What drives you to create? Establishing goals through mindfulness

Paraphrasing what I understand, mindfulness is a meditation technique that focuses on "the now". Meaning that, for a moment, you stop thinking about anything that isn't the present moment. That's usually your own self and where you are right now.

Truth be told, I don't pay much attention to any kind of meditation techniques. I tend to worry too much about stuff and can't justify to myself spending time clearing my mind, when from my perspective it seems like I should be filling my mind with more problems to solve and challenges to tackle.

Is this where you tie your ideas together??

However, about five months ago, I started to realize more and more that I was feeling extremely dissatisfied with "something" in my life. I was extremely stressed all the time,  slept even less than usual, I started skipping meals because I just didn't feel like eating and was extremely irritable all the time. 

Granted, there were some glaringly obvious issues going on. A lot of my projects were stuck or getting cancelled and the financial situation in the household was less than stellar. But this is not entirely uncommon for me, so it still felt extremely out of place.

 

I promise it'll all make sense soon

 

Good sob story, so this is where mindfulness swept in and saved the day!

Not really, I meant what I said about meditation. I did get some advice from my Mum though!

She's a stellar advisor and trained spiritual companion. She's exceptional at providing very on point observations and insights so you can take action in bettering yourself. One key aspect I really enjoy about talking with her is that she doesn't "solve" anything. She guides you to a corridor with several doors, you need to pick the one you want and go through it yourself.

I ended up talking to myself in short bursts every day for about two weeks until I could pinpoint the issue.

In short, even though I was still participating in some projects doing tasks I generally enjoy, I was no longer doing it for a reason I felt truly passionate about. So every project that I delivered, even if it was successful didn't make me feel like I had accomplished something.

Well, that still sounds like you did some meditation in the end, right?

Maybe, I don't feel like I did but that's besides the point right now. What's important is that I changed the way in which I was establishing my personal and career goals to try and always frame them in a way that always moves me towards a path that I find fulfilling.

That's where mindfulness comes in...at least I think it does, let me share my findings and hopefully it'll shine some light into my thought process. It would make me extremely happy if you found it helpful somehow.

While speaking to myself during those weeks, I found out that one of the things that makes me the happiest is to help people overcome challenges and obstacles. Kind of like my Mum did with me, but with my own set of skills, which are centered around designing and communicating knowledge. Teaching if you will.

Having found my motivation, I moved to making sure that the decisions I took from that moment forward were framed under the scope of somehow always including helping the most people as possible or teaching something new.

It's an incredibly simple change really, if I were more Machiavellian when evaluating myself, I'd be extremely displeased with the amount of time it took me to arrive to the conclusion that I just needed to re-frame my own objectives.

So wait, that's the insight!? A change of perspective?

So simple it's almost anti-climactic isn't it? There's a catch though!, actually finding out what is it that drives you is the actual challenge, not changing your perspective.

I brought up mindfulness because it's a useful way to establish the type of mindscape that can better help you get started.

Think about where you are now, not as a being in the universe, but as a professional. What is it that drives you to use your skills? What are you looking to get as a result of your work? We're talking beyond remuneration here! What do you want for yourself?

Not so simple anymore right? There's a lot to unpack in such a simple question. "What drives you to create?" 

As with any successful project, having a clear goal when establishing objectives makes every step feel meaningful and each time you get closer to that goal you get a great feeling of both fulfillment and happiness.

The answer may not come fast, but I can assure you it's worth every single nano second you spend in this activity, because once you find what drives you, then you start getting the feeling of being back in control of your own path again. 

I believe that a lot of the stress and unhappiness we as people feel comes precisely from being busy all the time but feeling like we don't accomplish much. Impostor syndrome is an example of this, people with incredible accomplishments feeling they don't deserve to be where they are, I think it all stems from not having a clear idea of what they're trying to accomplish, so every small victory they get doesn't really register, adding to that sense of not getting anywhere.

 

Sometime adjusting our POV is all we need...

 

 

Phew! Getting heady here, shall we wrap it up?

We as humans with different skills and drives do a lot of great things daily that should definitely make us feel proud of ourselves and our creations. If you ever feel like your not advancing, please take some time to evaluate what you're aiming towards. You may find that you haven't set a goal to move towards or the goal you thought you had has changed a bit. 

If you find it difficult to talk to yourself, ask a friend, therapist or relative to help you navigate through your head. It's worth the time, I promise.

If you think I can be of assistance reach out to me as well! It's always great to see the spark of purpose return to someones eyes when they find renewed motivations.

As always, I hope you found this read entertaining and wish you a very fulfilling rest of your day!

Until we meet again, Let's keep creating!