Jarell Alvarez on Finding Meaningful Work

[00:00:00] Ami: Today’s session, let’s get into it here. Guys to be creative is by definition, an unconventional thing, right? For most of you here, you chose a creative path and it took courage. It wasn’t easy. I know in my case, it was going up against, you know, family members who didn’t think it was a great idea.

[00:00:17] Ami: But the sad reality is that most of us, we, we go and we capture this, this, this career path, and then we end up unsatisfied with the trajectory of our work, right? When I was looking through some of the answers you gave when you were purchasing your, or getting your ticket, you know, you were saying that you were struggling to grow your business, or you were settling for a job that you didn’t really like, or you’re affected by the rounds and rounds of layoffs and are kind of struggling to find a place in the industry.

[00:00:48] Ami: And I’m very, very excited for you to get advice. Our speaker here today. Many of you already know Gerald Alvarez because he’s been supporting the creative community for years. He’s [00:01:00] responsible for starting an online community of designers that has over 3, 000 very active members. He’s a very talented photographer, a product designer, and a career coach.

[00:01:10] Ami: And today, he’s going to be getting personal. He’s going to be sharing his personal approach for finding meaningful work in these challenging times. So without further ado, let’s welcome Jarell. 

[00:01:22] Jarell: Thank you so much for that. Welcome. All right. Let me share my screen and we’ll begin.

[00:01:35] Jarell: All right. I assume everyone can see my screen. So I’m just going to get into quick slideshow mode. We’re all good at this. You can see my no hiccups. You’re good. Awesome. So I would like everyone to grab any sticky note, any pen, any paper that they have handy in front of them. You can even write this down in front of you, but just have something to write something down as we go.

[00:01:59] Jarell: We’ll [00:02:00] do some exercises. But yeah, I want you guys to feel like we’re going to go on a little bit of a journey and I want to help showcase about why this weird and wacky lifestyle that I chose for a period of time was probably the best decision I’ve ever made for my life. So a brief intro about me.

[00:02:19] Jarell: As Ami told me, I’m doing a lot of other things. And I would consider myself a freelancer, sole entrepreneur, and I’ve been laid off three times. So if you come to me and say, you know, what’s your experience like? I, the second time I just picked, or a third time actually, it’s in November 22, I just picked up my bag, took out my camera, and I just said, all right, here it is again.

[00:02:40] Jarell: I kind of had this feeling it was going to come anyway. So it is and it kind of moved on. But as it starts, I truly believe that the corporate mindset and the core and doing a full time job full time is like a plastic handcuffs. It’s not even golden anymore because these break so easily and layoffs keep happening year round, year round.

[00:02:59] Jarell: [00:03:00] There’s layoffs everywhere. And I do want you to ask yourself really quickly, are you comfortable at your job truly? Like, do you really feel comfortable? And just notice for a few seconds what kind of response and what feeling you get from that.

[00:03:22] Jarell: This is a, a, a fun little metaphor my friend or my coworker used to say is as a boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I poop on company time, or really just, well, losing out a lot of the money that we could be making and a lot of the, the time that we’re giving. Layoffs are happening everywhere.

[00:03:40] Jarell: As I said major companies are laying off like crazy. Every industry is just in the gutter. Especially for tech and you kind of have to change your mindset a little bit. Because the plans that we have for ourselves. They fail or they go completely rocky, or they go upside down. Look at the [00:04:00] pandemic.

[00:04:00] Jarell: We didn’t, we didn’t know the pandemic was going to happen. And then everyone’s plans for travel, future, whatever, was reduced to rubble. Society as well, pressures from our parents. Everyone’s telling us what we should do, what we shouldn’t do. And these things start culminating and start putting so much pressure on ourselves that we can’t even find out what we truly want or what, what truly drives us.

[00:04:24] Jarell: So a quick exercise with that pen that I asked that you bring answer these questions. If first 15 seconds, whatever top of your head bullet points, where do you feel like you’re most struggling in your career?

[00:04:45] Jarell: I’ll chime in 

[00:04:45] Ami: here a little bit because I did take some time to think about this and I’ve spoken to a ton of creatives in the past several years. And I think the, the pattern that I, I see. Is, is the feeling like, you know, humbly knowing [00:05:00] that they’re talented, but not wanting to work with bad collaborators or feeling like things are just getting so competitive that it’s hard to know how you’re going to survive.

[00:05:12] Jarell: No, I. I can relate to that. Okay we’ll get into this, but I hear you and I want to shed some more light on this topic. So my past mindset is, my mom stayed with TELUS for 15 25 years, and I remember I would talk to her about, Oh, you know this, my company’s doing these things, or my company, she’d be like, put your head down and just work.

[00:05:37] Jarell: Like, why are you causing a fuss? Don’t cause a fuss. Don’t ask questions. Just this, this is, it’s stupid to think that you have any control kind of thing. Just work. I’m like, this doesn’t rub me the wrong way. We’re not in the 1980s anymore. And it’s that kind of crowd mentality that occurs is like, Oh, if I’m against the grain, then I’m going to be looking, looking like an [00:06:00] outsider and they don’t want me here anymore.

[00:06:02] Jarell: One second there, because this is my first job. I got paid 35, 000. as a junior. I got it as an internship. And we were promised pizza. We had dogs. We had literally a dog what’s it called? We had like a little dog, society of dogs. We had a dog council. And then we had Nerf guns and we had Nerf Fridays and we had like beer Fridays and stuff.

[00:06:26] Jarell: But that’s their excuse is, Oh, we’re sorry. We’re young and strappy. And we’re just going to pay you peanuts. And

[00:06:36] Jarell: And this was like a little, they would give me a senior title and I only had two and a half years of experience, but oh boy, did I feel good about that? And I got 47, 500. Oh, God. So with that in mind, another quick exercise is what are some things you dislike about your career today? And again, write down bullet points, whatever comes to the top of your mind.[00:07:00] 

[00:07:08] Jarell: Curious. You 

[00:07:08] Ami: don’t, you don’t have to type in the, in the chat, but like some sort of signal, a hands up, an emoji or whatever. How many of you wrote one of these few things, right? So either the work is boring, you feel underpaid or underappreciated, or you’re out of options. You just feel like there’s no options.

[00:07:25] Ami: Any of that resonates with you? I’m seeing some hands go up. 

[00:07:32] Jarell: Been there as well. I feel you. I feel you. So what’s at stake? Well, you’re comfortable, right? And comfort is pretty conducive to growth. You also feel alienated and you feel like you’re being watched by your managers constantly. You have to literally download a clicker onto your own monitor while you’re remote work to stay act to look [00:08:00] active.

[00:08:00] Jarell: You’re not in alignment with who you are. You’re pretty much out of alignment. And that’s causing you to not even know who you are. You just. A corporate drone in the end. Like I mentioned, tech layoffs is still booming and. These are just some numbers really quickly to shed some light. It’s pretty bad out there.

[00:08:19] Jarell: Again, just some numbers to showcase. Big companies are not that golden handcuff anymore and they’re all plastic and it’s easy for you to think that, oh, maybe I’ll stay here for a while. No, you’re not going to stay here. This is not that 1980s. You can’t stay in the same company for 25 years. If you want to look at these numbers as well.

[00:08:39] Jarell: Even in Vancouver alone, which I’m assuming most people here are in layoffs are happening here as well. I think the numbers were in the States, but it’s not, it’s, it’s still, it’s within our area, and it’s affecting us as well. So, engagement and productivity, only 20% 7, 27 percent of workers feel highly engaged with mental health, 30 [00:09:00] percent of disability claims are due to job related stress, increased risk of anxiety and depression.

[00:09:07] Jarell: Okay, so what happened to me? Growing up, I was very directionless. I’d play video games. I’d stay at home most of the time. I wouldn’t, I, I would watch One Piece. I don’t know if you guys know anime at all. It’s like a massive, large anime. I’d watch an anime, that One Piece. I watched at least 300 episodes in one summer.

[00:09:27] Jarell: And my friends were outside, and I was like 17. They were playing in the park, and I was building a desk for like two months the whole summer, just off this YouTube video I found. And they would ask me to go out and I said I’m building a desk. In reality, I was just, oh, I want to watch One Piece and this is my day.

[00:09:46] Jarell: And I planned out my day. During summer, To stay home while they were outside playing at the park. So I don’t, didn’t have much direction, but I had some creativity. Thankfully, I found design. Long story short, my aunt [00:10:00] asked me, Hey, what do you want to do? And I was looking for what to do for my career and went to college.

[00:10:05] Jarell: And she’s like, Oh, my my Nephew is a, is a development manager. He can he makes 50 K and I was like, does creativity logic mixed together? That sounds like me. And then my dad’s like, Oh, if you go to a BCIT, it’s well regarded in he kept saying this in Vancouver and Canada. And so, so I said, okay, let’s check this out.

[00:10:27] Jarell: I found a program. I liked what it said, like what you’ll actually learn and do. And it sounded doable to me. So I jumped in. I thought I was going to become a developer. learn about design through a book don’t what’s it called? Don’t make me think by Steve Krug. And then once I got into that I did, did design.

[00:10:48] Jarell: I moved to the corporate world. I did a bunch of different jobs, work, different companies, freelance enterprise, solo designer. I worked for a job recruitment platform, all these things. [00:11:00] And During this time as well, this is like my first intro into it. I created the design committee as me mentioned, which it was amazing.

[00:11:09] Jarell: I met people for the first time I networked for the first time. I found a place for people like me that just wanted a casual way to get to know each other that you didn’t have to put on like a business mask, a business face, and then I got my job and it was awesome. I was making a lot of money, but every single time we had a meeting, I’d be listening to like 90%.

[00:11:32] Jarell: I wouldn’t be listening to 90%. I’d be listening to about five to 10%. So basically every day, my brain is at five to 10 percent capacity being used. And I got too comfortable. I’d be looking at Amazon for my next purchase about stupid stuff. That was how like useless I felt when I was working that job. I just wanted to figure out how I can spend my money and I got fired.

[00:11:58] Jarell: Well, laid off, sorry. [00:12:00] I got laid off November 2022, and it was, it sucked, but again, like I said, I’ve been already used to it, so it’s not something that this feeling that I can’t, I accepted it right away.

[00:12:13] Jarell: And traditionally in the past, especially in the first time it was horrible. It was a mass layoff, 40 people, even the HR recruiter was walking across the street and was like, have a good day guys. While we were like, gathered up, we’re like, what the hell? So we went up to like a penthouse. The, the ex co founder, well, the co founder, Yeah, the co founder and then we drank and we went to Korean barbecue after and everyone was crying and laughing and confused about what happened.

[00:12:38] Jarell: And I remember that day I was making burritos because I still, I it was going to get expired in my fridge and I was just like shell shocked about what happened. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know my future. I didn’t know where to go. And I didn’t, I, I got back on the horse two weeks later and I started looking for it.

[00:12:57] Jarell: And then this thing, this is, this, [00:13:00] this is how I felt. I was like, I need to work. I need a job. I don’t, where am I supposed to, I need a job. And I feel like everyone who puts this up immediately you have to get laid off. They don’t do any questions. They don’t question. They just said, I need a job, but let’s.

[00:13:15] Jarell: get into this different mindset where the desperate for work, it kills you. Being desperate kills you. I think everyone knows that and I’ll make a very quick metaphor. You know, with dating, right? You go up to someone in a bar and you say, can you go home with me right now, please? Like, if that’s your opening line, that is as desperate as humanly gets.

[00:13:38] Jarell: You reek. It smells. And people know this. And so I decided to try something else. And I always throughout my life, I’ve always wanted to try what other people don’t do because what other people traditionally do bugs me. And I usually say, if there’s something that bugs me, I want to do the opposite and find my own path in life.

[00:13:59] Jarell: And so I had [00:14:00] my own criteria. This was actually helpful from my friend who showed me like, I don’t care what job I work. I want to have this kind of lifestyle. I said, I asked myself, okay, what kind of lifestyle do I want? I want to travel. I want the flexibility to travel and to work on my own terms and thus finding any gasoline to my fire.

[00:14:22] Jarell: So I took a step back. I evaluated what I had, what experiences I had. And at the time it was community. It was the on, you know, I had all these years of experience in design. I had great friends. I have a great supportive family. I have money in, in the, in, in the bank. I have a camera. I have all these little, little things in my room that, or in my life that give me confidence.

[00:14:47] Jarell: Now, if I say, okay, Within a certain timeframe, I’m going to do some things and I’m going to probably discover and fail fast. So I’ll walk you through kind of how this looked. [00:15:00] I traveled, like I said, I wanted to travel. So when I traveled, I obsessed over Travel well, photography and all these things. And I, I was so into this and it became everything that I wanted to think about.

[00:15:13] Jarell: I did. I shot with models. I did all of these things because that truly made me happy. And it showed me things that I was not comfortable with in the past, especially growing up, talking to people, taking pictures of random people for my own art sake. And I also Realize, okay. What makes me money? Well, career coaching will help me also establish that that flexible lifestyle because then I can do it anywhere.

[00:15:42] Jarell: So it’s kind of like having a bunch of ingredients laid out for you. And with these ingredients, I realized that sometimes you need to take a step back in order to spend a mile. My mom actually told me this and she was super encouraging of what I was doing. She’s like, [00:16:00] You taught me something because back when you when we were establishing ourselves here, you know, they’re from the Philippines, they came here, they’re immigrants.

[00:16:09] Jarell: My mom doesn’t even have like a, a formal education. She was a receptionist, basically Pam, and she became a saleswoman and was the top salesperson in TELUS for five years running. They sent her to see my inspiration. And she said, like, when we started my dad had to go to school and so they took time for him to go to school and they had to take a cut back.

[00:16:31] Jarell: So they live with with his mom out of Victoria drive. And, but they are here because of these decisions. They took that step back to intentionally move forward. And so I said, okay you know, I gave myself permission to prioritize what is the most important to my life. I did this in Japan, actually, primarily I really figured it out.

[00:16:52] Jarell: I was like, okay, I love these things. But these are the needs that I had and I’m going to cherish. I’m going to, I’m going to play with [00:17:00] these wants because I haven’t given myself permission to, I’ve been just focusing on buying things, honestly, nerdy stuff. And so I said, how do, what, what is it for me?

[00:17:11] Jarell: What is it for me? Well, it’s going to be about playing and it’s about discovering and what can I do in that realm to really figure myself out and figure who I am? And ultimately put a bet on myself. Throughout my life, I was always cautious. I’m not a big risk taker. I’m really not. I ask my parents, I ask anyone that knows me.

[00:17:33] Jarell: I don’t like putting risks. It’s scary. And probably why I honestly learned how to ride a bike literally in Japan, in May this year, was because I was scared of falling. And getting a bruise and putting in all that effort. And when I learned from with my friends, it was so thrilling and I really enjoyed it and I want to bike some more.

[00:17:56] Jarell: So my deadline was a year and it was November. [00:18:00] Now I want you to quickly write down five things you want to try if you were tired in the next year. Again, 15 top of mind things could be painting, it could be pottery, anything.

[00:18:36] Jarell: Okay. So let’s talk about value alignment and how did I do it? So first question was, well, what kind of a person am I? And I always think about my parents. I think about my brother and I think about what aspects they have shown me throughout my life that have made me who I am. I’ll give an [00:19:00] example. My dad is very analytical.

[00:19:02] Jarell: He’s more quiet. He’s more observant. He’s more street smart and my mom is a lot more extroverted. She’s the life of the party. She’s very funny. She’s cracks me up all the time. She likes to poke fun at me. But she’s so determined and she’s so goal oriented and and she knows how to basically be a cat.

[00:19:24] Jarell: She can camouflage herself and she can be a chameleon in any situation. And my brother is just so dedicated and so, and, and a lot more simpler in, in his, in his ways of moving in life. And he’s very much like, not shy, will talk to anyone. And I put these two together and I said, wow, I am a culmination of all my parents.

[00:19:47] Jarell: I am a culmination of these aspects. How do I utilize this to my own advantage? And how do I gain, how do I reflect on these features? And move forward. Like what, what kind [00:20:00] of aspects do I want more of? And then with my career, I asked, you know, do I truly enjoy what I’m doing? And then one example that you can ask yourself is, you know, when, what, what’s one time in your work that you felt most alive in?

[00:20:14] Jarell: And I’d argue, this should be something that you can do. Feel consistent.

[00:20:23] Jarell: Another thing that I thought about was my own risk tolerance. As I said, you have society, you have, who, where’s it coming from? You know, back in the day, like I said, before all this, when I was at school, very traditional, very risk averse, I’m not going to take anything. I don’t know. I’m not gonna take a chance.

[00:20:40] Jarell: Then in 2022, I said, screw it. We’re going to lift off the top. I’m just going to go all in whatever, who cares? You know, Whatever. Now, now I’ve finally come to the middle point because I’ve seen both sides and now I feel a little still on the riskier end because that’s just who I [00:21:00] am now versus before. So you have to think what, what is it for you in this, in this bin?

[00:21:09] Jarell: And then finally, my mom always said, be grateful, be grateful, be grateful, be grateful for all the wins that you’ve had in your life, all the opportunities you’ve had. And I, I’ve done crazy things I’ve done in like, I’ve been on the top of the mountain and it was scary. And I felt like I was falling off of a rollercoaster.

[00:21:29] Jarell: But I had to fight those waves of despair and just take a step back and just enjoy myself. And that’s why, even with all these experiences, you gather all your chips like a poker game. And you realize what you actually have in your hand, in your pile. And you can intentionally put chips down and start placing intentional bets.

[00:21:55] Jarell: So you proceed with doubt. Obviously it’s not going to work out as you think it is. And this [00:22:00] is the result of where I’ve at from November 22 until now. As I said, I learned that I actually want to be in the middle somewhere where I’m building a life for the future that is flexible with photography and other things that I’m really into.

[00:22:15] Jarell: And. I also want to get a full time job and to play with that as strategically as humanly possible, which is my next thing. I want to look for a teaching role. I want to look for a leadership role in managing product design, et cetera. Um, but the current outlook is that, yeah, I’m still grinding it out.

[00:22:37] Jarell: That’s okay. But I’m still building experiences for the next day. And in all of these situations, I’m actively choosing to do these things. I am not putting that I’m looking for work on my banner. I’m talking to people and just seeing what they’re doing and telling some people that I trust that I’m looking for these things and they put their word out for [00:23:00] me.

[00:23:01] Jarell: So yeah, life hurts. All the time. And the only ways that you can deal with these issues in life is that you have to have tools, tools, tools, tools, tools, tools to tools that you’ve learned tools that have worked for you in the past tools. I’ve worked for others tools that have worked from the people that you respect because life will always hit.

[00:23:22] Jarell: You will always put you down will always not go the right way, but you have to work with what you’ve got. And that 1 year Turn into longer because my dad asked me how you achieved everything that you wanted to achieve in this one year. And I said, no, I still want to travel. He’s like, great. You should do that.

[00:23:40] Jarell: I’m like, okay, dad. All right. All right. I’ll prove you. Um, so I’ve always had this model in my mind ever since I was younger than that. I want to be so confident that I don’t have regret in my future. I don’t know if this is the right way of thinking truly, but it’s just like some [00:24:00] motivation to me to do a lot of things while I’m young, because I Yeah, I don’t want to regret.

[00:24:07] Jarell: And so I feel like a lot of people, and if you want to take a screenshot, I feel like this is a really good summary of what we’re talking about is there’s so many things that’s in your way. There’s so many things out of your control, society, pressure, all of these things. But if we fixate on all of these things, all of these problems, then we’re not going to be able to actually fixate on our goal.

[00:24:30] Jarell: And if we fixate on our goal, we won’t be able to walk through that door and find the little tiny doors of opportunity. Because in that effort of going towards that goal, you will find those little doors. You will find those crevices. You will find those cracks. And sometimes it doesn’t work. I’ve discovered that I don’t really like marketing and sales for myself, especially for through social media, for my own photography business.

[00:24:53] Jarell: If I realized I didn’t want to do full time, it’s something part time because I just truly love taking photos and that’s okay. [00:25:00] But I had to get there. I had to prove to myself over and over and over again, or else I will still live with that regret. And once you do that discovery process of trying all those things.

[00:25:12] Jarell: Then you can prioritize your life. And there’s a prioritization matrix that I’ll show here. I’ve used this in the past with other people, stakeholders at my job, but this helps you figure out, okay, if you, if you take a step back in your career and you say, okay, these things that I want and need in my life, what is the most critical?

[00:25:32] Jarell: What is most urgent? What can I do for later? And how do you, how do you kind of position all your, all your hobbies, all your, all your aspirations, all your dreams, and then you’ll figure it out. So, if you were to subscribe to this lifestyle that I’ve had, kind of sabbatical you’d have to take advantages of what you currently have.

[00:25:54] Jarell: And it may have to be side hustles. Like, I’ve been just working part time as a career coach as well for a company called [00:26:00] Pathrise. Take a screenshot of this here are very simple, easy solutions that, for example, extra work. You don’t need any background in acting at all. You can just do this. And I would take a screenshot and just see what can you do right now in order to work for your future.

[00:26:18] Jarell: If you needed to take a step back. What can you do, see what works for you, see what you actually enjoy. There’s also on the bottom, right? If you take, if you take a picture of that, the QR code, you can actually get this the whole slides. If you want that as well.

[00:26:43] Jarell: So, to kind of summarize things, this is what else real active self discovery is. And as a designer, I actually realized that my entire life is just a design process. The first year was a way to play. It was a step back from [00:27:00] that notion that I have to do what I have to do because I need a job. No, it’s okay.

[00:27:05] Jarell: Let’s figure out what I actually want in my future. Let’s make an active decision through a time bound exercise of one year to truly know that I want to be in design, to truly know that I want this for myself. And in doing so, I actually learned more about myself than I ever have in my life. And people notice in my life that I’ve changed.

[00:27:26] Jarell: I have been a different person. I’ve done a lot of hard things. Because I have that room in my brain. I just discovered like, what is value to me? What do I value the most? And usually it’s people, communication and being creative and expressing that outside of myself. And then you prioritize these things.

[00:27:45] Jarell: I, like I said, I’d like, I did this exercise in Japan and I asked myself, what am I obsessed about? And it was photography. I had, I asked myself, how do I make money? Well, it’s going to be career coaching. And that will [00:28:00] unlock what I need to do to get the lifestyle to travel. So finally, ask yourself, you might want to take a screenshot, write this down.

[00:28:11] Jarell: Are you moving closer to who you want to be? Do you want to be a renowned photographer? Maybe you want to be a teacher for now. And like I said, I want to try teaching because I think that it, for me, it’s a blend between the love that I have for career coaching, the love that I have for teaching people, and then the love that I have for design.

[00:28:30] Jarell: And if I can mesh these two together. Then you become a teacher.

[00:28:38] Jarell: So we’re going to have a little discussion time. We’re going to do some breakout rooms and in the next 10 minutes, I want you to first. Figure out what is getting in your way to try active discovery and then focus on why won’t this work for you?

[00:28:59] Ami: So basic [00:29:00] guys, here’s what we’re gonna do We’re gonna pair you guys up somewhat randomly and have a conversation about You know, all of the, the elements that you’re all has shared today about using prioritization and using these questions to outline, you know, what ifs and figure out why that wouldn’t work in your situation.

[00:29:20] Ami: Let’s have a conversation about that. Alright, let’s get into it guys. Let’s, we have a few minutes left. What is the blocks. What’s getting in the way of you using Jarrell’s method to actually you know, prioritize and work in the space that you want in the way that you want? 

[00:29:34] Attendee: May I start? So my main challenge right now, I mean, so far, is that because I’m an experienced architect from Iran.

[00:29:45] Attendee: I have 15 years of experience. I have master’s degree and I had my career, but moving to Canada, I had to start all over everything again. So I switched to graphic design. I studied graphic [00:30:00] design and I’ve been working in graphic design field for two years. But right now my main challenge, I have my brainstorming notebook.

[00:30:08] Attendee: I have all of the steps. I have my mind map. I’ve been talking to people, but my main challenge is finding the right path so that I can use or combine my experiences, education, graphic design, architecture, and you know, figure out how I can grow faster. I’m not expecting be the same as I used to be before right away, but at least I need to get there.

[00:30:35] Attendee: Faster, right? I expect myself to ask. So yeah, this is my challenge. 

[00:30:43] Jarell: Awesome. 

[00:30:44] Ami: Yeah, absolutely. That makes perfect sense. Jarrell, any, any thoughts on that? 

[00:30:49] Jarell: I think that maybe, maybe the notes and everything like that. I’m, I’m sure that you’ve been talking to people about it, but I think gaining those little experiences and those little wins and [00:31:00] seeing what they’re doing.

[00:31:01] Jarell: how it talks to you. Those little experiences will may take you down a path that you didn’t think would foresee it and would combine those aspects that you have and will to shed light into something that is unique and is that is why it’s more of an active discovery because you have to put yourself into very uncomfortable positions and you have to find yourself into those and then those answers will become a lot more clear. 

[00:31:24] Ami: Jarell, let’s go to the next prompt here for folks. You guys get the benefit of being here with us. The next, the next question, I guess, we’ll, we’ll direct this at you, Sami, is like, we’ve discussed what the challenge is, and it’s a real thing. It’s not like it’s a minor issue. It’s, it’s, it’s it has a lot of merit.

[00:31:39] Ami: But how might you apply some of the principles of what Jarell discussed, even if it’s a small way or a big way? So an example of that, Israel was in a particular situation where he could travel. He could take this time off. Not everyone’s in that situation, but he also made it time bound. So it wasn’t just like, Oh, I’m going to like disappear for 10 [00:32:00] years and this float, right?

[00:32:01] Ami: So, but, but yeah, there’s usually a way for us to include it in some small way at the very least. Have you, have you considered, yeah. How might you apply some of these ideas? 

[00:32:12] Attendee: Time wise, I, because I just received my PR, so my focus was, you know, going through that stressful process. So now that I’m done with that, my focus is.

[00:32:25] Attendee: I, I have a timeline for myself this year. My focus would be finding the right path and breaking down the steps so that I know short term and long term what’s gonna be my steps. I am right now in the, you know, the process in the stage of. Figuring out what’s going to be the right path for me and that, as you said, like trying those little experiences and to see how does this speak to [00:33:00] me and also how does they make sense.

[00:33:03] Attendee: For example, I’ve got. Offers about like, I talked to people and people told me this path might be good for you to take in based on your experience. But then I’m, I’m, I’m trying to do more research to see how exactly this path would be, you know, Benefiting for my situation because I have kids. I’m not that young as I was before.

[00:33:29] Attendee: So I have it. I have a time limit for myself. So I don’t know. Is that answers your question? 

[00:33:35] Ami: I mean, I think it’s a start. It sounds like you’re at a big important transition point, right? Is the big piece of it a little bit. A Carolina is in here as well. I’d love to hear from you when you hear this question, you know, how might you apply this?

[00:33:49] Ami: What what comes up in your mind if you’re actually on? I can’t see your face, but Carol Mack. [00:34:00] No. All right. Oh, 

[00:34:03] Attendee: sorry. Can you see me? 

[00:34:04] Ami: Yes. Yeah, I can. 

[00:34:05] Attendee: Oh, I can’t see myself. That’s weird. Yeah, I, I want to answer not this one because I think I know this one. I think I was more of a question of the first one with how you feel like you can’t apply what yeah, from this talk.

[00:34:20] Attendee: I think my struggle is like, I’m trying to do the balance with the part time graphic design, which is what I get paid. And then the thing that I’m actually passionate about is being an artist. So I do have an artist studio here in Vancouver and I try to go into the studio as much as I can to paint and draw.

[00:34:37] Attendee: But I’m finding myself, even though I don’t have like a full time corporate job, which I did quit last year, cause like similar to you, like it was terrible and it was tech. So I was treated like garbage. Now I’m too busy doing design and trying to get like a good foot in the door in a better company, like in a good position for next year.

[00:34:58] Attendee: But now. It’s steering [00:35:00] away from my art and I feel pressured that I have to work full time because I live in Vancouver. It’s so expensive and I want the money to save up to travel as well. Obviously my lifestyle, I want to travel. So now it’s like, I want to have that balance where my meaningful work and my passion is art, but I’m doing too much graphic design that.

[00:35:19] Attendee: Is yes, it’s, it’s actually quite fun because I’m freelancing at the moment, but like, I’m trying to find that balance to be able to have enough money to travel, do my art, because that’s what I’m passionate about, and then be a part time graphic designer to pay to go traveling. So it’s sort of like, how do I do that?

[00:35:35] Attendee: Because I feel like I’m running myself to the ground, trying to do it all at the 

[00:35:39] Ami: moment. I think that’s such a great question that I would, can we hold on to that as a part of our Q& A? Oh, yeah. I think it’s such a huge question. Sorry. We’re bringing back, we’re bringing back everybody now. The, the breakout rooms are closing in one minute.

[00:35:52] Ami: And so let’s, let’s hold on to that thought. Yeah. Welcome back, everybody. [00:36:00] Apologies if you got stuck in a room with one person. Hopefully you had a conversation there in the end. Give it a second here. Okay. Okay. So what we’re going to do next is is Q and a and, and we actually kind of seeded, seeded this just in the last couple of seconds here with, with it, Carol Mack, not your username, but what was your name?

[00:36:24] Ami: Carol Mack. Okay. 

[00:36:24] Jarell: Carol. 

[00:36:26] Ami: Okay. I was saying how the pressures of money are forcing her to take on gigs or projects that take away from what she really wants to do, which is more art. And I think that a lot of us in this economic climate are in similar positions. I’m curious, Jerrell what, what advice do you have for people who are in similar situations?

[00:36:52] Jarell: I think that like the waves that I was talking about, perhaps that this is that [00:37:00] time to really grind it out and kind of set that priority for the future. Like, if you need to grind it out for now, then go for it. But if there’s that time in place that you say three to four months from now that like, okay, three to four months.

[00:37:15] Jarell: And now I’m going to be able to grind out. I can save and I’m maybe just take. A small vacation. That’s not that expensive. Or you think about yeah, just a nice getaway into a cabin and get those slices. Or do you save up for a massive vacation that really gets it all out of your system? For example, Japan was that get it all out of my system.

[00:37:37] Jarell: I’m really going to live for tomorrow kind of deal. That taught me everything that I needed to know. Yeah. So just working with the tides and what you currently have, maybe that can be. That’s work for you. 

[00:37:52] Ami: The thing that strikes me is that I think the whole conversation we have right now is, is not one about being [00:38:00] unrealistic.

[00:38:00] Ami: It’s not like meaningful work means that we, we get to just like throw up our hands and be like, okay, well I get to be, you know, an artist and I don’t even need to sell the work and it doesn’t, you know, whatever, like there are needs that you have that have to be met. But I guess what, what Jarrell is advocating for here is like with realism You prioritize your wants, right?

[00:38:21] Ami: So how does that fit in your life right now? It’d be different according to the seasons and tides, right? So I think that’s the piece here is like in your case, Carol, it sounds like you are allowing the need for money to completely, Override and completely overprioritize over everything else that you want to do.

[00:38:41] Ami: And we all have the ability to say, okay, this hour of the day, I get to do this. Or 15 minutes in the morning. I get to do this. Like you, you have to create the, the constraints for you to be able to succeed. And I think that that takes the intention that, that Jarrell is advocating for. Um, [00:39:00] I’m going to carry on with some other questions I got before this event, but I’m going to invite you guys as well to share in the chat.

[00:39:05] Ami: If you’ve got questions I will, I’ll, I’ll read them out. And, and we’ll get into it. One of the questions we got previously was for folks who are changing, like changing careers, changing industries that type of thing. I mean, I think Somi, in some ways spoke about this changing countries That, that feeling of transition.

[00:39:27] Ami: It’s a really hard time for folks in that position. And yeah, any, any specific advice for that? Because I asked this one particularly if you draw, cause in many ways you’re in that too, right? Like you have very intentionally decided to go through that transition with, with we’re previously doing in tech and and what you’re doing today.

[00:39:45] Ami: So advice or anecdotes for, for folks who are in that transition period at the moment and feeling a bit lost. 

[00:39:53] Jarell: So my plan in the for the immediate future is saying, okay, I do know what I want to prioritize in [00:40:00] life and this photography, but it’s not something I want to do full time. It’s something that I love doing, but I don’t want to make it into a business.

[00:40:07] Jarell: If it happens, it happens. Great. Ideally, in the future, I built up such a client base or that word of mouth that I’ll yada yada that yeah. I’d be able to just choose my own clients, charge whatever I want, and be happy and satisfied with the fact I can still travel and still save up. And I think that focusing on the reasons what drives you and the priorities that drives you to travel Get the full time job and just stick in that route, but still trying to build for the future and doing that little extra bit that drives you, that you’re passionate about, that you’re so happy to do, that you can’t stop thinking about, that like literally makes your body electric.

[00:40:45] Jarell: Like that is what could, that’s what photography does. It literally electrifies my whole body. That’s something that I realized I was, I was fighting against when I was in Japan. I was fighting against because it would take risk. [00:41:00] It’s scary. I have to risk being called out. I have to risk missing the shot.

[00:41:06] Jarell: But then I got so used to missing be okay with missing the shot that I would be comfortable that that made me want to keep taking photos because I’m, I’m continuously trying anyway. 

[00:41:21] Ami: Yeah. I guess a related question. Is how do you get your, how did you put yourself in a position to be picky? Cause I think that’s something that we all seek is that like desperation forces us to say yes to every single person.

[00:41:37] Ami: Right. And sometimes it means we’re saying yes to something we’re screaming inside about. And I think especially after layoffs, that’s something that happens a lot. You know, you feel. Pretty down and you have needs. And so I feel like a lot of this conversation is around this conversation, this, this idea of like, how do you get yourself in a position to be picky about what you accept?[00:42:00] 

[00:42:00] Jarell: You have to go through a lot of shit. Like, you have to eat garbage for a hot minute for a long time. I ate garbage. I kept eating. Just doing crap that I did not enjoy. That but I was always thinking about this is all temporary. This is all just temporary things. I’m going to try and do a lot of testing and learn a lot.

[00:42:24] Jarell: Because I keep eating crap and that’s okay for a while. That’s just life. That’s just accepting it. But once you get to that point where you start slowly leveling up and you slowly start getting your wins and you slowly start doing things that make you feel uncomfortable and all this, all this, you’re like, man, I can do whatever I want.

[00:42:45] Jarell: And if you’re at that position where you can feel like you can do whatever you want, then you can choose what you want to do. And you know, because of the crap that you’ve gone through, what you don’t want to do. Once you get those two bins out of the way, and you can [00:43:00] move forward and say, yeah, I’m going to accept this because this aligns with me.

[00:43:03] Jarell: No, I’m not going to accept this. This doesn’t align with me. And I don’t care how much this cost, this will cost me because I’m still valuing my own time. And I’m, I’m valuing my freedom. I’m, I am valuing. Yeah, I am aligned with my goals. So that’s, that’s pretty much it. It’s strength. You get strength from just being grateful and just being, and just all those experiences in the past.

[00:43:29] Jarell: Yeah. 

[00:43:30] Ami: Yeah. I think one way I would put it is that we’re talking about understanding priorities over like just moving with expectations, right? Expectations of society, maybe expectations you had of yourself before. You know, and, and we, we get that ability by asking these questions by, by focusing, you know, we did a 15 second prompt just to get the top of mind answers going, but coming back to those questions and diving deeper allows us two [00:44:00] things.

[00:44:00] Ami: First of all, we know the answer. That’s, that’s a good start, but it also allows us to have a framework where you have the permission to get curious, right? The permission to play. With these ideas. Like, what if I did this? Like, yes, I have the needs, but what if I played in this, this part of my play for this time?

[00:44:15] Ami: And I really think that’s powerful. We had a question from, from NES. I hope I’m pronouncing your name. Right. Is that a feeling of uncertainty where you’re like, not sure if you can pull this off, he’s freelancing. But kind of feels pulled into, into getting full time work. You tackled this in a really interesting way but specifically around the feeling, how did you, how do you recommend people navigate that when they’re, they’re losing kind of that certainty or confidence that they need to keep going?

[00:44:49] Jarell: It’s the tools that we have. Life is always going to be an uncertain. It’s always going to create uncertainty. There’s uncertainty everywhere. And it’s the tools that we have [00:45:00] in our belt. That can ultimately create some way to solve it. And if we stay in that, like, uncertain feeling, It’s, it’s scary. But once you learn how to accept it and to move forward, then you get comfortable with that uncertainty.

[00:45:23] Jarell: Again, as someone who is super risk averse, I hated uncertainty. That drove me wild because my mind would just create like 400 variables and situations that can occur or that can go wrong. But I never really figured out what if it goes right. Because I didn’t like the uncertainty portion, so I go backwards moving forwards is saying, okay, now that I can figure out opportunities or figure out ways to solve this thing, the tools that I’ve had in the past or tools that I know that works or tools that work for people that I [00:46:00] respect.

[00:46:01] Jarell: If I try those things out, and you can do these in small doses, by the way, this I’m not talking about massive talking about tiny little, little exercises. Right? It’s like weight training. You don’t just go to 100 pounds and do a dumbbell chest. You do it incrementally, but you have to actively go to the gym or else you’re not going to get to that hundred pound one.

[00:46:22] Jarell: You’re just going to stay in the five pound bin because you’re not used to it.

[00:46:29] Ami: Absolutely. I think there’s something interesting in under the, the, the sliding scale that you put up. That’s really an interesting thing. I think a lot of people who I, who were in that position that you’re in NES it’s, they kind of think of it as black and white, where it’s like, I have to freelance to be full time, but there are other variations of that as well.

[00:46:47] Ami: Right. And it’s, I, I took a long time to figure this out because it’s, it doesn’t fit for my personality. I like risk. I like owning a business. It’s very difficult for me to think about a scenario where I’m like,[00:47:00] 

[00:47:02] Jarell: Oh no. You went mute on me.

[00:47:08] Jarell: Yeah. Cancel here. So can’t hear you.

[00:47:14] Jarell: Oh no. I’m, I’m not the only one, right? Yeah, I can hear you and you sound not as great. I’m going to get a thumbs up, but I don’t see Jor 

[00:47:23] Ami: El’s speaking. I am speaking. Hi. Everyone’s thumbs up. I can’t hear you. Okay, one second. Cool. I think that that’ll do it. Somebody say something. Jor El. Hi. Hey, there we go.

[00:47:34] Ami: Okay. Sorry about that. What was I saying? Okay. Yeah. Jor El’s unique approach was to use the. part time opportunities to give himself the space to continue playing, which I love, right? The career coaching, teaching, these elements allow you to be in that position again, not being desperate, right? And so I think that mantra is what I’d love for people to [00:48:00] take away from today is like, what do I, how do I put myself in a position to not be desperate so that I can focus on my priorities?

[00:48:07] Ami: Not just accept something because it gives me the money and then turn off all the things that turn me on, you know what I mean? It’s continuing to move towards that person I want to be, that thing I want to focus on. I think that’s the power there. It relates to this question that came from Jeffrey on, on Lifestock.

[00:48:24] Ami: I don’t know if you have a comment tip to make here Jarrell, but, you know, knowing when to downsize your lifestyle based on how do you handle family or friends critiquing, you know, judging a little bit what was your experience there? 

[00:48:39] Jarell: Yeah, so I was actually just talking to my friend about this yesterday because I was starting to tell people that I was looking for full time work and I am.

[00:48:49] Jarell: I’m scared of that judgment because I’ve been on this bender of my own life stuff for so long and I have people question keep questioning me and straight up. I’m like, you know, I’m just mess. I’m [00:49:00] like, I’m effing around and finding out pretty much like I, I don’t know if this is going to work out and that’s fine.

[00:49:07] Jarell: That’s the purpose of this is I’m still going to try. I’m still going to be go in with this, you know, maybe 1 foot or 2 feet in and we’ll see what that teaches me. And so I’m used to having, like, a lot of what do you call this? Spending power. We’ll put it this way. I’m used to that. I’ve had that for several years.

[00:49:24] Jarell: Like I said, I was just shopping when I was doing a full time job and a part time job and making bank. Then, pandemic hit, and so I realized, okay, or sorry, I got laid off, and then I realized in the pandemic, I was also extremely frugal. I was making sourdough. I was making a lot of different things and I’d done it before and I was happy.

[00:49:43] Jarell: I, my favorite day lived in the pandemic where I just get to read a book, go to a coffee shop, do a little, do a little of this, do a little of that, and then count my days. So I realized that my priorities is just a simple life. It’s just simple things that make me happy. And so [00:50:00] if I have to prioritize those portions more so than luxury goods or luxury experiences or anything like that, then I can do that for a time, but it’s part of the time bound theory.

[00:50:10] Jarell: Is that yeah, it is only for a time and I have done this before and so I can do it again and I’m not going to have any issues because I’m going to, I’m going to be able to move forward by taking a step back. 

[00:50:23] Ami: I think it comes again from that awareness of like, what is actually going on? What are my minimum needs that I need to hit?

[00:50:30] Ami: Otherwise I will be desperate. And then how do I, how do I make sure that I’m not in that situation? And it’s sort of a question of like, what’s the least amount of friction, right? It’s like, sometimes the least amount of friction would be to get get a job, get a part time job, something like that. But in other scenarios would be like, Hey, if I reduce lifestyle, then that’s actually easier and gives me more freedom to continue exploring and continue moving towards what I want to do.

[00:50:55] Ami: I think we should leave it there. I am conscious of the time. Let’s give I’d love [00:51:00] to see you all giving Jor El a round of applause. Thank you so much for, for, for all of that hard work and, and that you put into this presentation. I’m gonna take over the screen share. Yeah, go for it. And let’s see here.

[00:51:21] Ami: All right, perfect. One of the things we do at all of our live events is gonna be familiar for you guys if you’ve been is this question of how will you take action because you’ve made the time in the middle of your day to show up to this event to interact with Jarrell. And the biggest reason we I hope you do that over like just watching a YouTube video is firstly to connect with people, right?

[00:51:44] Ami: You’ve connected with one another, but secondly, use that connection to inspire real action, real change. And so I would love to hear from a couple of you guys in the comment section, you know, how do you plan to take action? And while you think about that, [00:52:00] I’ll tell you something that That I thought of while Gerald was speaking here today, is the use of timelines, right?

[00:52:07] Ami: The use of time as a way to take pressure off of my shoulders and be like, Hey, this is a short period of time where I get to play. And that takes away that sense of fear and desperation. Let’s see if any of you. Chimed in here. Here we are action by Jarella burrito so he can relive the past life. I 

[00:52:28] Jarell: literally have two burritos in my fridge right now 

[00:52:32] Ami: at all times. It’s just a burrito at all times. Yeah. 

[00:52:34] Jarell: My, my mom was making me a lot of, was making a lot, been going down a breakfast burrito bender. And then, so I was like, Whoa, that’s actually pretty perfect. So I have stored away frozen burritos that I’ll kick out.

[00:52:47] Jarell: And I’ve been experimenting with, I believe I have shrimp and tofu. 

[00:52:51] Ami: Beauty. Awesome. I like Carolina’s is for a unique reason. I mean, I think it was sort of a summary piece, but there is an action hidden there, which is sharing, [00:53:00] sharing this with our students, sharing this with your other peers, right?

[00:53:02] Ami: Telling people that there is hope is, is also an action step that I, that I think is, is valuable. That one piece about gratitude. There’s, there’s science that says that If you are able to be grateful you cannot experience fear at the same time, the sense of desperation and, and gratitude can’t operate in your body at the same time.

[00:53:22] Ami: It can come back. It’s not an off switch permanently, but I think sharing is a wonderful way to increase the amount of gratitude you have in your life. All right. Let’s let’s move on here, guys. If you liked today’s session, you’re going to love our August 8th session. It’s another online event. And it’s going to be talking about how to charge more for creative services.

[00:53:41] Ami: So this is particularly for you. If you are a freelancer, if you have a studio and agency, and you are feeling like, okay, Be Good at what I do. I just can’t seem to really meaningfully raise my prices and that keeps me kind of feeling stuck. So if that’s an interesting topic we have actually just announced the [00:54:00] those the tickets are available.

[00:54:01] Ami: Result of you can put that in the chat for folks.