I've started a secret experiment
I’ve started a secret experiment.
It's a one-off. No big picture. No 5-year plan. It's "secret" because I’m also learning to resist spilling everything for cheap dopamine hits (I am a sucker for "announcements").
The work began three months ago when I decided to acquire a specific skillset, for no particular reason, and to learn by doing. Since then, I've been occasionally nosediving into the mess that is creation. When I hit a hurdle, I improvise, read, and bug someone close to me who's an expert in the field.
Even my approach is different. I am not chasing rigid goals ("Today I will finish these two tasks"). There's no task list - I just let myself spend 1 hour, guilt-free, enjoying the process of learning. The goal is to learn.
But something else is happening, and it's the beautiful ricochet of an intrinsic motivation. Whenever I work on something that is my personal passion, it reflects in my everyday work, raising the quality of my output.
My personal passions and everyday work are like two mirrors facing each other, creating an endless depth. Work discipline makes my hobbies flourish; my creativity and passion undoubtedly make work output feel more organic. At least that's what I've been told.
And I know better than to value my hobbies by the norms of work and ego currencies, such as the number of items sold or followers attained on social media.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HOBBIES
Whatever you do, there’s a core process. Hobbies are amazing because they allow you to experience the core process. It is something that’s left when you strip everything away. Zen teacher Joko Beck once called everything else “the superstructure” we construct upon the fact. We spend too much time in the "superstructure".
For instance, I might not enjoy my current writing assignment (superstructure), but I genuinely love writing (fact, the basis). And if I spend less time dwelling in my self-constructed cage of misery, and start typing, wonders may happen. If you think it’s more complicated than that, I'm asking you to consider starting a super-secret experiment like me.
Hobbies have this incredible power to lure out your inner child. And the inner child knows one more thing about the core process that you forgot; it is never low effort or fueled by detachment.
Not caring doesn’t protect you from burnout, and low efforts never really lead to any significant change.
I've been following my gut feeling for almost 40 years, which has led me to some great destinations in my life.
And that gut feeling says that the real growth comes from caring, from falling in love with the core process itself. Effort isn’t weakness; it’s respect for the craft, for the people you serve, and for yourself.
And when it’s guided by genuine love, effort isn’t obligation, it’s pure and simple, child-like joy.
So keep on exploring and falling in love. Nobody said it better than Christopher Reeve's character in "Village of the Damned" remake: "Without feelings, you're nothing. You're just second-rate mimics of a higher organism."
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