3 Ways to Bucket Your Creative Projects (Creating an Upward Career Trajectory)

3 Ways to Bucket Your Creative Projects (Creating an Upward Career Trajectory)

Weeks perfecting strategy.

Months executing.

Days implementing.

Only to have the creative rug pulled out from underneath you at the 11th hour.

It’s what many of us experience when working on bigger, and more in depth, creative projects.

Having this happen time and time again left me feeling like I was rebuilding my career each and every time a project went south.

And after 15 years in this line of creative work I finally figured out a way through the “no way, not this again” feeling.

Here’s how to bucket your creative projects to keep your career on an upward trajectory:

1. Fun

This is the bucket of projects I work on because I love the subject matter.

Hobbies that have turned into full time work.

Side projects that gain traction over time.

Things that keep me feeling PUMPED about getting up each day.

2. $$$

These are projects I know are most likely gonna suck.

But the payout means that I can take care of bills and put more time toward the other buckets should I so choose.

These are the projects that I know I won’t have the best time doing but are necessary to keep the engines running.

3. Learning

Projects in this bucket usually come from strange places.

And aren’t things I typically see coming.

But they’re things that lead me to a new understanding of design, marketing, social media, and everything in between.

This work can often lead to opportunities for more fun, or higher paying, projects in the future.


The Takeaway

I try to never let any individual project cover all 3 buckets.

And that’s because, if it does end up going terribly wrong, I still have the other 2 buckets to fall back on.

Leaving in tact my feelings of inspiration, self-worth, and accomplishment.

Instead of bringing them crumbling to the ground in one single swoop.


?? ?? Ready to Make Your Creative Dreams a Reality?

Head on over to thecalculatedcreative.com for more actionable tips to help you move from inspiration to realization.

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