A little nugget from the toolbox:
"What am I really trying to do?"
This is a simple question that I’ve learned to ask myself often. Usually, when I’m frustrated, out of ideas, empty, experiencing dissonance, pulling my hair out or just generally bored with my work it’s because I don’t really know what I’m trying to do or I’m not being fully honest about my intentions.
It’s impossible to be effective without a sense of focus. We can be languishing in the muck and mire, but not making any progress. Simply stopping to ask the question, "what am I really trying to do here?" can relieve a lot of pain and wasted effort. (I know that the cynics among us will scoff at this simple advice, but it’s what we do that’s important, not what we know or how complicated our methods are.)
This advice applies to higher-order problems as well. It’s a good idea to take regular pauses and think about your life as a whole. "What am I really trying to do?" can help you choose the right activities and conversations for the day and help you hone in on the critical stuff.
It takes intentionality to engage with creative projects on our own time - they don’t just make themselves. In this episode, we talk about some disciplines that can help us creatively engage and get moving on our “pet” projects.
May 11th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hi, love your site.
I feel young. I am a woman, forty seven, then I think of moving east, starting a photography business after Hallmark. I think I am pretty focused, because photography is a passion, and it runs deep. But sometimes I think I am trying to overcompensate for something…my restless mind won’t let me figure it out yet…perhaps, what do you think? I want to be top ten percent, I am moving to MA, with the utmost confidence in getting accepted to Hallmark, and I can taste it. Sometimes I question myself, do I have what it takes??? Thanks, mary beth Great site.