Feeding your inner animal
A few weeks ago I did a brief workshop on how being a creator can help your professional career and vice versa. And while I was preparing the presentation for that I kept going back to my childhood... I always had as one might put it a vivid sense of imagination. I spent hours with my toys coming up with stories and even episodes of a continuing narrative... and some times I would go on top of our terrace and imagine that the tiled roof above our house was a hill I had to climb to save a princess ( what I didn’t know then was that princesses don’t need saving, rather they might just save you as they do most times.). And so as I was trying to think of the right way to present my case I realized the root of this whole POV. And I’m laying it out here so that you can try it yourself..
So, let’s start with the basics...
We all have three animals within us from the time we’re kids,.. our career animal, our creator animal, and our soul animal. And for most of us in our early years the creator animal takes up most of our attention.. it makes us explore things that seem to have no consequence ( mine used to be to collect all forms of useless information, scribbling way, telling stories and just trying to entertain people around me doing the most random forms of costume and dance) in what many grown-ups consider the “serious”, “future building” part of life… enter the “career animal” this takes on the stuff around the school, studies, exams, you know.. the stuff u don’t really want to do but do because you’re told it’s what u need as u grow up.. and the soul animal sits as the balance between these two opposing beasts.. holding our character in its grasp.
And as we grow up, slowly but surely the career animal takes over.. and our creator animal lies in wait for weekends or late nights.. “off-hours” for extra-curricular activities as they’re called. So, while some are lucky enough to make their career animal and their creator animal into one hybrid beast.. most of us have always had to choose. But, I don’t think we need to… and actually think there is a framework to build a co-existent connection between both of them that can enable both to live and flourish in the same jungle/or farm that is our mind. And so while I’ve figured a way to align both, I wanted to share the framework for the same with you so you can do the same for yourself.
What follows will be a framework for you to figure how you can build ur creator side and have that grow your professional side as well.. and that circle moves both ways.
First,
What did you love doing as a kid which you don’t get enough time to do now?
………………………………………………….
What are the things you’ve enjoyed doing as a grown-up which you keep wishing you had more time to do?
…………………………………………………..
Write as many as u can think of as first, in both the above questions. Then as you put them all down as a list.. pick only those which you would do for no money!! The things you would do just for the love of it. And from them just choose a maximum of 4 things.
That’s what you can call your “creator square”.
Now comes the most interesting part…
List down all the things you do in your career!! Not just what you say you do, but drill them down into the stuff you actually end up doing like making presentations, pitching ideas to clients, building creative ideas, working with data, managing/being a part of a team, etc. and from this entire list pick 4 which you believe will be crucial for your career graph to grow the way you want it to.
This is what we’ll call your “career square”.
Now list both squares next to each other and take some time to see how each element in one square can help in your other square. This part takes some time to get a hang of so don’t rush it, mull over it, go back to your lists, revise the 4 in each square.. but eventually, you’ll see patterns of how one side can help the other and more than help can help the other flourish.
So, give this a go, play around with it.. revise it from time to time ( as you find newer interests), and remember, this is to help balance your soul animal and not something you’re doing as a strict exercise. It’s meant to be evolved to suit you. So go build your animal farm :)
Keep a wide counsel but hear your voice first and last
This might seem like a weird line to put down after what I asked you to do above. But let me explain… It’s important to get a wider pov from the world around you, to understand what people think of things but that doesn’t mean you need to do what they say. What this collection of perspectives lets you do is get all the information you can to make your decision and remember… it’s your action! You !! So make sure the voice that initiates and the voice that decides is yours and no-one else because you and you alone are responsible for your decisions. So you do you.
Catch you guys next week & Have an awesome Diwali!
✌🏽
@vduggi
Feeding your inner animal & hearing its voice