The Sex and Cash Theory: Keep Your Day Job

Monday 30 August 2010 - Filed under On Working With Yourself

This is an installment in the Do More, Plan Less series.

Last month I read Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity, by Hugh Macleod. The book is amazingly readable, funny, and smart.  I highly recommend it.  With this post I want to discuss one of Hugh’s 39 keys to creativity: Keep Your Day Job.

Hugh’s take on career success is to keep your day job. This viewpoint is based on The Sex and Cash Theory:

“The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task at hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play at center stage. It will never be transcended.”

As a person just starting his career, this definitely makes me pause and think.  I understand where Hugh is coming from: if you split your creative passion away from having to pay the bills, you will have total control.  In the book, Hugh said he would rather have somebody say, “change that ad,” his day job, instead of, “change that cartoon,” his sexy job.  But this Theory contradicts much advice out there, which is in terms of “become an entrepreneur,” “follow your passion,” “quit your boring job.” So which one is right? Should you focus on sexy jobs by trying to merge your passion and career together? Or, should you accept the Theory, deal with the day job and work on creative pursuits on the side?

Coming from a person that studied economics, my answer is typical: It Depends. Depending on where you are in your career, you should be either dealing with the fact that the Sex and Cash Theory is true, or be trying to make your career more sex than cash.

Right now in my career I’m struggling with The Sex and Cash Theory. There are plenty of creative passions I have that I would like to incorporate into a paid, day job.  But then when I hear Hugh’s thoughts, it seems like I should separate the two.

Hopefully this quote from the book will give us further perspective behind the Theory:

“I’m thinking about the young writer who has to wait tables to pay the bills, in spite of her writing appearing in all the cool and hip magazines…who dreams of one day not having her life divided so harshly.

Well over time the “harshly” bit might go away, but not the ‘divided.’

As soon as you accept this, I mean really accept this, for some reason your career starts moving ahead faster. It’s the people who refuse to cleave their lives this way — who just want to start Day One by quitting their current crappy day job and moving straight on over to bestselling author — well, they never make it.”

In my mind, the young writer in Hugh’s example is a person that has not progressed far enough in her writing career to be a bestselling author.   She still has to put in more time if she wants to write bestselling books. In terms of The Sex and Cash Theory, the cash job is obviously her serving job and her sexy job is writing for magazines.  She is working toward becoming a full-time writer, but she just hasn’t put in the necessary work to make it happen.  Thus her life is divided rather harshly at this point.

But, as she continues to write, gaining credibility and experience, she will move ever closer to sexy jobs taking over cash jobs. The harshly will start to fade away. It’s an evolution and a process, The Sex and Cash Theory. The better you get at your craft, whatever it may be, the more opportunities you are going to get and thus the more control you will have over your career.

Take the careers of movie actors as an example.  George Clooney didn’t begin his career playing a doctor on “ER” or starring in Oscar winning films like “Up In The Air” and “Michael Clayton.” He moved to L.A. in 1982 and tried for a year to get an acting role, all while sleeping in the closet of a friend (Source). His first movie was never released. But over time, and 65 acting roles, Clooney got better (sexier) and better (sexier) jobs. Here’s a quote George said in reference to making Ocean’s Eleven:

“It was the easiest shoot ever for any actor, and we all knew it when we were doing it. We were like, it’s never going to be better than this.”

Oceans’ Eleven was for Clooney what being a bestselling author is for the writer that waits tables during the day.

But this isn’t how Clooney’s career began in 1978. He didn’t begin his career making $15 Million for movies like “Ocean’s Thirteen.”  Or being able to direct and act in “Good Night and Good Luck” for $1. Why? Because he wasn’t that good in 1978. Becoming incredible good at something takes focused effort over time.

The opposite of Clooney are actors like Nicoloas Cage. The career Nicolas Cage is now essentially all about cash jobs, after many sexy jobs like “Gone In 60 Seconds” and “The Rock.”   Not to mention the whole career of Steven Segal.

For entry-level workers trying to get a foot in the door, chances are you’re job is going to be more about cash than sex. And for those people that have gained the experience and scarce skills that are valued highly, you will be able to pick which jobs and projects you want to work on, most likely more sexy jobs that pay well.

That’s the holy grail: Sexy Jobs That Pay Well. This is where your passion applies to the work you do on a daily basis, you have creative control and you get paid for it all.  At this point you have transcended the Sex and Cash Theory, yah!  Good for you if you are at this point in your life.  The key though, if you’re life is split harshly between your sexy job and cash job is to not give up on your sexy job. Sure it’s hard to keep doing something that isn’t making much or any money.  But the more you hone your craft by doing projects, blogging, writing or whatever it is that you love doing, the more likely you will be able to turn that love into a sexy-cash job.  Please don’t give up.

So whatever your situation is, think about how the Sex and Cash Theory applies.  If you’re a college student, how can you use the Theory to pick the right major?

But know this, you will never escape the Sex and Cash Theory, even in your dream job. There will allows be things you hate to do, but by gaining expertise and making your unique skill-set scarce, you will be able to demand work that is more sex than cash.

2010-08-30  »  Cameron