navigating something similar.
Things I needed to hear as I, an aspiring author, navigated doing work that I hated:
This work is not your life’s purpose. Art is your life’s purpose.
You are made for way more than this.
You are here to make art and make impact.
This is not forever.
Bunk off at work, prioritise your art. I know this can be hard. So many of us are not comfortable giving less than 100%, but see it as a form of revolution. We need you to save some of yourself for your creations.
Some days, your muggle work will take it all out of you, and you won’t be able to create. It’s okay. These days fucking suck, but these days are not forever. You are not going to do meaningless work forever.
Every time you create something you are rebelling against the systems that want you exhausted and doing work that doesn’t matter. Remember that.
You are not lazy, or delusional for wanting more. You deserve more.
Baby steps are what is going to bring about change. BABY STEPS. 10 minutes creating here, 30 minutes there.
You are an artist. Even when everyone wants to call you a: accountaint, account manager, lawyer, waitress, doctor - whatever. You are an artist first and foremost.
When people ask you what you do, tell them you’re an artist, writer, painter, whatever. Just fucking do it. It’ll confuse them. They will be like, what? I thought you were a banker - fuck em. Own it.
We live in a culture that venerates toiling and drudgery - you are asking for more, and that is brave.
You are not asking for too much.
We live in a capitalist world, you will need money to live. But there are so many ways you can rebel against a system that wants you to be compliant and stagnant and unfulfilled. There are ways you can reclaim your life and demand magic from it. You don’t have to work in the way society is asking you to. In fact, it is imperative that you don’t.
You are an artist for life, it’s okay if it takes time to build up your creative presence, your creative body of work. This will happen. You are an artist. It is inevitable.
The shame you feel about struggling with work that doesn’t light you up? It’s not yours to carry. You were never meant to squeeze yourself into a mold that wasn’t built for you.
There is no timeline for when you “should” be a full-time artist. That pressure? That’s capitalism talking. You are an artist now.
Your job is not your identity. Your art is. Your soul is. Your dreams are.
Not all time is equal. The 15 minutes you steal away for your art might be more sacred than eight hours at your job. Honor that.
The fact that this is hard doesn’t mean it’s wrong. The resistance you feel isn’t a sign to quit—it’s proof that this path matters to you.
Keep making art, even when no one is looking. Even when it feels like no one cares. You are planting seeds that will bloom in ways you can’t yet imagine.
One day, you will wake up and realize that you are living the life you once begged for. Keep going.
I cannot tell you how fucking on your side I am. Fuck meaningless jobs. We are artists, we deserve more.
FIVE DAYS UNTIL WE NEED YOUR ART!!
This book is to take care of you on this journey of centring your creations in your life. I can’t wait for you to get your hands on her.
Tour dates for We Need Your Art:
It would be the greatest honour to get to meet you, sign your book, write you your own personalized inspiredtowrite love note. Hug you. Hear about your art. Bask in your creative magic.
USA EAST COAST
The BookMark Shoppe Brooklyn 11th March 2025 7pm - BUY TICKETS HERE
Head House Books, Philly, 13th March 2025 6:30pm - BUY TICKETS HERE
Taylor Co Books, Brooklyn, 14th March 2025 7:30pm - BUY TICKETS HERE (just scroll down the home page!)
UNITED KINGDOM
Morocco Bound Bookshop", 25th March - BUY TICKETS HERE
AMSTERDAM
Scheltema, 5th April, 2pm - BUY TICKETS HERE!
BERLIN, SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE!
I am going to be all up and about your business. Please stay tuned.
Thank you for writing this Aime! It’s bold, and brave, and the scary thing to say because of our hustle and work purity culture, but so many of us need to hear it! ❤️
Complete honesty, I started slacking off at work this year and have been giving that slack off time to my art.
A bit more than a year ago my VP looked me in the eyes and promised me if I pulled through on a multi-billion dollar engineering project, one of the largest the company had ever done, that I would get a life changing promotion. So, I pulled through, at the cost of my weekends, and my evenings, and my family, and my health. Then, in December, guess who didn’t get that promotion because ‘the company decided to shift its trajectory’…
Fuck these jobs. Fuck these companies.
Slack off at work as much as you can get away with to give your time to your art.
Since ‘slacking off’ or ‘quiet quitting’ and doing only the bare minimum at work, I’ve written 60k words of my manuscript on my phone. Almost magically I went from having no energy for my art to writing 2k+ words per day.
We need to learn how to slack off. We aren’t important to these capitalist companies, but we are so important to our art. ❤️
I needed this permission slip! I've have felt so much happier since I've accepted that, yes, I'm currently in a 9-6 corporate job that I don't love, but I also don't mind doing it and it gives me financial peace of mind and flexibility so that I still have enough energy and creativity to do what I love, which is writing. There's nothing wrong with that. For years I felt like I was failing because I'm not making a full-time income with my writing yet but the reality is that that takes time and that sometimes you just have to choose financial security for a bit (I know this is different for everyone but I know my creativity would suffer immensely if I was constantly worried about making rent). That doesn't make me any less of an artist.
I also learnt that it's not because my corporate job pays the bills that that part of my life is bigger or more valuable than the art I create. So I've started answering the question 'What do you do?' with 'I'm a writer', because that's what I want to be known as.