#192 – What do you work for?

Essentially, I see three focus points when it comes to performing any activity – although it's especially true in creative endeavors. We could view them as three stages on our way to creative freedom, or true mastery.

1. You work to please others (role-model, reader, boss)

In this stage, you're insecure about your capabilities and the impact of your work. You still need someone to tell you that yes, this is the "right" path.

You want the pat in the back to know whether or not your work is valid. This makes you vulnerable to quitting if the doggie-treat never comes. Or if it comes too early in the process, because then you're attached to the praise and want more of it.

One of my literary idols, António Lobo Antunes, said in a seminar I attended in 2003 that he used to write "for" the Brontë sisters. Until he realized this was a mistake because the Brontë sisters would never be able to stand up for his writing – only he was.

2. You work to achieve something (clients, a book deal)

In this stage, you have an ulterior motive that's beyond the work itself.

You measure your words, knowing (fearing) that if you say or do the "wrong" thing, they'll go to someone else. That tight-rope-walking detracts from your authenticity, putting you in permanent self-editing and self-monitoring mode (unless you're someone like Oprah, in which case, well).

If you're in this stage, it may be useful to start a 100-rejection-challenge – something that turns the achievement on its head. Otherwise, you risk believing that not achieving your goal means your work is worthless. You forget that feedback about how the work is received only tells you something about the recipient, not the work itself.

3. You work to make the work matter

When you're here, you only care about the work: you want to make it as meaningful and "right for you" as you possibly can. By extension, the work itself will care about the people who interact with it.

Say you're a chef making a potaje de garbanzos [traditional Spanish chickpea stew with spinach]. In stage 3, you cook the chickpeas with so much love and dedication that they don't fall apart. You let it simmer until the sauce is reduced to perfection, the spinach shine deep green, the potatoes have turned light yellow thanks to the saffron, and the minced onion and garlic disappear in the sofrito.

In this stage, whether or not diners like your food, and whether or not you get patrons and reviews on Yelp! don't matter to you.

Because you're committed to your work, the only thing you care about is making the food the way you envisioned it in your mind.

You're serving the moment in front of you and anything extra you get (attention, financial rewards, clients) comes as a surprise.

How will your creativity explode when you focus on serving the work itself?

Love,

Carolina