June 14, 2023 • 23 mins
Join me this week as I share the importance of understanding your WHY in creating and sharing your art. It is an amazing tool that:
- Provides mission clarity
- Helps in decision-making
- And you can filter decisions through (big and small).
Exploring and defining your WHY, and understanding what drives you to create and share your work, ultimately creates a deep well of enthusiasm and energy in pursuing your creative passions.
I also reflect on my own journey of understanding my WHY in making jewelry, and how it led me to be so passionate about sharing, and teaching, other creatives to figure out their own WHY.
Episode links:
If you want to feel intuitive in your creative practice, AND tap into your one-in-eight-billion perspective and contribution, head to www.jenmoulton.com/newsletter and get my Intuitive Creation Audio. You’ll receive an audio that teaches you a unique process to reliably tap in BEFORE you make any creative work so you can overcome procrastination, overwhelm, and where-do-i-start-itis.
Get the transcript and full show notes HERE
SUBSCRIBE to the pod: Apple | Spotify
FOLLOW on IG
RECEIVE Weekly Newsletter
GET Coaching
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scarlett 2i2 USB (00:24):
Welcome to today's episode, What's Your
WHY?
I reflect often on where I wasjust five-ish years ago.
I was working away in mybackyard studio, making jewelry,
trying to learn as much as Icould about how to run a
creative business.
And I was riddled withself-doubt, and was constantly
(00:47):
questioning what I was doing, ifit was good enough, why did it
matter?
And it would usually end in melike questioning, why am I
torturing myself by trying to doall of this?
When it seems to require a lotof suffering for me?
Because I was so in my head inquestioning myself.
(01:08):
One of the things that I can seevery clearly in reflection, now,
is that I didn't understand whyI felt called to make jewelry.
It was never about making prettydesigns for me.
People would ask me about thatwhen I did popups or shows, and
it always felt hollow to me.
(01:29):
It was about so much more thanmaking pretty things.
And I think I spent a few yearstrying to seek support in
finding my own answers to thosequestions, and that ultimately
led me to the path that I'm onnow, which is turning around and
helping other creatives figureit out too, so that they can
make their work and make theirimpact in the world with way
(01:52):
less suffering.
To me, making jewelry was alwaysabout making individually
engineered pieces that wereimbued with meaning, but the
meaning was a secret to theowner or the wearer.
And side note, how much morecompelling does that sound?
Right?
(02:12):
My WHY was making individuallyengineered pieces of jewelry
that were imbued with secretmeaning.
To me that has so much moreenergy, and it's more exciting,
and more compelling than, well,I just like making pretty
designs.
I just like making jewelry thatpeople wear.
And there's nothing against thesecond one that I just shared.
(02:34):
But to me there was a lot moredepth to it that I, it's almost
like I, I think of like a shark,like I was circling around it,
like I kind of had a sense ofit, but I never had it fully
defined for myself, andtherefore I spent a lot of time
questioning myself andquestioning my path and was I
doing it right?
And what were other peopledoing?
Rather than feeling really clearon why I was doing what I was
(02:58):
doing, really clear on my WHY,and letting that guide me and
direct me, and finding wisdomand answers in that, in that
knowing.
I can see it all so clearly now,you know that like hindsight is
2020.
But back then I didn'tunderstand why I felt such a
(03:18):
strong calling and I didn't seehow my unique perspective made
my work stand out.
And this is kind of businessyspeak, but I can't think of a
better term, that was mycompetitive advantage, and I
didn't see that.
And I definitely didn't see howspecial the work that I created
(03:40):
was, how this specific way thatI saw things differentiated me
from everyone else on thisplanet who has made or makes
jewelry I have come to believethat really understanding the
WHY that drives us is imperativeto our confidence in showing up,
(04:01):
to believing in ourselves, tofeeling deep confidence in
pursuing our callings, even, andmaybe especially when things
feel hard or challenging, oryou're just dealing with
obstacle after obstacle.
I am endlessly fascinated by theWHY that drives each of us to
(04:21):
make and create work.
And this is an importantdistinction to me- to share our
work.
I often say not everyone whomakes creative work feels driven
to share their work, and this isa great place to explore.
I'm gonna share a couplequestions for you to explore in
a few minutes so that you canbegin to understand this for
(04:44):
yourself, why are you driven tomake the work that you feel
called to make?
And in addition to why are youdriven to make it, why do you
feel called to also share itwith others?
There's really importantinformation in that.
I think a lot of creatives don'tfully understand what drives
them.
(05:04):
And, clarifying your WHYultimately feels like mission
clarity.
You know why you do what you do.
It no longer feels like, why amI so compelled to do this thing,
make my creative work, that isreally challenging, and
vulnerable, and feels like I'mconstantly surfing my growth
edges?
(05:24):
And it sometimes maybe evenmakes me feel a little crazy for
doing it, for pursuing it.
For sticking with it, forcontinuing to believe in the
vision that I have, even when Idon't really see a ton of
evidence yet in my reality thatit's gonna happen.
And I wanna share a couple morereasons to know and own your
WHY, because I think, clearlyI'm very passionate about this,
(05:47):
and also I want you tounderstand ways that you can use
this and utilize it to supportyou.
So it can ground you in who youare and what you feel your
purpose is.
Like I said a couple minutesago, this idea of mission
clarity, like really havingclarity around who you are, and
why you feel like you're here,and what your purpose is.
At least for now, you know, I'mtalking like your specific why
(06:11):
right now.
It can shift and it probablywill over your lifetime, and I
think that's great, but as muchas you know right now, you can
be defined by that WHY, or youcan be really confident in that
WHY, and also open to knowingthat with time it may grow, and
shift, and change for you.
I know mine has.
Knowing your WHY also, in myexperience with myself and also
(06:35):
watching clients, it helps themfeel courage to take risks in
service of what matters to them.
It can be a filter that you canfilter decisions through.
I think a lot of creatives getcaught up in small decisions,
like, should I make, this is anexample, should I make a print
this size or this size?
(06:55):
Should Should I print it oncanvas or on paper?
You know, these are just reallyspecific examples.
And we try to make thosedecisions logically or based on
what we see other people doing.
But when you know your WHY, youcan make your decisions from
there.
So rather than trying to guess,or do what you think you should
do, or the worst is doing whatyou see other people doing and
(07:18):
trying to follow that.
So rather than guessing, ordoing the shoulds, or following
what other people are doing, youcan make that decision from a
place of clarity of your ownWHY.
And often the answers areusually pretty obvious when you
are in touch with your WHY,about what you should do around
small decisions and bigdecisions too.
(07:41):
I've had this WHY conversationwith countless clients, and it
always amazes me to watch themtransform in the conversation.
They often go from strugglingwith an aspect of their work, or
themselves, and then as we diginto the WHY and they get in
touch with it, and they start tofeel all the energy around it,
(08:03):
they brighten up and they haveso much more enthusiasm and
energy when they're like, ohyeah, that's why I do this
thing.
That's why I feel so called todo this.
That's why I drive myself crazyday in and day out pursuing this
path because this is why itmatters to me.
I'm not just doing it for theaccolades, or the achievement,
(08:23):
or because I thought I should,or because someone told me I
should, all of the achievementexternal stuff that I think
drives a lot of us, or at leastwe think it does.
When we get in touch with theWHY, there's a often an
unlocking of energy andenthusiasm of like lots of
clarity around this is why thismatters to me, this makes so
(08:44):
much sense.
It's not just because of whatI'm trying to build, it's what
I'm trying to offer, what I'mtrying to have a vote for in the
world, what I'm trying to seemore of in the world, what I
have figured out and I wantother people to know.
That's the line of thinking andI hope as you're hearing me say
that, you hear how expansivethat is, and how open that is,
(09:07):
and directional that is versusachievement because this is what
I was told I should do.
I'm trying to do it right.
I'm trying to do what otherpeople have done.
I'm trying to follow the path,et cetera.
That feels to me likerestrictive.
There's a right and wrong way todo it.
I think a lot of times there's adisconnection within oneself
(09:29):
when you're trying to do it thatway.
And I can say all of this fromexperience, at least from my
personal experience, I thinkthat's true, and I think it's
true for other people too.
I think that applies to us ashumans.
When you clarify your WHY, whenyou know your WHY, when you are
driven by your WHY, to me it'slike putting on a pair of
(09:51):
glasses that make your visionextra clear, extra sharp, extra
bright, rather than walkingaround with like maybe cloudy
glasses that make things feeluncertain and unknown and like
you're kind of just fumblingaround trying to figure it out.
That's the best analogy I canthink of around being in touch
with and having your WHYclarified, and being driven by
(10:14):
your WHY, versus not reallyunderstanding why you're doing
what you're doing.
Not really understanding whatdrives you, trying to get things
right, trying to do things likethrough achievement.
So now I'm gonna share the fewquestions I have for you that
you can use to clarify your WHY.
And the first step before Ishare the questions is for you
(10:35):
to envision or imagine whatyou're wanting to create.
Hold the vision of what thatlooks like, like the specifics,
and it's just with what you knowright now, you don't have to
have more information than youcurrently have, but you wanna
see, to me, I'm a visual person,so I would imagine viewing it in
(10:58):
my mind's eye and seeing what Iwanna create, what I wanna have,
if I was working on a specificproject or maybe a specific art
project that I'm working on.
Or it can be anything in yourlife too.
I, I'm speaking about itcreatively, but it could be
literally anything.
So if you're a visual personlike me, you would envision it.
(11:19):
Maybe if you're an auditoryperson, you might describe it to
yourself, talk it out.
You might be like a verbalprocessor, and auditory, so you
might talk out what it soundslike to you.
If you're a more kinestheticperson, you might feel it, like
what would it feel like to beworking in this project or to
have this project going on?
(11:40):
Hopefully one of those resonatesfor you.
I think the majority of learnersfall into those three
categories, but the goal herebefore you start answering the
questions, is to have a visionof what it looks like, what
you're wanting to create, andchoosing to view it from a place
of believing that it's totallypossible for you to create it
(12:02):
and have it.
And then once you have that inyour body, it probably feels a
certain way.
Hopefully it feels kind ofexpansive or exciting, or maybe
like some possibility orpotential.
Then answer these threequestions.
So question number one is, whatis your WHY for creating this
goal or the vision that youhave?
(12:24):
Why do you wanna do it?
Why does it really matter toyou?
Question number two, why do youwanna create, or offer it?
So I want you to go beyond themoney.
Many people create art and noteveryone has a desire to offer
it, or to sell it, or to shareit with other people.
(12:45):
There is a reason that you feelcalled to share it, offer it,
sell it, whatever.
So try to spend a little bit oftime again, just with what you
know right now, with why do youwanna create it and offer it to
other people?
Why does that feel important toyou?
And then question number threeis, why is it important for you
(13:08):
to create this right now?
Basically, like, why now?
Why this moment?
Why does it matter to you rightnow?
Why not last year?
Why not a year from now?
There's a reason why you haveenergy around it right now, and
we wanna know that.
I would recommend taking five to10 minutes and jotting down what
(13:30):
comes to mind around these threequestions, and then take your
mind off of the questions, moveon to whatever is next in your
world, and see what your mindcontinues to offer you as it
works on answering thesequestions.
I don't know about you, but mymind is always I often say
noodling on something.
So we wanna capture the top lineanswers that you have for these
(13:53):
questions, and then we wanna letyour brain noodle on the
questions too, and record whatit continues to offer you.
You will continue to clarifyyour WHY as your mind works on
it, and you start to maybe seethings differently, or get more
information, or be reminded ofwhat's important to you or a
specific thing that matters toyou that feels clarifying.
(14:17):
And my last tip is to tap intoyour WHY before making, or
working towards your creativegoals.
I believe that our energy isimbued into everything we do,
and create, and so it's vitalthat we utilize the energy that
(14:38):
we want to offer through ourwork, while we create our work,
so that we can be sure our finaloffering, the final product, the
final vision, containseverything that we want to offer
to other people.
And the reason, okay, so thatfelt very wordy to me.
(15:02):
And so if you need to go backlike 15 seconds and listen to it
again, but basically what I'msaying is this is the
distinction to me about why youwant to create, offer, share
this idea, you have the projectidea that you have with other
people.
Yes you may want them to own apiece of art that you've made,
(15:23):
or a product, but there'ssomething else that you're
trying to offer them through theart or product that you are
wanting to share.
You're wanting them to have somesort of experience.
And if we can take a little bitof time and back up and define
that experience for ourselves,if we are clear about what that
(15:44):
experience is that you're reallytrying to offer, you can be in
that place while creating theproject idea you have, or the
art idea that you have, and thenyou can be sure that you are
offering all of that to thepeople that you wanna share it
with.
I personally think that that iswhat drives many creatives.
(16:07):
And so I think, you know, thiswhole episode is about backing
up and understanding what drivesyou, the WHY that drives you, I
should say.
And then when you know that,being in touch with that, when
you're making, so that you'reoffering has not only the art
(16:28):
that you wanna make, but alsothe experience that you're
wanting to offer to otherpeople.
The last thing I'll say, okay,so this is, I guess my last,
last thing I'll say is afterthose three questions, I would
look at your answers and come upwith a WHY statement.
(16:49):
So, look at the answers that youwrote down, and maybe even after
a couple days, all of thisinformation that you've gathered
from your own internal wisdomand collect it into a WHY
statement.
Your why statement might includewhat you're trying to offer,
like what you've discoveredaround that, the experience or
(17:10):
message that you really wannacommunicate through what you're
creating or offering, why youfeel driven to do this, your
personal motivations and or whatyou want people to know.
It's highly individual, but Iwould look through the answers
that you have to those threequestions and pull out things
that feel either reallyimportant to you, like that you
(17:32):
really resonate with, or thingsthat are repeated, and begin to
finesse them, hone them, spendtime with them.
Like, oh, this matters to mebecause X, Y, Z, and then I
wonder why?
And then like dig around that alittle bit and see what else
comes up.
I'm gonna share a couple withyou off the top of my head.
(17:54):
So one that I've already sharedis my WHY for when I was making
jewelry, which was to makeindividually engineered pieces
of jewelry that were imbued withsecret meaning.
And I was also really passionateabout the idea that the person
that was having the piece made,that they would pass it down to
the next generation or the nexttwo, three generations.
(18:16):
That that piece would survivethem and go on to live in their
family.
I'm not sure if I've talkedabout this, but I wear my
great-grandmother's wedding ringas my wedding ring, and she wore
it for 70 years and they gotmarried I think in 1921, so it's
(18:36):
over a hundred years old.
It's so crazy to me.
It's engraved.
And I so often think about herlife.
She was born in 1889, and beingmarried for 70 years.
All of the life that she lived,I think they had five sons, and
just all of the minutia lifethat we live right day to day
(18:59):
that our jewelry experienceswith us, and then it survives
us, right?
That has lasted over a hundredyears, and that ring is in great
shape, it'll probably last forlike a couple hundred more.
So I was passionate about thisidea of engineering pieces with
this secret meaning, and alsothe idea that these pieces, just
(19:24):
every day, kind of humble piecesof jewelry that you would wear,
and they would get dinged up andscratched and see you through
all phases of life.
And then this is this idea ofthis being imbued, right?
This ring is now imbued withyour life experiences, some of
which you would've shared withother people and some of you
(19:44):
wouldn't cause it would just beso mundane, normal life stuff.
And then whoever inherits it,they now have something that you
wore every day.
In my case, my great-grandmotherfor 70 years.
To me, and I still don't havelike the perfect language around
this, right?
This WHY is still being formedfor me, that just felt so
(20:06):
special, and meaningful, andimportant, and a humble gold
ring, right?
How special it is because of theway that it was worn, and the
way that it's now been sharedwith me, And now I wear it, and
all of the life experiences Ihave as my great-grandmother's
(20:28):
great-granddaughter.
And what will it see me throughin my life and who will receive
it after me?
That's my WHY around makingjewelry.
Again, I shared in the beginningof this episode, I didn't
totally really grasp this at thetime, but now I can see it, and
I really want other people tounderstand WHY their creative
(20:51):
work really matters to them,because that is what we're
really trying to offer.
Anyway, I'm getting on mysoapbox again.
Okay, so a couple more WHY's (20:58):
to remind people of the joy of
being alive, like the simplepleasures of being alive.
And the other one is to explorewhat it looks like to live out
your full expression as a human.
That is highly individual, butwhat does that mean for this
person to live as a fullyexpressed human?
(21:20):
That was her WHY.
Okay.
That is what I have for youtoday.
I hope that you begin to craftyour WHY.
I would love to hear it.
This is like one of myfavoritest things to talk about
ever.
So if you wanna share it withme, please do.
Please send it my way and we canchat about it.
And I hope that, I guessultimately, that you spending
(21:42):
time clarifying, defining yourWHY, helps you know yourself
better.
Because I think that's part ofthe goal too.
It doesn't have to be like, thisis my elevator pitch.
You know?
It's more about this is who Iam, this is what I stand for,
this is why I believe I'm here,and now I have maybe even just a
(22:02):
couple percentage points moreunderstanding around that, and
I'm excited to keep uncoveringthis path.
That's my hope for you.
I'm so glad that you were hereand that we get to walk our
paths together.
See you next time.
Same time, same place.
Bye for now.
Welcome to today's episode, What's Your
WHY?
I reflect often on where I wasjust five-ish years ago.
I was working away in mybackyard studio, making jewelry,
trying to learn as much as Icould about how to run a
creative business.
And I was riddled withself-doubt, and was constantly
(00:47):
questioning what I was doing, ifit was good enough, why did it
matter?
And it would usually end in melike questioning, why am I
torturing myself by trying to doall of this?
When it seems to require a lotof suffering for me?
Because I was so in my head inquestioning myself.
(01:08):
One of the things that I can seevery clearly in reflection, now,
is that I didn't understand whyI felt called to make jewelry.
It was never about making prettydesigns for me.
People would ask me about thatwhen I did popups or shows, and
it always felt hollow to me.
(01:29):
It was about so much more thanmaking pretty things.
And I think I spent a few yearstrying to seek support in
finding my own answers to thosequestions, and that ultimately
led me to the path that I'm onnow, which is turning around and
helping other creatives figureit out too, so that they can
make their work and make theirimpact in the world with way
(01:52):
less suffering.
To me, making jewelry was alwaysabout making individually
engineered pieces that wereimbued with meaning, but the
meaning was a secret to theowner or the wearer.
And side note, how much morecompelling does that sound?
Right?
(02:12):
My WHY was making individuallyengineered pieces of jewelry
that were imbued with secretmeaning.
To me that has so much moreenergy, and it's more exciting,
and more compelling than, well,I just like making pretty
designs.
I just like making jewelry thatpeople wear.
And there's nothing against thesecond one that I just shared.
(02:34):
But to me there was a lot moredepth to it that I, it's almost
like I, I think of like a shark,like I was circling around it,
like I kind of had a sense ofit, but I never had it fully
defined for myself, andtherefore I spent a lot of time
questioning myself andquestioning my path and was I
doing it right?
And what were other peopledoing?
Rather than feeling really clearon why I was doing what I was
(02:58):
doing, really clear on my WHY,and letting that guide me and
direct me, and finding wisdomand answers in that, in that
knowing.
I can see it all so clearly now,you know that like hindsight is
2020.
But back then I didn'tunderstand why I felt such a
(03:18):
strong calling and I didn't seehow my unique perspective made
my work stand out.
And this is kind of businessyspeak, but I can't think of a
better term, that was mycompetitive advantage, and I
didn't see that.
And I definitely didn't see howspecial the work that I created
(03:40):
was, how this specific way thatI saw things differentiated me
from everyone else on thisplanet who has made or makes
jewelry I have come to believethat really understanding the
WHY that drives us is imperativeto our confidence in showing up,
(04:01):
to believing in ourselves, tofeeling deep confidence in
pursuing our callings, even, andmaybe especially when things
feel hard or challenging, oryou're just dealing with
obstacle after obstacle.
I am endlessly fascinated by theWHY that drives each of us to
(04:21):
make and create work.
And this is an importantdistinction to me- to share our
work.
I often say not everyone whomakes creative work feels driven
to share their work, and this isa great place to explore.
I'm gonna share a couplequestions for you to explore in
a few minutes so that you canbegin to understand this for
(04:44):
yourself, why are you driven tomake the work that you feel
called to make?
And in addition to why are youdriven to make it, why do you
feel called to also share itwith others?
There's really importantinformation in that.
I think a lot of creatives don'tfully understand what drives
them.
(05:04):
And, clarifying your WHYultimately feels like mission
clarity.
You know why you do what you do.
It no longer feels like, why amI so compelled to do this thing,
make my creative work, that isreally challenging, and
vulnerable, and feels like I'mconstantly surfing my growth
edges?
(05:24):
And it sometimes maybe evenmakes me feel a little crazy for
doing it, for pursuing it.
For sticking with it, forcontinuing to believe in the
vision that I have, even when Idon't really see a ton of
evidence yet in my reality thatit's gonna happen.
And I wanna share a couple morereasons to know and own your
WHY, because I think, clearlyI'm very passionate about this,
(05:47):
and also I want you tounderstand ways that you can use
this and utilize it to supportyou.
So it can ground you in who youare and what you feel your
purpose is.
Like I said a couple minutesago, this idea of mission
clarity, like really havingclarity around who you are, and
why you feel like you're here,and what your purpose is.
At least for now, you know, I'mtalking like your specific why
(06:11):
right now.
It can shift and it probablywill over your lifetime, and I
think that's great, but as muchas you know right now, you can
be defined by that WHY, or youcan be really confident in that
WHY, and also open to knowingthat with time it may grow, and
shift, and change for you.
I know mine has.
Knowing your WHY also, in myexperience with myself and also
(06:35):
watching clients, it helps themfeel courage to take risks in
service of what matters to them.
It can be a filter that you canfilter decisions through.
I think a lot of creatives getcaught up in small decisions,
like, should I make, this is anexample, should I make a print
this size or this size?
(06:55):
Should Should I print it oncanvas or on paper?
You know, these are just reallyspecific examples.
And we try to make thosedecisions logically or based on
what we see other people doing.
But when you know your WHY, youcan make your decisions from
there.
So rather than trying to guess,or do what you think you should
do, or the worst is doing whatyou see other people doing and
(07:18):
trying to follow that.
So rather than guessing, ordoing the shoulds, or following
what other people are doing, youcan make that decision from a
place of clarity of your ownWHY.
And often the answers areusually pretty obvious when you
are in touch with your WHY,about what you should do around
small decisions and bigdecisions too.
(07:41):
I've had this WHY conversationwith countless clients, and it
always amazes me to watch themtransform in the conversation.
They often go from strugglingwith an aspect of their work, or
themselves, and then as we diginto the WHY and they get in
touch with it, and they start tofeel all the energy around it,
(08:03):
they brighten up and they haveso much more enthusiasm and
energy when they're like, ohyeah, that's why I do this
thing.
That's why I feel so called todo this.
That's why I drive myself crazyday in and day out pursuing this
path because this is why itmatters to me.
I'm not just doing it for theaccolades, or the achievement,
(08:23):
or because I thought I should,or because someone told me I
should, all of the achievementexternal stuff that I think
drives a lot of us, or at leastwe think it does.
When we get in touch with theWHY, there's a often an
unlocking of energy andenthusiasm of like lots of
clarity around this is why thismatters to me, this makes so
(08:44):
much sense.
It's not just because of whatI'm trying to build, it's what
I'm trying to offer, what I'mtrying to have a vote for in the
world, what I'm trying to seemore of in the world, what I
have figured out and I wantother people to know.
That's the line of thinking andI hope as you're hearing me say
that, you hear how expansivethat is, and how open that is,
(09:07):
and directional that is versusachievement because this is what
I was told I should do.
I'm trying to do it right.
I'm trying to do what otherpeople have done.
I'm trying to follow the path,et cetera.
That feels to me likerestrictive.
There's a right and wrong way todo it.
I think a lot of times there's adisconnection within oneself
(09:29):
when you're trying to do it thatway.
And I can say all of this fromexperience, at least from my
personal experience, I thinkthat's true, and I think it's
true for other people too.
I think that applies to us ashumans.
When you clarify your WHY, whenyou know your WHY, when you are
driven by your WHY, to me it'slike putting on a pair of
(09:51):
glasses that make your visionextra clear, extra sharp, extra
bright, rather than walkingaround with like maybe cloudy
glasses that make things feeluncertain and unknown and like
you're kind of just fumblingaround trying to figure it out.
That's the best analogy I canthink of around being in touch
with and having your WHYclarified, and being driven by
(10:14):
your WHY, versus not reallyunderstanding why you're doing
what you're doing.
Not really understanding whatdrives you, trying to get things
right, trying to do things likethrough achievement.
So now I'm gonna share the fewquestions I have for you that
you can use to clarify your WHY.
And the first step before Ishare the questions is for you
(10:35):
to envision or imagine whatyou're wanting to create.
Hold the vision of what thatlooks like, like the specifics,
and it's just with what you knowright now, you don't have to
have more information than youcurrently have, but you wanna
see, to me, I'm a visual person,so I would imagine viewing it in
(10:58):
my mind's eye and seeing what Iwanna create, what I wanna have,
if I was working on a specificproject or maybe a specific art
project that I'm working on.
Or it can be anything in yourlife too.
I, I'm speaking about itcreatively, but it could be
literally anything.
So if you're a visual personlike me, you would envision it.
(11:19):
Maybe if you're an auditoryperson, you might describe it to
yourself, talk it out.
You might be like a verbalprocessor, and auditory, so you
might talk out what it soundslike to you.
If you're a more kinestheticperson, you might feel it, like
what would it feel like to beworking in this project or to
have this project going on?
(11:40):
Hopefully one of those resonatesfor you.
I think the majority of learnersfall into those three
categories, but the goal herebefore you start answering the
questions, is to have a visionof what it looks like, what
you're wanting to create, andchoosing to view it from a place
of believing that it's totallypossible for you to create it
(12:02):
and have it.
And then once you have that inyour body, it probably feels a
certain way.
Hopefully it feels kind ofexpansive or exciting, or maybe
like some possibility orpotential.
Then answer these threequestions.
So question number one is, whatis your WHY for creating this
goal or the vision that youhave?
(12:24):
Why do you wanna do it?
Why does it really matter toyou?
Question number two, why do youwanna create, or offer it?
So I want you to go beyond themoney.
Many people create art and noteveryone has a desire to offer
it, or to sell it, or to shareit with other people.
(12:45):
There is a reason that you feelcalled to share it, offer it,
sell it, whatever.
So try to spend a little bit oftime again, just with what you
know right now, with why do youwanna create it and offer it to
other people?
Why does that feel important toyou?
And then question number threeis, why is it important for you
(13:08):
to create this right now?
Basically, like, why now?
Why this moment?
Why does it matter to you rightnow?
Why not last year?
Why not a year from now?
There's a reason why you haveenergy around it right now, and
we wanna know that.
I would recommend taking five to10 minutes and jotting down what
(13:30):
comes to mind around these threequestions, and then take your
mind off of the questions, moveon to whatever is next in your
world, and see what your mindcontinues to offer you as it
works on answering thesequestions.
I don't know about you, but mymind is always I often say
noodling on something.
So we wanna capture the top lineanswers that you have for these
(13:53):
questions, and then we wanna letyour brain noodle on the
questions too, and record whatit continues to offer you.
You will continue to clarifyyour WHY as your mind works on
it, and you start to maybe seethings differently, or get more
information, or be reminded ofwhat's important to you or a
specific thing that matters toyou that feels clarifying.
(14:17):
And my last tip is to tap intoyour WHY before making, or
working towards your creativegoals.
I believe that our energy isimbued into everything we do,
and create, and so it's vitalthat we utilize the energy that
(14:38):
we want to offer through ourwork, while we create our work,
so that we can be sure our finaloffering, the final product, the
final vision, containseverything that we want to offer
to other people.
And the reason, okay, so thatfelt very wordy to me.
(15:02):
And so if you need to go backlike 15 seconds and listen to it
again, but basically what I'msaying is this is the
distinction to me about why youwant to create, offer, share
this idea, you have the projectidea that you have with other
people.
Yes you may want them to own apiece of art that you've made,
(15:23):
or a product, but there'ssomething else that you're
trying to offer them through theart or product that you are
wanting to share.
You're wanting them to have somesort of experience.
And if we can take a little bitof time and back up and define
that experience for ourselves,if we are clear about what that
(15:44):
experience is that you're reallytrying to offer, you can be in
that place while creating theproject idea you have, or the
art idea that you have, and thenyou can be sure that you are
offering all of that to thepeople that you wanna share it
with.
I personally think that that iswhat drives many creatives.
(16:07):
And so I think, you know, thiswhole episode is about backing
up and understanding what drivesyou, the WHY that drives you, I
should say.
And then when you know that,being in touch with that, when
you're making, so that you'reoffering has not only the art
(16:28):
that you wanna make, but alsothe experience that you're
wanting to offer to otherpeople.
The last thing I'll say, okay,so this is, I guess my last,
last thing I'll say is afterthose three questions, I would
look at your answers and come upwith a WHY statement.
(16:49):
So, look at the answers that youwrote down, and maybe even after
a couple days, all of thisinformation that you've gathered
from your own internal wisdomand collect it into a WHY
statement.
Your why statement might includewhat you're trying to offer,
like what you've discoveredaround that, the experience or
(17:10):
message that you really wannacommunicate through what you're
creating or offering, why youfeel driven to do this, your
personal motivations and or whatyou want people to know.
It's highly individual, but Iwould look through the answers
that you have to those threequestions and pull out things
that feel either reallyimportant to you, like that you
(17:32):
really resonate with, or thingsthat are repeated, and begin to
finesse them, hone them, spendtime with them.
Like, oh, this matters to mebecause X, Y, Z, and then I
wonder why?
And then like dig around that alittle bit and see what else
comes up.
I'm gonna share a couple withyou off the top of my head.
(17:54):
So one that I've already sharedis my WHY for when I was making
jewelry, which was to makeindividually engineered pieces
of jewelry that were imbued withsecret meaning.
And I was also really passionateabout the idea that the person
that was having the piece made,that they would pass it down to
the next generation or the nexttwo, three generations.
(18:16):
That that piece would survivethem and go on to live in their
family.
I'm not sure if I've talkedabout this, but I wear my
great-grandmother's wedding ringas my wedding ring, and she wore
it for 70 years and they gotmarried I think in 1921, so it's
(18:36):
over a hundred years old.
It's so crazy to me.
It's engraved.
And I so often think about herlife.
She was born in 1889, and beingmarried for 70 years.
All of the life that she lived,I think they had five sons, and
just all of the minutia lifethat we live right day to day
(18:59):
that our jewelry experienceswith us, and then it survives
us, right?
That has lasted over a hundredyears, and that ring is in great
shape, it'll probably last forlike a couple hundred more.
So I was passionate about thisidea of engineering pieces with
this secret meaning, and alsothe idea that these pieces, just
(19:24):
every day, kind of humble piecesof jewelry that you would wear,
and they would get dinged up andscratched and see you through
all phases of life.
And then this is this idea ofthis being imbued, right?
This ring is now imbued withyour life experiences, some of
which you would've shared withother people and some of you
(19:44):
wouldn't cause it would just beso mundane, normal life stuff.
And then whoever inherits it,they now have something that you
wore every day.
In my case, my great-grandmotherfor 70 years.
To me, and I still don't havelike the perfect language around
this, right?
This WHY is still being formedfor me, that just felt so
(20:06):
special, and meaningful, andimportant, and a humble gold
ring, right?
How special it is because of theway that it was worn, and the
way that it's now been sharedwith me, And now I wear it, and
all of the life experiences Ihave as my great-grandmother's
(20:28):
great-granddaughter.
And what will it see me throughin my life and who will receive
it after me?
That's my WHY around makingjewelry.
Again, I shared in the beginningof this episode, I didn't
totally really grasp this at thetime, but now I can see it, and
I really want other people tounderstand WHY their creative
(20:51):
work really matters to them,because that is what we're
really trying to offer.
Anyway, I'm getting on mysoapbox again.
Okay, so a couple more WHY's (20:58):
to remind people of the joy of
being alive, like the simplepleasures of being alive.
And the other one is to explorewhat it looks like to live out
your full expression as a human.
That is highly individual, butwhat does that mean for this
person to live as a fullyexpressed human?
(21:20):
That was her WHY.
Okay.
That is what I have for youtoday.
I hope that you begin to craftyour WHY.
I would love to hear it.
This is like one of myfavoritest things to talk about
ever.
So if you wanna share it withme, please do.
Please send it my way and we canchat about it.
And I hope that, I guessultimately, that you spending
(21:42):
time clarifying, defining yourWHY, helps you know yourself
better.
Because I think that's part ofthe goal too.
It doesn't have to be like, thisis my elevator pitch.
You know?
It's more about this is who Iam, this is what I stand for,
this is why I believe I'm here,and now I have maybe even just a
(22:02):
couple percentage points moreunderstanding around that, and
I'm excited to keep uncoveringthis path.
That's my hope for you.
I'm so glad that you were hereand that we get to walk our
paths together.
See you next time.
Same time, same place.
Bye for now.
Popular Podcasts
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.