Balancing System & Soul

because purpose and profit are never truly aligned..

I've been sitting with this thought for a while. And it's not just as someone who has deep internal struggles with being a second time founder ( the first time was a wild and truly fruitful rode but also I was younger and didn't spend as much time on addressing deep internal struggles)… I've been sitting with the question that I think plagues creative founders more than the standard cookie cutter founder…

“ Is the need to Grow and structure a business taking away from the one thing that truly drives me deep inside"… Creative fulfillment”

And apart from the occasional rare moment when these two do align, you have to admit you're constantly choosing between one and the other. And it sucks.

When I first became a founder in my late 20’s… at a time when bank balance and responsibilities we're both low,.. the answer for this seemed simple…

“ Do enough for bread, butter and beer…. But always do something you truly want to do for Dessert”

But, the older you get.. ( and the more I've grown professionally) This balance becomes tougher to do and we often either…

Decide that dessert is unnecessary and detremental to progress in Life and Career.

Or

Find a way to make that Dessert you can sell or monetised ( because what's the point if you can't monetise it)

Or

Just have too much to do and this becomes one more item on your never ending adult to-do list that you would much rather let go of for 30 extra mins of doing nothing.

But, maybe… what we don't realise is that its this dessert that was what made you fall in love with what you do in the first place! Its that feeling of doing something because the doing is the prize, not the end result.

So maybe, don't monetised it…( or rather don't make the monetisation the key goal), don't let it go to be more productive ( because what are u actually being productive for ) and just do it because it makes you feel that glow inside.

Because, let's be honest we didn't choose creative careers to make it a career… we chosenit because we enjoy the process of making something from nothing while also feeling that spark of art inside us.

So sot down today and ask yourself,

What would I do as a creative if I never had to make money from it ?

Spend half an hour doing that.and you'll see.. everything else feels so much better.

( More technical stuff next time)