Shattering ab out creative jobs is space for honest conversations about the state of t he sector. The 16th- centur y Italian count Baldassare Castiglio ne coined an intoxicating Italian term that many in the creat ive industr y resonate with. Sprezzatura or the ar t of shrouding effor t and toil —like a swan elegantly gliding on the water yet frantically paddling beneath the sur face—has charact erized the public image of the industr y for years. The latest WeTransfer Ideas Repor t marks a moment o f reckoning, of truth-telling, within the industr y. A sur vey of thousands of people from 180 countries, who rely on WeTransfer’s tools daily, got to the hear t of the matter: thriving in the cre ative sector today isn’t about effor tless genius but about mad hu stle.  Shattering romantic notions about creative jobs is clearing space for honest conversations about the state of t he sector. WeTransfer’s study, conducted in par tnership with s trategy firm TRIPTK , reveals that 56% of creatives don’t feel su ccessful; most struggle with making enough money, and nearly 60% feel ill -prepared for a future that’s being largely defined by technologies like AR , VR , and AI. Producing inventi ve solutions on deadline of ten requires a lot of personal sacrifi ce, with creative workers expected to demote their personal plans to meet the pressures of the job. Glossing over the realities of the trade, turns out , has resulted in poor compensation, feelings of being under valued , underpaid, and even job burnout . The current job dissatisfaction rate is cause for c oncern. Over 90% feel that there’s a general ignorance abou t their work and over half feel underappreciated by their p eers, bosses, and clients. “What worries me the most is the devaluing of creat ive skills, like the belief that one person can manage social c ontent , strategy, analy tics, and scheduling,” obser ves Chan té Joseph, writer and digital content producer and one of six industr y exper ts inter viewed in WeTransfer’s repor t . “ The id ea that it is ‘easy ’ or you’re ‘just posting on social media’ is becoming a common rebuttal to people who feel like they ’re u nder valued and unsuppor ted in their roles.” Olivia Lopez, creative strategist and author, lamen ts the ubiquit y of “scope creep”—the notorious practice of adding t asks to a project outside of the contract—from clients w ho under valued her exper tise. “It took many years of b ad experiences to realize that overex tending of ten yie lded fruitless labor,” she explains. Unseen labor within the creative industr y, in fact , is so prevalent that nearly 60% of sur vey respondents ranked “sayin g no” as the top skill they ’d like to acquire. But it’s not all hear tbreak . WeTranfer’s 2022 Ideas Repor t also reveals an unwavering optimism within the sector, d espite a year marked by an economic downturn, geo -politica l upheavals, a climate crisis, and lest we forget , a global pandemic. With the more sophisticated communication technolog y, productivit y tools, and an overall appreciation for worke r well -being during the pandemic, many are able to fo rg e a career on their own terms more than ever. F or a vast majorit y the goal is autonomy or “the fre edo m to explore what I find exciting ever y day,” as M ar t y Bell, a Por tugal -based tech entrepreneur, puts it . Ultimately, this tumultuous period in histor y has g ive n creatives a clearer, perhaps more sobering outlook on their long-term priorities. WeTransfer’s Ideas Repor t o ff ers plent y of evidence that having control over how they spend their tim e and talents is fundamental. The most hardworking creatives admit that nur turing a creative mind means learning to regularly escape the hustle and grind . “I do have a problem with working too much,” Bell a ttests. “But it ' s also impor tant to switch o ff , to touch grass, to swi m in the sea, to wander the streets of Lisbon aimless ly withou t a phone for six hours on a Saturday af ternoon.” R o m a n t i c N ot i o n s c l e a r i n g Journalist and design critic Anne Quito Rewriting romantic my ths of the creative industr y 05 FORE WORD