Bring Yourself to Work! Try Job Crafting! All the Cool Kids Are!
Who Were You Born to Be?
I was born an artist. I know that for sure. Later I became a writer and a teacher but always an artist.
I have noticed as creatives sometimes we forget who we are. We think that our passion, our creativity is something we leave at home for the hours before and after work.
I have believed this sometimes. I’ve gone to work and I’ve left my writing behind and I’ve come home to work related planning.
But then there’s those moments in between.
Lots of moments!
Lots of hours where you aren’t in touch with your true passion!
And it doesn’t mean that your job isn’t the best job in the world. It IS the best job that suits your needs.
But, it probably still has room to add more of you. Bringing more of yourself to work is called “Job Crafting”.
What is Job Crafting?
“By definition, job crafting is how an employee reframes their work, physically, socially and cognitively. It is ‘…what employees do to redesign their own jobs in ways that foster engagement at work, job satisfaction, resilience, and thriving’ “ (Berg, Wrzesniewski, & Dutton, 2010). From – https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/job-crafting/
How Do I Job Craft to Reflect More of Who I Am?
For me it means bringing my art into the workplace. In the past I have created work journals. I profiled this process on one of my older blogs. I buy a lined journal and add my own calendar. Originally the calendar was created on index cards, but now I use a basic lined scribbler to keep all of my originals. I use a process of hole-punch dots from magazines, a series of cut-up images and letters. I add the calendars lines using colored pens.Then I photocopy over my original to give it a smooth finish.
I love my calendars! I know, that is completely nerdy, but that is me…completely nerdy.
I love looking at my calendars. It reminds me of my inner artist.
It is not just a work journal with a pretty calendar. I also use it as a traveling writer’s notebook. I can keep a list of neat things I overhear in the hallways and classrooms. I record different story ideas or just insights about the students I’m with. It is a record of my work and my art.
This year I made a 10 month calendar, yet I never went and got a photocopy of it for my journal. I just never made the time. I ended up buying a day-timer. It was nice and had stickers but it did not serve the same purpose as my home-made journal.
It wasn’t the same at all.
In fact I missed looking at my homemade calendar and just reflecting on my creative life.
The trigger to make a new one came recently from a struggle with my writing life.
Lately, I have been anxious about my writing. It was just not clicking. I had all these notes and yet I couldn’t make a breakthrough. My husband said, do some of your art. And I thought yeah that’s what I always did when I was most upset or stressed and in fact art got me through my cancer battle nearly 20 years ago.
It is what I tell my art students all the time, “Art is a wellness tool and it is important to keep it up. keep doing it even if it’s just simple artwork.”
Though I can create realistic portraits, this paper collage fulfills me in a way that is very zen and meditative.
Instead of using the old calendar, I decided to make the calendars full size so this meant a new notebook. Those who know me know that a new notebook is always something that I look forward too.
I found this one at Indigo and it fits so perfectly with what I was doing, “Fill you paper with the breathings of your heart.”
Here are the three pages I created. I love them! Note they are much more vibrant in real life. They are different than before because I have included focus words for each month.
How Else Can You Job Craft?
You can job craft your current job to include more of yourself. For some people that can go beyond a journal to include things that you have in your work space: a special frame, a picture, a color that speaks to you, music and special scents. I think we need to recognize that we need to pursue these things because they keep us in the zone, aligned. Sometimes these objects start a conversation, helping others discover what they may have not discovered about themselves and that’s why I’m sharing this today.
It took a few days to get this calendar together but it is so important for me to continue doing this for myself and really for the others in my life.
How can I say and talk about creativity when I leave it behind? When I don’t show how important it is to actually be your authentic self day in and day out no matter where or who you are.
Just remember to bring more of yourself to the workplace and to job craft your reality. You will become a much more balanced person for the universe and for all of those around you.
Until next time,
Love Coach Clark
