Industry insights: Myf Warhurst on feminism, media and quitting while you're ahead
This is Part One of our Industry Insights interview with media legend Myf Warhurst. Stay tuned for Part Two next week, where she shares her top advice for women in media (and what it's like to interview Germaine Greer)!
By Annette Wagner
There are more women than men in Australia. Our female population has hit 12 million, but there are still 96,300 baby boys to be born from the fellas to meet the 12 million mark.
So, it is encouraging to know that our media isn't all white middle-aged males dominating cameras and microphones, and that the people on our screens and radios accurately represent the population.
Hang on. Do they?
While it is necessary to discuss parity for the future, I think it's equally important to focus on and support women that are making a difference now. Thankfully, Myf Warhurst has been making a difference in my media world for a longtime.
Myf is an endearing favourite of many musically-minded people and her increasingly broader creative industry hosting ability comes with intelligence and a welcoming selection of canapés, putting both big name interviewees and lucky audiences at ease.
After studying Music Education and Arts at Melbourne University, Myf started writing music reviews for Melbourne street paper InPress, then landed the job as editor. Since then, her rise as a well-known Australian doyen has been steady and continues to grow.
On air with Triple J, she started with her first radio bi-weekly segments for Merrick and Rosso's Drive program, then moved to hosting the Net 50 request program on Saturday nights, then hosting weekday Lunch shift and The Trashy Lunchtime Quiz, before finally hosting The Breakfast Show with Jay and the Doctor. She was coerced by Peter Helliar to join him as co-host on their Nova breakfast show which ran from 2007-2009 and then returned to ABC Local Radio hosting the summertime afternoon program.
Of course, it's not just her voice we have come to recognise, it’s that welcoming smile and her authenticity. Her television appearances include many, but captaining a team on Spicks and Specks from 2005 to 2011 certainly accelerated her recognition and popularity. It provided the leverage Myf needed to see her own six-part series realised, Myf Warhurst's Nice, and since then, if you follow her on Instagram, there isn't much we don't know about her, and her cats, Terry and Steve.
Far from any Cat Lady connotations however, she's currently on the airways hosting lunch with Myf on Double J, is also a regular presenter on The Project, is the go to hostess with the mostess at many speaker events, and continues to be a contributing writer for many publications. To be honest, it's a life I envy a little, backstage at Coachella and interviewing childhood crushes or current creative geniuses.
Having just returned from a well-deserved week off in France and the UK, getting back to work on Double J and between the next hot bed of creatively inspiring people attending some other enviable event, I asked Myf to answer some questions about her experience so far in media which she kindly obliged.
Be warned, inevitable music and pop culture puns throughout.
Clearly, your intrinsic love of music and pop culture have been your driving force, maintaining your career direction since you started working. Have you ever been distracted or challenged to continue on your own tour bus? Inspired to do something else, or perhaps even a little dissatisfied with your direction? If yes, what helped you get back on your bus?
I constantly think about doing other things. I want to write a book, become an architect, fulfil my dream of ice skating for Australia at the next winter Olympics, do another stage show (like the Spicks and Specks live show we toured around the country), go back to University. It’s just down to having the time and the vision. When you’ve got a full time gig people don’t realise that it’s much more than just the hours on air, it’s a full time gig, so it’s hard to indulge all the other dreams. But I will never stop having harebrained ideas about what I want to be when I grow up.
Not so long ago you took a gap year, or two, and based yourself in the UK. We actually spoke before you left and I recall you saying that you'd never had the chance to do it in your 20's, and it was the right time to take a break. How did you find re-establishing yourself in a different market, and/or focusing on your writing? Were there any lessons learnt?
I had such a magnificent time living in London. Career-wise it probably wasn’t the best thing to do, as it’s hard in my game (which is essentially a personality game) to establish yourself in an industry that has no idea who you are and don’t care about what you’ve done. To be honest, I think I left my run a bit late. I really wish I’d tried to do it when I was much younger, say in my 20s. It felt so right for me to be out of my comfort zone, it was really healthy and what I needed at the time. Fortunately I was able to get quite a bit of work from Australia while I was there so I could keep myself afloat. In my dreams I’ll do it again one day but it probably won’t happen. Not right now.
On reflection of your media industry experience to date, highs and lows, here and abroad, was there a time or realisation that it was going to be a different journey for you from those of your male colleagues? How do you find the culture for women, from when you began, to now, in both radio and television?
This is a tough one to answer. I’ve always been a strident feminist, even when I began, but it’s interesting to look back now and I realise that I’d never thought of myself in a minority. It’s funny, it’s only been the last few years that I began to recognise the lack of women in the media. It’s changing, fortunately, but it’s only been the last few years when TV shows have become conscious of not having all male panels (on panel shows in the UK, this was the norm and I found it quite odd). I also didn’t think as much about the male dominance in radio world either. As I get older, I notice it a lot more and I make every effort to make sure everything I do is diverse.
When finishing Spicks and Specks, you said, "I've been lucky enough to experience many great things. I've seen Frank Woodley's privates, been naked under a desk with Pete Murray, and met many of my childhood musical crushes. Life can't get much better than that, so this seems like the perfect time to wind things up." How did you know that it was time to seek out another challenge and end what had been a huge part of your career for 6 years? (Because being under a desk with Pete Murray did sound good!)
Yep, Pete and I have never been naked under a desk again, sadly. Finishing Spicks and Specks was a decision Alan, Adam and I made together, and I think it was the right thing at the time (although I haven’t been offered many other gigs since, and will probably never do a TV show as loved as that again). I think leaving under our own steam was good - in TV, you normally get sacked so we thought it might be a good thing to go out on a high. And we had done the show for a long time. It felt right to hang up the boots. I do miss the boys though, and working with them. It was one of those special right time, right place, right people shows. They only come once in a lifetime.
Annette Wagner is a designer, marketer, creative consultant, artist and writer. She is also on the board of the Creative Women’s Circle. Obsessively passionate about the arts and the creative process, she is determined to not talk art-speak and instead focus on supporting and sharing concepts and insights most creative types crave to know.
Managing people 101
By Jes Egan
Managing and leading people successfully is a harder task than it may seem and often something that you have to work at just as hard as your job. Learning to manage someone can become easier with experience as you’ve developed these skills over time. Here are a few tips to consider.
Manage yourself first
Managing yourself may seem easy or unnecessary, but managing yourself so that someone else who works with you can feel confident in what you are doing is key. If you want to inspire and motivate someone to do their best, you have to show that you are also managing this yourself and understand your strengths and weaknesses. Leading by example, passion and determination is infectious.
Be consistent and flexible
Try and be consistent. Don’t be the type of manager where your staff feel that they have to gauge your mood or temperament before they approach you. Allow them the confidence to feel that they can approach you for anything: a problem or a success.
Stay flexible though. It’s not being inconsistent but allows you to change direction when the task at hand needs it.
Treat people how you’d like to be treated
Leading by example is key, creating a good work environment where people feel respected, safe and confident is a great combination and can allow your employees to thrive. Think about the type of environment and how you’d like to be treated or spoken to and do all you can to ensure this happens. Consider people and show compassion when needed- you can get the best out of people when you do this. Acknowledge good work, especially when someone or a team does a good job.
If you have multiple employees, ensure you give equal treatment, they don’t have to be treated exactly the same but don’t show favouritism or give one special treatment over another.
Get to know your employee/s
Showing a healthy interest in your employee's lives outside of work will help make you an interested and involved employer. You don’t need to know every detail of their lives or be their shoulder to cry on but having an interest in what they are doing on the weekend or their hobbies or children can really help you to get to know your employees. Having interests outside of work is healthy for an employee and acknowledging this can help develop a great working environment.
Trust your workers
Trust your workers and encourage them to do it their way and try not to get too caught up in the finer detail, let them do that and empower them to take charge of their jobs. Don’t get angry if they don’t do it exactly how you’d do it. Allow them to do it their way and you may learn how to do it differently. If you give people your trust, I have found that they may go out of their way to ensure they don’t disappoint or lose that trust.
Be clear
Ensure you are clear in your tasks and are specific with what is needed to be done. What you get out of people can be related to what you put in, so explain why things need to be done and share your vision. Communicate and value the people who work with you - make sure you listen to their ideas.
Take responsibility
Be responsible - if a problem is pointed out, help find a solution and don’t focus on the negative or what was done wrong, just find a way to fix it. If feedback is given to you in the form of a problem, understand it and try to resolve it, making sure that you feed information back to them on how you’re resolving it. If there is a human error or a mistake made by a team, don’t throw your employee/s under the bus, instead focus on making it right and sit down after it is resolved and debrief on what went wrong and where so you can ensure you don’t make the same mistake next time. Remember, mistakes happen, it’s not always a bad thing in the long run, so learn what you can from it.
Managing people can be a hard thing to do, check in with your staff, see how they’re going. Don’t take it too personally if some of their feedback is negative - work on finding a way to make it better.
Five tips on working from home
By Jes Egan
Working from home seems like a great idea in theory. Ever tried it? All of a sudden you look at the clock and it’s 3pm, you’re still in your PJ’s and you’ve not actually done anything that actually classifies as work. Here are a few of my tips to get you started working from home.
Shower
Shower, get dressed and get ready for work. It may be a bonus working from home that you don’t need to make the effort as you’re not leaving the house. Think again: if you take advantage of this it can keep you in the wrong mindset. You want to try and position yourself that you are actually at work. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to have your face made up or your good clothes on, but set your day up like you are going into work. Start in your normal routine, shower, get dressed, have breakfast and your morning coffee. Then take a seat and get ready to work.
Sit down
You need a place to work - seems obvious, right? It is, but allocating a specified space for you to sit down and work can help to make you focussed and keep you in the right mindset. While you are in that space, focus on making it where you do your work. If you have a separate office or desk that is great, however not everyone will have this option in the house, so making do with a kitchen table or the couch are often the compromise that needs to be made. If you can try and have one space that you do your work, instead of moving around from seat to seat, this will help you train yourself that when in this space it is work time. You need to be comfortable so pick a seat that you are comfortable in. You don’t want to keep getting up (and getting distracted) but don't get too comfortable, otherwise you may be like me and be tempted to have a little nap on the couch.
Time
Do your best work in the morning? Or not quite a morning person? Part of the bonus of working from home is picking your hours. Ideally if you can set work hours, give yourself a certain amount of time to do what you need to. It can easily be the case that you’ll still be working long after you planned to stop because you haven’t had to leave the ‘office’ to get dinner etc. Having a work / life balance is desired, however this is a difficult balance to find when your work and life are in the same place. I find setting hours that you are going to be doing what you need can help with this as it can make you focus on completing the job and hopefully stop you from getting too distracted.
Lists
Being a huge fan of lists I can’t recommend this more. I write at least one a day. When working from home set yourself a list of tasks to do in the time frame you have set. This can help set a focus for the day and stops you from finding something else to do when you get up to get a coffee. It also stops you from looking at the clock at 6pm then realising that you haven’t really achieved what you wanted throughout the day and wondering where the day went. Put the items that you least want to do at the top of that list, tick them off first so it’s not as tempting to procrastinate. If there is one large task for the day, break it down into smaller tasks in the order that you need to do them and work through them systematically. Tick the items on your list off as you go so you can see how you are progressing.
Minimise the distractions
Distractions can be one of the hardest things to mitigate. Do you know what you get most easily distracted by? If you’re on the computer, is it surfing the internet or email? Close all of your browser windows and only have visible the page / program that you need to work in. Same goes with your phone. Put it just out of reach, so if a call comes through you can hear it but you’re not tempted to pick it up to check Instagram or to send a message. Any other things that easily distract you, try and keep them out of your line of sight or hearing range where you can.
Jes is a ‘practical creative’ and a very busy lady, doing the business in a digital agency, being an artist, a university lecturer, and small business owner who can creatively be found cutting up a storm at paperchap.com. Follow Jes on Instagram and Facebook.
Australian Women in Art: Jacqui Stockdale
This the first post in a new series on contemporary Australian Women in Art, by creative all-rounder Annette Wagner.
Like most of you, I’m inspired by so many amazing artists, both male and female. I especially have a long list of Australian female artists that I sincerely admire, and have many questions I’d like to ask each and every one of them. It’s no secret that being an artist anywhere requires dedication and determination, however, I want to understand specifically what it takes to be a female artist, here in Australia. It’s no feminist stance; it is merely a closer look and more importantly, a show of support. I’ll be chatting to women currently exploring, actively creating and nationally and internationally contributing to the art world. I’ll ask them questions that aim to explore their beginnings, influences, career highs and lows, finding representation, challenges of being a female artist in Australia, being acknowledged overseas and what they are doing now that we can all support.
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I’m very pleased to introduce Jacqui Stockdale, our first contributor. I’ve admired Jacqui Stockdale’s work for a long time as it evokes something quite powerful from her poised stills, like a theatrical performance unfolding.
Jacqui has won the Doug Moran Contemporary Photography Prize 2012, is a past winner of the Belle Art Prize and the Hutchins Art Prize. She’s had residencies in Barcelona, her work has been shown at the Louvre, Paris and is in collections nationally and internationally.
Best known for her theatrical portrait photography, figurative paintings, drawings and collages, her practice explores cultural identity, folklore and the transformative nature of masquerade and ritual in society. Her most recent work, The Boho series, currently showing as part of the Adelaide Biennial 2016, is a series of portrait photographs, which are part performative direction and part collaboration.
Jacqui with her works The Boho Landscapes
Collaboration with the subjects, including Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins and the striking physical presence of Arun Roberts who Jacqui discovered and felt compelled to include in her series. She has also collaborated with friend and artist Kate Rhodes who worked with her to transform the imminent magical object, a spear, embedding it with personal objects, elevating its underlying meaning and importance. Collaboration with Rose Chong Costumes, which transforms the subjects and transport you to her setting along with her enormous painted backgrounds of Australian bush landscapes, reminiscent of the Impressionists from the Heidelberg School. The framing sets the stage. Combined, the outcome engages the audience and completes the theatrical translation.
After recently meeting with Jacqui, she explained how almost fortuitously this project came together, with both subjects and objects presenting themselves to her during the process of the series. The success of this is evident with all elements coming together, and working well, demonstrating her skill, confidence, intuition and most importantly it allows the viewer to be lost in her performance.
What in your personal life influenced you to choose and pursue a career in the arts?
A combination of having a natural flair for drawing and painting as a kid, encouragement from both parents and an artistic sensibility. The fear of having to choose to be a nurse.
What other jobs did you have before you committed to your art full time?
I worked at KFC, was a cleaner and a life model.
How many proposals did you write before you got your first grant/residency/exhibition?
Good question! In my attempt to write a grant, I would feel ill and dizzy. It took a long time to get good at it, maybe two decades, but now I am fluent. I’d say I wrote about six before I landed a yes.
I discussed this further with Jacqui when we met, and she said that getting assistance from others helped enormously. People who were stronger writers, or were familiar with proposal writing and she stressed how important their support has been, and continues to be, to review her work and provide feedback.
Part of her work Where I Stood with Missy Higgins
How did you achieve gallery representation?
Once I finished my art degree at the VCA I moved to Hobart and after two years I was approached by Dick Bett and represented by Bett Gallery. It was a good start.
Was there a turning point in your career that made you believe that the status of an artist is equal to a ‘worker'?
I’m not sure if it is equal, it’s just very different, and there are pros and cons to being either.
Were you ever discouraged or had setbacks that derailed your career?
Yes, of course. There was a time in my mid-thirties that I felt like there was no one out there. I had just returned to Melbourne after 10 years of living in Hobart, Sydney and Darwin and expected to be picked up by a gallery straight away. When this did not happen, given I was working solidly, I began to get really down. You can see in the work I made from that period how dark I was feeling.
But maybe the work was really rich with meaning, not sure! It started to pick up once I was approached by Helen Gory Galerie in 2006.
What are your least favourite and most favourite things about being an artist?
Least favourite thing is dealing with my tax, most favourite is working on my own terms and having the luxury of living a very creative life.
What do you do to keep yourself optimistic and motivated?
I dance swing and tango, do ten yoga salutations in the morning, then give thanks to the day, run really slowly around the hood, eat good food, breath deeply, jump on the trampoline with my son, laugh with friends and have ping pong parties every so often.
Do you think there is a gender imbalance in Australia supporting female artists operating in our current contemporary art system?
Yes, but I don't feel it personally.
Do you feel that Australian female artists have fewer resources, crucial financial support, to go into making and producing art?
Yes, I think they do, particularly within the realm of motherhood and needing to take more time away from their practice to raise children than men do, though this is gradually shifting as men step in. I know some women who feel guilty about going to the studio while their kids are in childcare. It made me work really hard during those hours, but I always managed a manicure/pedicure. I must say that regardless of these inequalities, I have always surrounded myself with very positive, independent female visual artists (and musicians). Their drive to forge on rubs off on you.
Beyond the specific political and ideological issues involved in the subjection of women, what does success really mean and how is it achieved to you?
Success to me means working steadily on my practice over many years and making a living from my art (as well as being subsidised by teaching, grants, nice patrons).
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
10% talent 90% perseverance.
Jacqui has recently collaborated on film and animation with Michelle Jarni, producing a short film about the process of her ‘Super Naturale’ series of portraits. You can also check out her new series The Boho at various locations in Adelaide and Melbourne.
Annette Wagner is a designer, marketer, creative consultant, artist and writer. She is also on the board of the Creative Women’s Circle. Obsessively passionate about the arts and the creative process, she is determined to not talk art-speak and instead focus on supporting and sharing concepts and insights most creative types crave to know.
How to quit your day job
By Emma Clark Gratton
You’ve been working on a creative side gig alongside your main job for a while now. You’ve got a few regular clients, are making money and are in demand. Most of all, it’s so fun and rewarding that you spend all your lunch breaks and evenings working on your ‘hobby’. If this sounds like you, it might be time to take a leap and pursue your creative project full time.
The world is full of accountants-turned-writers, executives-turned-photographers and administrators-turned-artists. Kurt Vonnegut ran a car dealership, Emily Bronte worked as a nanny and artist Barbara Kruger worked as a commercial graphic designer. The road from salaried employee to creative entrepreneur is well worn, but like most major life changes, can be intimidating.
There are plenty of motivational posters out there about chasing dreams, being true to yourself and feeling #blessed, but blindly taking a leap isn’t always the most responsible move. The proven path to success – not just financial success, but personal satisfaction – is to back up your dream-chasing with a firm plan of attack, a healthy dose of courage and a touch of faith.
Make sure it’s financially viable
If you’ve been juggling a day job plus a side project, you will want to ensure that you have enough work to stay afloat without your regular salary. Everybody’s situation is different, but I would recommend that you aim to replace at least 50 per cent of your day-job income. This might take a bit longer than you had planned, but it will help eliminate the fear of total failure. That said, sometimes taking a leap with no safety net can be the kick in the pants you need to hustle and work harder than you thought possible.
Set a deadline
Like most things that are worthwhile, leaving your regular salary and venturing into the unknown is scary. And you might find yourself making excuses, delaying your resignation or holding off for way longer than you intended. The trick here is to give yourself a deadline – the end of the year, your birthday, some random date in November – and stick to it. Even better, tell people about it (not your boss!) so they keep you accountable.
It’s not life or death
Remember, you can always go back! Or at least find some other part-time employment more in line with your goals while you focus on building up a business. For example, an IT professional with a side gig as a wedding florist might quit her main job and find part time work in a florist shop while focusing on her own business, until she has enough work to go full time.
Be prepared – mentally and emotionally
Working for yourself is really, really hard. It’s also rewarding, satisfying and in some cases, can make you megabucks. The image of an entrepreneur beginning work at midday, working from a café for a few hours then invoicing for thousands is extremely rare. In my experience, it’s more likely to look like lots of weekend work, constant hustling and a steep learning curve. It’s easy to become accustomed to the lifestyle that is tied to a steady paycheck. Your 9-5 will become your 24/7, so be prepared that you will need a huge amount of self-discipline, motivation and courage to stay afloat.
Look for variety
That said, self-employment could give you flexibility and uncap your earning potential. As a salaried employee, your income is limited to what your boss or your award decides. As a self-employed person, your income is limited to how hard and smart you work. It’s not unusual for a sole trader to have multiple income streams or offer a variety of services (I’m a furniture maker, a writer and a podcaster, for example) so always be on the look out for new ways to make cash and broaden your circle.
Be a quitter!
Once you’ve got enough cash in the bank, some regular clients and your deadline is fast approaching, get ready to quit. Depending on where you work, you may need to offer formal resignation with two weeks notice, so use those couple of weeks to truly prepare for self-employed life. You might need to open bank accounts, formally register your business and inform your clients that you will be more available.
Leaving your day job is not for the faint-hearted, so take a deep breath and take a leap. The rewards will be worth it. Good luck!
Emma Clark Gratton is an interior designer, writer and podcaster who, alongside her husband Lee, runs GRATTON, a timber furniture and architectural joinery company. She blogs at Worst House Best Street and posts endless photos of her sons on Instagram at @emmaclarkgratton
Small town creative: how to live, work and create in a regional area
By Jasmine Mansbridge
I am writing this blog post while also preparing for a trip from my hometown in Hamilton, Victoria, to Sydney. So it really is a good time for me to think about what is means to be a creative person living outside of the city and how I have gone about finding and generating creative work opportunities.
In my flying two day trip to Sydney, (which is all the time I can spare away from home at this time of year), I am meeting with a Gallery Director to discuss a future exhibition, face to face (so old school), and meeting up with both new and old friends. Prior to living in my current location, I spent many years living in the Northern Territory. I then moved to rural New South Wales. So over the years I have travelled many miles seeking to both develop opportunities for my work and educate my eye. This naturally leads to my first tip.
Be prepared to travel
While you can 'network' and meet people over social media these days, nothing beats good old-fashioned face-to-face hanging out. I feel like real communication is even more powerful nowadays, given the plethora of the watered-down online type. I actually get very nervous before I travel outside my comfort zone. It doesn’t come as naturally to me as it might seem. But the effort is always worth it. So be prepared to get out and about: to seminars, conferences, and CWC events! Once I even went to New York with my art, but that is another story.You have to be smart about your time, and of course you have to also do the work back at home, but factor travel into your game plan and you will be all the richer for it. If you are like me, you will come home overstimulated and full to the brim of ideas, but hey, when you live in the country, you will have plenty of time to think and absorb all you have taken in and work out your next best step.
Make yourself known
I am not talking about being a show-off, or arrogant, or forcing your ideas onto people (although these things work for some!). I am talking about finding out who is responsible for the 'arts' at your town council or in your local government. Allocate an hour or two a week to these kinds of meeting adventures. If you are shy, bring your business card or a small piece of work to help introduce yourself. You have to be yourself to sell yourself.
Is there a gallery or two in your town? Go say hi, see if you can’t meet the relevant people in charge. Be polite and curious. It goes a long way. Ask to get on mailing lists. Show an interest, if there are things you would like to see happen, see how you can help. Volunteer, be friendly and look for opportunities no matter how small, to start being creative in your own community. Share your ideas and start conversations about the ideas of others. This all takes time and don’t expect instant results. Be patient and consistent.
Make friends, in a variety of places, with a variety of people, across a variety of platforms I guess this is called networking (it is called networking!). But in my experience networking alone does not work. Just because someone has skills you admire, and you both love Elvis on Instagram does not mean you will be real life friends. You might be totally polar opposites on an important subject like your commitment to local business versus their 'profit margin comes first always' ethic. So network away, but be open to everyone in a room. Be friendly, but not scarily so, don’t be the, "I will jump off the cliff if you famous, iconic person tells me so", kind of lady. Just be yourself and have an open mind. The one person you might gel and end up being great mates with might not be who you expected it to be.
Share the love
You don’t own your town, your community or your skill, there will be other painters and writers now and always. If you act like you do, then you will just end up lonely and small. If you start to get bothered by other people’s success, it means it is probably time for you to go to tip number one in this post, and travel again. Be humble, share the love. We all have something unique to offer and the more artists in your town doing their thing and doing it well, then the more likely it is that other people from other towns might do day trips to come to see ALL your cool stuff. So be expansive. Be positive and don’t complain about what you could help change. Be a back patting kind of person, refer other artists for jobs you might be too busy to do, or that they might be a better fit for. You don’t have to be best buddies with everyone, but it helps to be nice. And if there is no drama club? Don’t whine, start one. No murals? Ask if you can paint one! Contribute if you can, with what you are good at and everyone will benefit.
Mind your own business
Don’t worry about what you will do with all the money you will one day make. When your exhibitions have red dots as far as the eye can see, or when your book makes the New York Times bestseller list, that is not when you should start thinking about the business side of things. Start now managing yourself like a business, even if you are making just an itty bit of money. Get a tax file number. Get a shoe box (or make a file on your computer). Keep your receipts. Pay an accountant to do your tax.
Probably all the money you make in the beginning will go on making boring stuff like accountants happen. The garage full of collectable cars is on the horizon. Yes. Dream big but take care of the practical stuff. In this way you will have a foundation for the future of your finances. It also means that you can start to claim all those expenses to those conferences, exhibitions and CWC meetings you travel to. (Disclaimer: I am not an accountant, see your own accountant for specific advice on business/travel matters!)
All the above has been written from my personal experience. There are highs and lows to living in a regional area when you are a creative person. The highs are that on average the living costs get cheaper the further you get from the city. For me, that means my family can live on one wage. It means I can afford to travel and make my artwork. It also means that I can focus on my work for long periods if need be and I can pick and choose what events I want to invest my energy in. These are all big highs. No commute, less stress, and as much community spirit as I will ever need. Did I mention more time to actually make creative work?!
Then there are the lows, the FOMO that Brene Brown made famous. This feeling drops by from time to time. I have to watch that. The planning and effort required to travel can be draining and exhausting. The sense of isolation is also very real at times, and the snobbery you can experience from city folk, (sorry city readers - athough I must say CWC folk have never made me feel this way). There is also the fact that sometimes you feel like that if you just gave up and stopped being creative, no one would probably ever notice, (until 100 years after you're gone, and your diaries are published to high acclaim).
I am wanting to write more in this series and so if you are a CWC reader who also lives regionally, I would love to hear from you and possibly even write your story here. Please get in touch!
Photo of Jasmine by Danielle Thomas from ONE DAY COLLECTIVE.
Jasmine Mansbridge is a painter and mum to five kids. She regularly blogs about the intersection of creative work and family life, as well as her recent projects and travels. You can also find her on Instagram.
The importance of stressing less
By Sonya Watts
It seems like stress has become the loyal companion of a modern workplace, particularly for creatives. In fact, it is not unusual to hear someone saying that they actually need stress in order to wind things up. For that reason, more and more people willingly decide to enter this vicious stress-charged circuit. They fool themselves into thinking that it is the only right thing to do in order to keep up with the fast-paced work environment. Although it is not possible to avoid stress at work entirely, it is necessary to be wary of the health implications that it can have. What it takes is developing strategies that could allow you to reduce its destructive influence.
Spot the stressors
The first thing that you have to do is to get to know the enemy that you are re up against. However, this is easier said than done, as the triggers of stress vary from person to person. Some of them are pretty obvious, like strict deadlines or fear of getting laid off. Yet, others might take some time to identify, as they might not necessarily be directly linked to the work environment. One way to successfully pinpoint the stressors could be to keep a journal where you could write down thoughts about situations that have caused you to feel irritable or anxious. This allows you to reveal patterns and get a clearer picture regarding the stressors in your life.
Set your priorities straight
In order to avoid the feeling of taking a bigger bite than you can chew, it is necessary to start prioritizing your work responsibilities. Namely, you need to be careful when committing to activities that could interfere with the tasks that you have to perform. It is a good idea to create a list of tasks and group them according to their importance. By doing so, you will be able to see what needs to be done immediately, and what can be left for later or completely discharged. As a result, you are in a position to use your time more productively and make a solid schedule. The feeling that you have regained a sense of control over the forces of stress is a great reward.
A work-life balance
All work and no play might sound like a cliche, but it is something that you should avoid at any cost. In fact, the key to living a stress-free life is in creating balance and realizing that you will burn out focussing too much on the one aspect. So, avoid stretching yourself too thin and remember that a break every now and then helps you stay on top of daily tasks. Moreover, your goal should be to create a fulfilling equilibrium between work and everyday life. This task includes planning of family responsibilities, social gatherings and leisure, so try to collect and assemble all the pieces of the complex puzzle.
Open up
If you find yourself overwhelmed by stress at work, you should not keep it to yourself. Instead, you should try opening up and seek for the advice and support from coworkers, friends or family. Some people are uncomfortable with this, which is why a good solution might be to seek professional counseling. Beyond Blue has loads of information on stress management and where to seek further help. Such options might be appealing for those who would like their issue to remain confidential and dealt by a professionally trained staff.
Alarm bells
While short-term periods of stress are normal, it is the buildup of such stress that is a reason to sound the alarm. Perpetually exposing yourself to excessive amounts of stress is damaging to your physical and emotional health. It can also affect the quality of your work. With this in mind, start thinking about ways in which you can reduce your level of stress. Forge an impenetrable armor to protect yourself from this great menace and see it diminishing with each passing day.