Reason # 7 - Not a Rule Follower

Today I'll tell you a story which will illustrate why square pegs can't fit into round holes (hey, remember that TV show?). Anyway silly me, thought I could wing a corporate day job, which would support me and give me health insurance benefits, in order to pursue my artistic life (I'm a fledgling Illustrator). I learned the hard way that this is not the case.

At about the same time my company hired me - I'll call it 'XYZ' - the marketing department was in the process of 're-branding' and revising all of XYZ's marketing materials. XYZ had recently become an affiliate of a global real estate services company which necessitated incorporating that company's logo and look, etc.

One of my main duties was producing marketing information sheets for a team of really nice sales associates. Each associate marketed anywhere from 10 to 30 properties. It was actually my favorite part of the job because my artistic inner child could express herself (albeit in a tiny way).

However within a few months, the marketing team clamped down on everyone. We were told to use their new info sheet templates, and there was to be no variation. Period. Exact spacing. Indent only 5 spaces, not 4, not 6, photos had to be this or that particular size, blah, blah, blah. The sales associates were used to creating their own info sheets as they pleased, even if they were too wordy, or had garish graphics. Now, the marketing police reviewed each sheet to make sure it complied with the rules (Spread your legs! Hands up! Keep your hands on the car!)

I hated these templates, in case you haven't figured that out by now. Having designed websites and created characters and logos as a freelance artist, well, I bristled at these rules. I'd been somewhat aware of my non-conformist tendencies. But my resistance to following every template rule, down to whether you indent 5 spaces or 7 spaces, e.g., brought to my awareness how ill-fitting this sort of task is to me.

So that learning experience was a definite take-away ... that I should not work in a widget factory where my responsibility is to ensure every widget is the same as the one before!