Creative voids and operational excellence

I’ve been experiencing a void in my work & life over the last few months and only now do I realise what it was.

I’ve been busy — busy in the hot, sweaty engine room of implementation.

But its been a certain type of implementation — operational excellence as opposed to creative expression. Both output very different feelings and satisfy different needs.

Interestingly, I find both are absolutely essential for fulfillment and growth. You can’t grow without mastering your craft and you can’t master your craft without creative inquiry. Much like our need for both certainty and uncertainty in life, these two forces of creation and implementation create a paradoxical push-pull energy which is entirely necessary to be in flow.

Value maximisation happens at the intersection of creative expression and operational excellence

You need a combination of both ‘the doing’ and ‘the creating’ behind your work to reach your full potential.

What’s probably most interesting is that I’ve noticed you can’t do both simultaneously to maximum effect. From what I’ve observed and listened to of great thinkers in this arena, they go through periods of intense creation followed by intense implementation. You have to immerse yourself fully in each individually to extract the gems of insight, wisdom and peak performance from each. The need for this focused input of energy to maximise results has certainly been my experience as well.

The trick, as I have discovered, is to know when to implement and when to be creative. The trap is to become fixated on one at the expense of the other.

As with most things in life, balance is key and nurturing that balance is a subtle art form worth mastering.

To me, a large part of how content you are with your life’s work depends on it.