What do you make and how do you make it. Do you enjoy it?

For so much of life, we focus on the outcome. Losing weight, getting a job, moving to another city.

Not much time is spent considering the process that gets us there. Are we enjoying it?

As an artist, I have been a victim of the comparison monster. Focusing on the results that someone else has achieved. Sometimes, chasing the outcome, only to get bored and feel like I’ll never get there.

I think of the moments when I would get lost in my work. When the hours turned into days and I looked forward to getting back to a project. When I’m in the “flow”

“flow,” is a psychological concept that describes a state of being in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, fully engaged and enjoying the process of the activity. Essentially, it’s being in “the zone,” fully absorbed in what you’re doing.

The term “flow” was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian-American psychologist, in the 1970s. He introduced the concept in his research on happiness and creativity. He observed that individuals achieve a state of flow when they are engaged in tasks that are both challenging and aligned with their personal skills, leading to deep focus and a sense of satisfaction.

The easiest way to get into flow is to do the things that you want to do, but maybe are slightly challenging. You should have some skill in that area so that you are not easily frustrated.

Doing the work that comes natural to me, feels well, natural. It is easy to get into flow. My mind is fully engaged in what I am doing and I gain a sense of satisfaction from working. The work itself is the reward rather than the outcome.

I still care about the result, but it is like I am on a roadtrip and stopping along the way to take pictures of fascinating things.

The process is the reward. The steps you follow to achieve the outcome. Do you enjoy it?

When I was chasing results, I was frustrated. I would ignore projects I had started because I lost the initial fire. The novelty of pursuing something unfamiliar. There was no joy. No amount of self-inflicted guilt would get me to budge.

In a Marie Kondo-esk fashion, I decided to abandon any process that did not spark joy.

Get joy from the doing rather than having it done.

Here’s the thing. The things we admire may need to stay in that box in order for the things we do naturally to grow. So many artists are looking for their style or trying to produce a consistent body of work, but they don’t have a process. A way of working that is all their own.

Putting the process front and center allows the work to develop organically, unencumbered by harsh judgement. The thing about the process is that it is malleable. Either it works or it doesn’t and then we can change it to fit us. How do we decide if it works? Does it bring joy, spark curiosity, are we looking forward to work?

So, admire the work of others, but guard your process. It is all your own.