In the midst
of the battle between inspiration and exhaustion, an insight:
creative work = a challenge I set
for myself
creative satisfaction = meeting that
challenge
creative output = a by-product
First
came the insight, and then recognition: this is how I've always done my best work –
back when my best work came effortlessly, and won success wherever I placed it.
The paradox
is that the best work is never about ‘work’
at all. It’s about the mindset that fuels me – so that I'm simply unwinding
a long spool of energy, charged by my own curiosity, inspiration, and
authentic self-defined challenge.
True of
the creative process and its results, it applies equally to any endeavour, big or small:
work = a challenge I set for myself
satisfaction = meeting that
challenge
output = a by-product
The
output, the outcome that is usually thought of as the goal, is only ever an
incidental by-product of the real task: the meaningful, energising challenge that
I’ve given myself.
It’s
been a long time since this has been my default approach. The dislocation of illness and the disorientation
of recovery stripped away so many things I had done and known, and it seems I
must learn them again.
This (re-)discovery
is, then, powerful and empowering.
I
remember now. I will not forget this again.
