What is your ideal creative job? If you enjoy our films and want a say on what ones we make you can now become a channel member here: ru-vid.com/show-UC7IcJI8PUf5Z3zKxnZvTBogjoin
Im still figuring that out. Im a multi-faceted artist that does alot and it's hard to focus on just one at times. I'm both a traditional and digital artists and painter, song writer, beat maker, graphic artist, sculptor, animator, video editor, etc. I'll just stop right there the list goes on. I am currently trying to work on a project that combines ALL my talent which every now and then I have to take a break from as I also have a tendency to burn out. Ugh. Yet I KNOW someday I will have multiple streams of income doing all the things I love and hope the same for everyone in my position. Hoping all fellow creatives will realize and manifest their goals and dreams into reality ❤❤❤
I enjoy my creative hobbies, but whenever I try to turn them into something profitable, I just lose interest. It's not fun any more when it becomes actual work. I've often thought I'd enjoy being a hypnotist, though. X)
Coming from a family of self-employed people I would encourage you to take your future into your hands and go for it!! Creative jobs can often be independent (doesn't mean you will work alone). It's gonna be tough, it will take years and you might need side jobs for some time, but if you really want it, it will manifest! Good luck and enjoy the process ♥
Not ironically, creatives mut more often create their own roles. The consumerist / capitalist system veers away from creative roles because they're not easily optimised towards profit. Thus you have to typically demonstrate what you can offer as a creative, and then convince someone to pay for it.
@@aaronbeedle941 You wrote beautifully! Those are the reasons why creativity is more rare among bigger companies; it's not always guarantee success and could contradict top-down management style.
It's it amazing when you come across a person or resource how has the "answers" to a question you have only just begun to explore or not even fully formulated yet! This is the human experience!!!
this is so real. I spent years believing I wanted to be an animator who would create their own tv show. I turned 18 and realized I had mediocre talent and I was abhorrently of the lower middle class. now had I been from a different background, I wouldn't have to be exceptional to vie for a spot in a prestigious art school. people of my talent level had gotten into these highly coveted art schools. they had the money. I didn't. this spiraled into a months long depression as I came to grips with reality. when youre "poor" you can't be equal to everyone else who has money. and I came to terms with the fact that I dont want to be in a world where I have to be exceptional where my more wealthy classmates could get by with being "good enough". I think im switching into graphic design with a backup plan of becoming an elementary school art teacher if I can't make a living as a commercial graphic designer. I realized that I never wanted to tell stories in animation (as alluring as the job title seemed to me) but what I really wanted was to impart some wisdom on youth. I watched cartoons as a kid and it made me feel less lonely. I liked drawing and thought "hey. animation!" but my real calling was just helping other lonely kids.
I would wager one of the things that might attract a person to a career in journalism is the feeling of 'doing good for the world'... something that person is probably not likely to get from a job working for an oil company, or investment bank
My thoughts exactly. If making positive changes some thing you value, it’s unlikely that that type of job would produce fulfillment. And in fact it could be the exact opposite… A career that makes life actually feel meaningless Of course that’s different for each person. But those were my thoughts as well
You used the word “feeling” and the truth is, that’s all it is. A feeling. Some journalists would feel that they’re doing good, some won’t. Same with an employee at an oil company or investment firm. One could do as much good as the other, or no good at all. It would be narrow-sighted and naive to think that one of those professions is inherently more virtuous than the others.
@@mrsleakyshit what I'm saying is that, someone who wants to be a journalist because it feels virtuous is unlikely to get that feeling of virtuousness from working at an investment bank. And although "virtue" is subjective, as long as a person has their own definition of virtue, there are definitely some jobs more virtuous than others
As an early childhood teacher I have found endless opportunity to be creative and I have a daily audience, I have a self published children picture book that I created on the side as a hobby, this works for me, I love being with kids and creating...win win!
While I find almost all School of Life videos powerful, because they focus on difficult, but meaningful truths, this one feels like it dances past troubling truths to make an optimistic point. For example, if one loves journalism, because of a strong desire to work for the common good, an oil firm is the wrong place. Or if one loves to teach, because of seeing the beauty and good in fostering the creativity, wonder and empathy in students, then a wealth management firm, places catering to those often indifferent to the struggles of others, is not the place. Often we are drawn to certain work, because it aligns with our morals too, not just our creative desires. Most compromise their morals for work, but there's a limit to how much dissonance we can live with.
I read your comment hoping it set good counter arguments but your misquoting of the examples from the video dashed away those hopes. Working in an oil company was an alternative to going directly into politics not Journalism. PS try making a change in an industry you deem immoral rather completely avoid having anything to do with it Edit: I also misread your comment and wrote “Teaching” instead of “Journalism”
@White wolf I see you got that subliminal message from the comment too. I did not want to assume that was the OP’s stance without having a dialogue first. There was a hint of self righteousness in the comment which cause me to reply.
Working in the oil or mining industry can be for the common good. All of our lives depend on them. Even if we develop into a net zero economy. We still need oils, chemicals, and raw materials. As in the examples I give in another comment, wind turbines need lubricants, the towers are made from steel, the blades from fibre glass epoxy, its electrical system needs metal, insulator and other chemicals. A lot of important chemicals and some medicines are synthesized from petroleum. All the hardware infrastructures to provide the internet, our home and personal devices, medical scanners in the hospitals, machines to radiate tumours, and countless essential things we make need raw materials from what we extract from the Earth, and none of which can be sourced from plants and animals. The work that oil companies do are not inherently unethical. I accept that there is the contribution to greenhouse gas, and corruption within the industries and with leaders of some countries. But we cannot shut down these industries completely, they are critical for us in whatever future we will build. So why not we all work for removing the bad and keeping the good. Don't see them as essentially an evil thing.
@White wolf "all jobs are and should be amoral" I do not understand where this conclusion came from, at least in such a generalized form. How can we, as a society exempt ourselves from the notion of moral/immoral... All jobs imply or should imply moral conduct. The outcome of a job can be a good one or a bad one (or both) in the sense of the impact on society. I'm guessing that by amoral you mean that the outcome of a job is not ment to be good or bad, because ultimately you just do your job, whatever that is, if it's working in the concrete industry or in telecommunications, what you are interested in is how much money reaches your banc account. So moral is not an obvious or necessary component of the outcome, but there are professions that are based on it, like firefighters, lifeguards, judges...
“What we want exists in different places beyond those we identified.” This well-articulated video has enlightened me with several kind reminders; one I needed to hear is that we should hold on our dreams and seek opportunities we may never thought of to achieve/pursue them. Thanks much for each and every person who is working in this therapeutic channel.
Despite of the social stigma about Male Belly Dancers, I love learning and performing the art. I keep uploading videos on RU-vid even though very few people watches those. And I live in a country where making it a profession is nearly impossible. But I still wanna dance. I still want to make videos and upload them. Even if nobody watches it. At least, I'll be free from the regret of not trying. And as the video mentioned, there might be other careers that have the same pleasures as performing art has. So I just need to look deeply and passionately 😊.....
Hi! Saw your videos, it's a first that I saw a male belly dancer. I'm amazed with your interpretations of the dance, keep it up. I highly suggest to post it in Tiktok instead of youtube. A bit of make up and lighting can make your videos a lot more mesmerizing.
I’ve been constantly stuck between wanting to change streams and keeping a supposedly uninteresting job because it pays well and I needed to hear this! I got so fixated on trying to move and yet I made no effort whatsoever to pursue it. But just the guilt kept gnawing at me and I realized now I’ve been doing badly at my current job as well. All this because I was quite clueless about my creative pursuit. When in turn, I took the job because I quite enjoyed college. I just lost track of what I want to do.
I strongly disagree with the premise here. First of all, being creative means to create something that didn't exist before. And I strongly urge you, if you feel the need to be creative and have found the way to do it whether it's painting, music, filmmaking or whatever, don't stop with it. It enriches life tremendously.
creating doesnt mean to do s.thing which deosnt exist - that cant be the only criteria. What if you create s.thing beatiful, a different version of s.thing which already exists. Creating only can mean to allow yourself to express your core, your individual search in life, to express yourself. I dont want to have an argument, just wanted to share my point of view, because I believe that such a way of thinking to try to do s.thing which doesnt exist puts too much unnecesecary pressure. Just play and try to have fun.
This is what I've slowly been realizing as an artist in their twenties as I work side jobs to pay bills. I realized while I was commercial flat-roofing that there's an art to everything, it's just that not every art form is purely creative. There are functional art forms too, and these offer great satisfaction in their mastery. This idea of general concepts that are present in countless other areas applies to countless other things as well. There are motions and lessons and concepts that seem very particular to one area of practice that are actually applicable in many unexpected places, and the more of these things I've learned from work, experiences, and general observation, the more I notice their vast reaches into seemingly remote sectors, and the more well-rounded and equipped I feel as an individual.
what i liked about the field of journalism - the changing sujet, the various topics, the different people. and the ability to not get stuck in any of these.
This video really sucker-punches me in the gut 🤣 🤣 🤣 . Coincidentally, I am a Journalist major, and when I graduated and tried to find work in a media company, and the sector is indeed in terminal decline and pitiably over-subscribed. I was pretty bummed out 😅. So instead of doing countless unpaid internships, I did a little soul-searching on the appeal of my excitement in Journalism. And like this video states, I have found it somewhere else. I started my RU-vid channel this year which relates to what I learned in college, and I couldn't be happier. Sorry for my long-winded rant, Thanks again for this lovely video 🍾 P.S. Looks like we both have the same upload schedule 🤣
That’s awesome! I was interested in journalism from a young age. I was discouraged by my parents for the exact reason in this video. Unfortunately they did not point me to related fields and interests, for example I should have studied international relations or economics. I am fine with the job I have now, but I will always wonder what if I had been better guided and informed?
*“You’ll watch an entire Netflix series even when the first episodes are slow just because someone told you that ‘it gets better’, but what if you looked at your goals like that and watched your life get better instead?”* Love from a small RU-vidr💙
This video gave me food for thought but after 3 years of creating for someone else (another company), I feel creatively depleted and starting to turn my attention towards becoming a freelancer. Creating my own RU-vid channel this tear was my first step towards that.
“So you want to be a journalist covering environmental crimes? Unfortunately that is statistically impossible. But! Chevron corporation is hiring someone to write copy and the pay is goooooooooood.”
I went to college to become a teacher. I was in pursuit of my Masters degree in education when I had to stop right before my thesis, because I had my 3rd child in four years. It was all too much at once. Now, I subsitute teach. I get to make my own schedule, be home with the children when they are off of school, not deal with the parents, or the bureaucratic public education system, and I still get to do what I love to do...teach. 😊💚
Thank you, Alan. Once again, you address an important aspect of life that help us to live more satisfingly way. Your voice, at the same time, brings me peace and somehow aliviate the internal voice that not always is fair to us
As Chris Rock put it: "And I’m sitting there and this lady comes up and goes, ‘I want you children to know you can be anything you wanna be. You can be absolutely anything you wanna be.’ I’m like, ‘Lady, why are you lying to these children?’ Maybe four of them could be anything they wanna be. But the other 2,000 better learn how to weld… I’m looking at these kids right now. I count at least 60 Uber drivers… Really? They could be anything they wanna be? Then how come you’re a vice principal? Was that the dream? Did you dress up like a vice principal when you was a kid? Put your little vice principal hat on? Tell the kids the truth…. You can be anything you’re good at. As long as they’re hiring.’ And even then it helps to know somebody.”
@@camez2345 because they sort of made it seem like creative people should just suck it up and go into the corporate world without talking about how soul crushing and exploitative those jobs usually are. It's not as simple as they made it seem
@White wolf nope I wasn't looking for unrealistic optimism I was just hoping for something other than being recommended to basically find my niche in the corporate world when so many people already have trauma from the shitty work environments that that world creates. The issue is not as simple as finding an aspect of something you like and finding a job that contains that same thing.
@@dlm972 True, they did make it seem easy. And they used terrible, icky corporate examples of "what you can do instead." I want to be an actor but I'll do presentations for a Fortune 500 company instead? Er...no thanks. But I do get the concept of trying to focus not on the actual job but on how it makes you feel to do that work. I read it in a book or maybe it's from a TED talk -? So for example, if you work as a medical interpreter and love it but the pay is astoundingly low (true story) or you're about to be replaced by a phone service, it's helpful to think, "Ok, what do I like about this? What does this do for me and how does it make me feel?" And you make a list. Maybe you find that you like it because you work independently, you're not an authority figure but you're absolutely vital to the encounter, you can see on people's faces how much your expertise means to them, you don't have to get super dressed up, you don't usually have to bring work home (unless you have something really specialized coming up), and you get a bit of exercise throughout the day going from floor to floor of the hospital. Ok. What else could fit that bill? You can come up with some options that tick most (but prob not all) of those boxes. And they don't have to all be corporate jobs or require more training. And maybe you just do it for a while until you figure things out. But maybe you can get close to that feeling with something like working at a pet supply store, working for a park district/nature preserve, working teaching adult literacy or teaching classes on how to prepare for the citizenship exam, tutoring kids struggling in school, or, if you're willing to/can go to school, becoming a hairdresser, IT person, teacher.... I don't know... I really like the idea of looking deeply at WHY you like a certain thing and how you can get that same feeling elsewhere if necessary.
@@dlm972 Unless you plan to change society, the options you have might be boiled down to not having a job you enjoy, or having a corporate job that you enjoy part of. They're highlighting an option in a system that doesn't value creativity very highly anymore. You probably wouldn't have felt less disappointed if they went into detail about how poor consumerism is for creatives or how hard it is for creatives to find enjoyable work now.
Sometimes the appeal of a creative calling is it gives a degree of independence and self realization and sheer joy of following intuition that would be curtailed by working in any industry under others. Ask any artist if they love doing commissions as much as doing their thing and the answer is a resounding no. Freedom is all, even if it means you pay for it by getting less money. It's worth that price.
Identify your key beliefs ,thoughts,passions and principles which excites you And Use it to see the world from a broader perspective THANKS this VIDEO PRACTICALLY shifted my MINDSET a lot🙏🙏❤️❤️
Here's my story. I work with cost accounting, at a big multinational chemical manufacturer. I absolutely hate it. And I hate my field of study (finances and accounting). I wanted to be a game designer, but as an artist. I struggle to find motivation to draw and improve my art, since college and work grind me everyday leaving me extremely tired. I'm a prisoner of my own life and I'm afraid only a radical decision will set me free.
Go radical, friend. I quit a career in the pharmaceutical industry as a mid-level position (director) at 39 because of stress, and wasting my life doing something irrelevant, working with people who I pitied. Went abroad, teach English. Self-employed now. Total autonomy. Time for hobbies, living, creative pursuits (published a book, commissioning art). Go radical.
@@bigwookah Taught English with a language school focused on corporates. After two years, ended up with many clients, corporate and private, and stopped working for the language school. Result: self-employed. How did I discover it? I taught part-time 20 years ago for fun for a few months. Decided to go into it full-time. Zero stress. Of course, I earn 1/20th of my previous salary, but I'm x20 happier. Paradox.
Personally I think people should try their interests as for fun while having a separate income source and then see where things go from there. I make music and while I do hope to eventually gain some fans for it, it wouldn’t break me if I didn’t because I was always making music for fun before I thought about making money out of it.
I'm an artist and writer in the making but because I finally have a proper full time job it's a desk job I just feel so tired all the time and I don't want to do anything. I'm very unfit because its a desk job so I'm hoping the more I save up the next few months I can start getting active and finally really do my two favourite things and earn from it as a side job.
All my life I wanted to be an artist. A musician, a filmmaker, a writer... Then I realized that I'm not gifted or special, or maybe just didn't have the time to give birth to my potential because all my life I was trapped in a box of religious extremists and mechanical jobs... Life ain't worth living anymore.
You can be an artist without making it a career. Make movies for you, for your family and friends. About whatever interests you. Write songs for fun, for loved ones, for kids and whoever you'd like. Write stories and books and poems, sing and play instruments. They don't have to be "good", just do it, because it's what you love doing and because it's so much fun. Focus less on results and instead enjoy the process.
Man, I just went to your page. Your videos look really interesting. The slow cinema/vérité doc style looks really good on you! I want to see a feature length :)
No St Christian Aldrin don't say that or internalise those thoughts! You have to get into the mindset of wanting to create for YOU, to fulfill your soul and to leave evidence of who you are/were and what you contributed to the world through your art when you're no longer here. You should never want to create solely for accolades and material success. You can do this! You'll be okay. Take care. ❤️❤️❤️
I think that visual or writing passions are easily transposable in other work fields (interior design for painting, teacher for writing etc), but good luck to finding something interesting as a musician :)). Except maybe for commercials, and even then.. Very difficult to transpose to something else.
(Gonna switch on notifications for replies here) I do find this refreshing, but it’s quite difficult in practice. Let’s say on the journalism example, on corporate roles like companies needing someone to analyse policies and brief executives, it’s quite a narrow role, and one that does not always require a full headcount. So then one might say go into a consultant basis. But unless you’re in the field with 8-10 years experience, I wonder which company would hire someone relatively junior to tell them what to do. All these points to the conclusion that, I think for many of us, we still need to toil through the basic roles of society and build our expertise over time, in order to have the privilege of expertise and creating new roles for ourselves. Meaning, all of this isn’t something one can implement in the early days of one’s career. Thoughts?
GET REAL PMC Crowd. If you’re working class in the US, you have zero chance of working creatively in ANY “profession” PERIOD. We are surplus labor owned by the ruling class. Fuck the finance sector, the oil companies - vultures killing our planet. Shockingly out of touch with the way the majority of us are forced to live. Do better, School of Life. This video was shockingly tone deaf and dispiriting.
@@Viroquan hey man. I get your frustration. After the IPCC report on climate change, I’m kind of done as well. But I wanna have a good conversation here to help myself and others get some fresh ideas and perspectives for whatever’s left of this world. So yeah. Take a chill pill man. The world is screwed. So take it easy here. 😁
@@Sllee93 I just (foolishly I guess) expected a more nuanced understanding from The School of Life as to the very real obstacles of being poor in late stage neoliberal financial capitalism.
@@Sllee93 I wish that The School of Life would validate the very real total roadblocks that poor people living under the status quo face and not proceed as if it’s a matter of magical manifesting or bootstrapping (personal responsibility) that’s standing in our way. Taking a “chill pill” projects the problem back on to the individual, which is pretty unkind.
@@Viroquan Well, that’s true. Questions of career are definitely questions of the privileged. Definitely these advice do not apply for people who are escaping war-thorn countries or in economic poverty. I guess we don’t get the nuanced answers from SOL or any RU-vidrs for that matter, is that there is no real answer. I mean, not to be mean, but RU-vidrs are also searching for the answer, that’s why they are making their careers here? (If that makes sense) I’m not trying to defend them. I guess, after watching RU-vid for years, I can only see that the videos are starting points for thinking and for discussion with others. At the end of the day, it is the governments and their consultants having all the answers. Workforce planning, systemic change…we can only do so much as individuals.
My passion is writing and recording my own music, but the odds of “making it” are tragically low. I also found out that I also have a knack for sound effects and audio post production while working on my junior college audio engineering degree. It’s just so hard to break into any sort of creative field without connections! I don’t know if I could survive taking on a unpaid internship or PA position. Could anyone offer some advice or suggest another field that could satisfy the music / sound FX lover in me?
I'm in the annoying position of being unable to work in what you would consider "normal" jobs because of chronic health reasons. Creative work like acting, writing, drawing, etc are the only things I *can* do without exacerbating that, and so I spend much of my time unemployed waiting for commissions or auditions. The majority of employers would not recognise any of my talents as useful.
What’s with the focus on the oil companies? Would it not be better to promote teachers and journalists getting involved in advocacy and behaviour change? Especially as people in both of these fields usually have a pretty strong ethical motivation.
The truth is that we don't know what we want. We think we want money, prestige, a big office, a fancy title, a plush business card, social approval. When actually, we want human connection, autonomy, peer respect, fun, free time, and [insert something here], or not.
I just want a living wage job with a modicum of dignity. The United States is a late stage capitalist nightmare where the majority of people live in constant terror of medical bankruptcy and homelessness
Most of the time i find school of life's video on point and enlightening, however I do have to say after watching this video, I don't entirely agree. I think it's nice to come up with a different answer than simply advising people to give up their job and pursue your creative goal. It serves the function of reminding people to think twice and expanding one's vision as to unmine how creativity can be applie to their existing job, which is a creative skill in itself. However, I do feel like it is also not answering the question directly. As a person considering switcing track from what is regarded as a grown up mature adult well-paid job to pursue a childhood calling into creativtivity. I find this video quite discouraging. If I may tentatively answer this question myself, I I think if you want to do creative job, maybe you have to go look for a creative job and just give it a go. Particuarly if your situation allow, i think it is far better to give it shot first before accepting defeat
Advise: Work, save and invest money during youth, keep working and wait till investment flourishes, then live comfortably without the need to work and dedicate to whatever you want to do
You don’t think so now, but when you want to be married and have children, the idea of expressive creativity is revealed to have been largely satisfied by “creating” your good marriage and your stable, happy family. If you have some spare time, go ahead and write your novel, tour with your music and change the world. Loving family life is not “settling”, because some dreams are simply child-ish. Your own child-ren are real, and they’re worth it.
At the last stockholder's meeting, three of Exxon's board members were replaced by candidates put forward by climate activists. Their mission is to chart a future post-oil. Who is going to help shape that message and communicate it to the thousand of employees? The creative people in the communications department of Exxon. But I think the example was simply something way outside the box to what a recent grad would be thinking. There are hundreds of other stodgy industries that need these skills: drug manufactures, satellite data companies, credit agencies, car manufactures, hospitals, big box retail conglomerates. There are millions of jobs out there that nobody knows about except for the people in that specific industry. How did the guy who travels around the world measuring the activity of volcanoes even get that job? Try new things, pick new directions. In startups its called the pivot. Your career path is most likely not going to be a straight line (and who would want that, that sounds boring).
