Last week, two creative people asked me for guidance on the exact same issue. Essentially they said: “I have a great, flexible day job that I’m good at, but I seem to be more involved with that job than I am with pursuing what I came to LA to do.”

This is a common scenario.

Even if what you do at your survival job isn’t all that interesting, the job itself can be compelling simply because that’s how you generate income. But what if, in addition to the paycheck, the job actually is stimulating? And what if your workplace is where you get praise and positive feedback, where you apply your skills, where you feel useful, where you feel valued, where you are making a tangible contribution, where you are part of a team, and where there is structure, support, and accountability in your day?

At the moment, your artistic pursuit might lack every single one of those qualities. Compared to your day job, the pursuit of your artistic career may seem vague, overwhelming, and laced with the potential of risk and rejection. Who wouldn’t try to avoid those things? That’s why it’s easy to succumb to the Siren song of a grateful boss enticing you to spend a little more time at the office or pick up a few extra shifts. That’s why it would be easy to wake up three years from now… as a full-time employee advancing through the ranks.

But, if you truly desire to move forward faster toward creative success, here are the three main things you can do to prevent yourself from being sucked into your day job:

1) Firmly decide that your day job is subordinate to your artistic career. This shift in your mentality must happen regardless of whether your day job currently consumes 50 hours a week or merely 10. Especially if your goal is to eventually ditch your day job entirely, you must continuously remind yourself that the reason you are working where you are working is to support and finance the pursuit of your passion.

2) Set boundaries regarding your job and respect them. The fact is, you teach people how to treat you. Is your current behavior setting any detrimental precedents? For example, if you’ve taken a job with the agreement to work from 7am until 1pm, but you routinely stay at the office until 2 or 3, you are communicating through your actions that your time is rather elastic. Your boss and co-workers won’t feel inhibited about asking you to work overtime or, even worse, automatically relying on you to do so. What your actions should be communicating is: “Unless a request is made for a special circumstance, I need to leave daily at 1pm. On the days that I leave work for an audition, I will come back and make up my hours or reschedule them. Otherwise, I leave at 1pm.” Guess what? If you were taking a class that started daily at 1:30pm everyone would be fine with you leaving promptly. They would “understand” and “respect your time.” And guess what else? As long as you put in a solid day’s work, it’s none of their business why you need to vamoose on time. Have a standing appointment – with yourself – to pursue your passion is reason enough.

(In my next post I’ll write more about how to make your day job work for you.)

3) Create a plan of action for your career pursuit. You may not feel compelled to leave your day job on time if you are uncertain about what exactly you are going to do with the rest of your day. Likewise, it’s easy to stay in bed if you don’t have a clear understanding of how you can utilize your morning hours to advance your goals. I help people make strategic action plans precisely so their creative careers will have at least as much vitality and clarity as their day jobs. Vagueness breeds fear; clarity nurtures courage. Also, having a plan enables you to use various tools and recruit a variety of people to add support and accountability (two elements vital for sustained success) to this area of your life.