Adjustments in Flight

On creative freedom and the cost of ignoring what you love

Photo by Millo Lin on Unsplash

I bought the book Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood by Marsha Sinetar in 1989, and I devoured it. At the time, I believed it contained the blueprint for building a life around my many passions.

Nearly forty years later, do what you love is still my mantra, but I’ve revised the second half of the statement to read:

…and make adjustments in flight.

Because the truth is, the money may follow.

Or it may not.

The money may not arrive right away. It may not arrive in the amounts you imagined. That’s why the adjustment piece is crucial.

If you want to live a wildly creative life, you must do what you love.

You may think you don’t need a creative life, but I believe you do—and I’ll tell you why.

You were not born merely to work, consume, and pay taxes.

You are cut from the same cloth that created infinite varieties of flowers, trees, snowflakes, insects, oceans, and stars. You, too, are a creator. Creativity is your birthright.

Doing what you love is your contribution to the universal creative flow.

And if you ignore that calling—if you focus solely on financial achievement—you may eventually pay a price spiritually, emotionally, and perhaps even physically.

So heed the calling.

Don’t deny it simply because it doesn’t yet pay the bills.

Yet.

But this is where the second part of the statement matters:

Make adjustments in flight.

Begin living more simply.

Today. Now.

Create a budget. Examine your spending habits. Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. Reconsider unnecessary debt. Ask yourself where you might trim the excess.

And every time you reach for your credit card or cash, pause and ask:

How many hours of my life will I need to trade to pay for this?

Then decide whether the purchase is truly worth the cost to your creative freedom.