Do what you do, and other stuff too

Posted by Michelle on April 10, 2011 in Professional Development, artist |

Generally the first question someone asks after I tell them my name is, “and what do you do?” Awkward! I mean, I know what they are asking. It might be more precisely phrased, “What sort of service do you provide for which someone pays you the money you need to pay your bills?” It’s a dangerous question. We glean a lot of information from the answer to it. But unfortunately because of that very truism we are in danger of letting the answer to “what do you do?” become everything that we are.

This doesn’t work well at all. Our minds aren’t built to follow one or two different kinds of tasks. It’s a complex machine. Whether it seems likely or not, the more ways you use it the better it runs. Not just faster but more complex. Everything you do, however varied is connected. Have you ever heard the phrase, “You have to spend money to make money?” The same principle applies here. The more you do, the more you do.

Let me simplify. No matter how much you love your job, get a hobby. Get three. Love them, put lots of time and work and energy into them. Even if no one ever sees, even if you never make a single dollar doing it, even if your not actually very good at it. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it engages you, pleases you, relaxes you. Try not to impose too rigid a structure on it, try allowing it to grow and evolve in its own way.

When you give your brain a different kind of activity to work on, something that is fun and interesting and also free from pressure and deadlines, you engage in an honest, organic way. The part of your mind that is hardwired to worry about “what you do” relaxes. Information flows and (hang in here with me) you will actually accomplish more on “what you do” while you are busy doing other things.

Here. Have you ever been doing a puzzle and you get stuck so you move to a different part and work there because you will make progress more quickly working somewhere new? Same principle.

When I get stuck at work I have a couple of things that I do, depending on how I feel. Sometimes I go somewhere else and sit and write for awhile. Sometimes I grab the camera and go take pictures, or edit photos from earlier trips. Here lately I’ve been teaching myself to play guitar. More often than not, at some point while I am otherwise engaged the solution to the problem presents itself, as if it had been there all along.

Don’t let yourself get discouraged by daydreams and yearning to be doing something else. Embrace it. If you can, take 15 minutes to wander off. Take the pressure off the direction you’ve been pushing and let it rest while your mind engages in something else. You can only give as much as you have been given. You cannot build without the materials you need. Don’t forget to feed your head from time to time. Fun isn’t just for kids. There’s a reason we call it a play.