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Non-Career Advice: Brian Paquette.

Non-Career Advice is a series that asks people - young, old, and in a range of occupations - for words of wisdom unrelated to work, career-building, dollars, or getting ahead.
Brian Paquette / Interior Designer
Also: Painter / record collector / proud Seattleite 
Age: 33        

A break from busy-ness is an act of bravery. "The word 'busy' bothers me more than most. You hear it all the time in the creative world: I'm so busy; I don't have time; I'm completely swamped. It's almost a point of pride. But it's not true. None of us should be so busy that we don't have time to take a step back here or there. And if it is true — if you really are so swamped that you have no time for anything else but work — then you're undervaluing yourself, it's as simple as that.

Our society tells us it's not right to be still — or that it's not right to be alone. Maybe that's where a lot of our desire to be constantly doing comes from. But so many of my best creative moments happen when I'm alone — taking a walk, listening to music, looking through my books, taking pictures. I take those times as seriously as I do my work. They're vital. And this is, too: aloneness is not the same as being lonely. Not even close."

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Thank you so much, Brian. More from the Non-Career Advice series, here. (You can also find my interview with Brian for FvF, here.) Photo by Dorothée Brand / Belathée Photography.

11 comments:

  1. Great advice, particularly if you're a free-lancer.

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  2. gorgeous advice. thanks, brian.

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  3. wonderfully wise and eloquent. will keep this bookmarked for sure. thanks, brian.

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  4. I hate people use"being too busy"as an excuse but then I realize I do it sometimes! I remember what Brian says here.

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  5. Thank you so much again, Brian!

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  6. I'm so impressed by Brian. What a wise soul.

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  7. Such good advice. I am truly swamped right now balancing a full time job, graduate school and my business, but once school ends, there's going to some serious soul-searching and re-evaluation. I don't want to spend 12 hours a day, 7 days a week staring at a screen.

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  8. I must admit I uttered those words today, "I'm so busy" I shall be rethinking such a stance tomorrow :) This series always brings out stellar advice!

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  9. Nice article, looking forward to checking out others in the series, what a neat idea!

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