What is Motivating You?
Loving what you do is its own success.
“Give of yourself completely. Ask for nothing in return. And success shall be yours.”
(Stephen Weatherly on Blown Away S2E7)
I am watching Blown Away, a reality TV show about glass blowing artists. These artists are remarkable. The physical stress and effort required to create glass art is intense. Handling the fire of the glory holes (yes, that is what they are called), harnessing the lung capacity to blow out the glass, achieving mastery of tools to make precise shapes with the molten glass — not to mention it is damn hot.
NFLer and glass artist Stephen Weatherly was a guest judge on an episode. (Digression: have I mentioned my fascination with multi-passionate people who embrace eclectic talents?! A professional athlete AND artist? Love it.)
At the end of the episode, which involved the artists sharing some heartwrenching works representing hurdles they have overcome, Stephen left them with these parting words:
Give of yourself completely. Ask for nothing in return. And success shall be yours.
This is a tall order. And success looks different to everyone (and is usually a moving target; but that’s another digression).
However, I think this quote speaks to a powerful mindset. The most important part to me is releasing the expectation of what we will get in return for pursuing our passion.
Too often we start with the “return on investment”. In my case, this looks like: If I can only start writing more, soon I’ll be earning giant royalty cheques for my commercially successful novels.
At this point, actual authors will be chuckling because my mindset focuses entirely on the outcome — which is an elusive and prestige outcome (read: challenging / unlikely / unrealistic).
I am all about aiming for challenging, unlikely and unrealistic outcomes — go for it! BUT the problem is that my mindset neglects the actual work, effort, process, time, action and devotion required to achieve the illustrious result.
Stephen’s words are powerful because they ask us to release our expectations around the results of our efforts.
How does focusing on popularity, admiration, wealth, status and acknowledgment — i.e., outcomes that depend on other people — affect your vision and voice?
How will aspiring to the most authentic and fulfilling process affect your work?
You totally deserve to be paid and adored for your work. And of course return on investment is essential in business ventures. But in many areas of life, starting with an emphasis on expected results detracts from what is uniquely YOU.
If you are pursuing your creative passion, there is value in enjoying the work for its own sake. After all, we most often enjoy what we are good at. If you are motivated to give it your all, and if you are loving the work and enjoying the process, I wager what you produce is more likely to succeed.
