12. How to Create Something Worth Your While
Change your root perspective by starting with a value based approach to your creation...
They say Be careful what you wish for.
I’ve started 2017 with an amazing determination to create. I’ve gotten a second job to help with that. I committed to #100NW and I still have a few other personal projects I desperately want to work on.
The true challenge is keeping up
Surprisingly, I’ve already identified my biggest threat this year — burning out quicklier than expected.
I usually love what I do. But I also love my rhythms. And this is where me & the world sort of tune out a bit.
We’re creating 70% more content by the year. Of course, a big part of that content is total BS. Another large slice of it is just rephrasing past ideas. There’s a very small portion of content that’s actually created new (ground breaking ideas and the news).
So, since I wrote about how the world spins madly on, I’m now wondering, can I really keep up with it?
And even more importantly — am I supposed to? I mean… who sets the parameters? And who stretches them?
The Opportunity Cost
My mom used to obssesively reapeat how we set our own limits only to overcome them. Sure thing, mom. But what’s my opportunity cost?
The Opportunity Cost is an economical term. We make decisions by chosing a solution out of a range of possibilities. And, in given consitions, we usually opt for that possibility which we think might benefit us most. Well, the opportunity cost is the value of the next best thing. What am I sacrificing to accomplish what I chose and what is its value? Most of the times, for me at least, it’s ego, sanity, health and social life.
- When I wished for it, I said create. I didn’t say learn. (Yeah, my bad) I’m used to investing a considerable amount of time to read, learn, make sense of new concepts and be aware. I like to do these things a certain way. Say, I love reading Medium articles first thing in the morning. My mind is clearer then and I get to relate and make all sorts of connections between ideas and come up with new stuff.
- I’m also extremely sensitive about my alone time. I don’t have much and I need my time to be entirely me. To meditate. To have fun. To befriend myself and make sense of what’s going on around. Keeps me sane.
- I sit a lot. In front of black edged boxes. :) I’m still working on keeping an eating schedule. But the biggest adjustments are to be made in the diet itself. (Not mentioning stress here. Oups, I just did. Well, about that…)
- As for social… I used to be better at keeping friends.
The catch
So, when I ask if I’m supposed to keep up, what I’m really asking is Is it worth my ego, sanity, health and social life?
To answer that, we need a new view on the matter:
Things are not worthwile by themselves. We give them meaning. Creators decide whether their art is worthy or not.
At first, it might seem as if I lose a lot of myself. But losing is only losing in contrast with winning. Hence, the concept of opportunity cost. This sheds new light on another variable I’m working with — my own work.
My Catch is that when I sit down to write, instead of asking Is it worth it? I ask How do I create something worthy?
It’s a root perspective shift which allows you to focus on your locus of control. It’s a value based approach to what you’re creating. Instead of focusing on what value you have created, you start with the value you wanted to create in the first place.
Remember how in this post I was talking about just deciding to do something? Well, you can just decide to add more value to your work. So that, from now on, when you ask yourself Is it worth it? you can just decide to make it worth it!
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Other Naked Words I’ve written lately:
#Prodigality | #LettingGo | #Story | #Voice | #Freedom | #Besties | #Adventure | #Truth | #Ungrasped |
