Why do you do what you do?

So this week has been another fascinating week because I have been re-evaluating my motivations for doing what I do. Why on earth would anyone spend hours of their life writing books and posting blogs if it wasn't for money? And that is it... That is why people think that I am bizarre - I don't write to make money. I write because I love writing and that is where the intrinsic and the extrinsic values come in. The extrinsic are the values applied to having a feedback or a response. The intrinsic are the internal values where you simply enjoy a task for creativity or the act of doing it. When my books sell I am excited that someone has the opportunity to share an inner landscape with me.

So let me ask you why do you do what you do? Do you do things because there is money or approval involved? What is it that makes you more happy:doing something for money or simply because you enjoy it? Isn't there a pleasure in simply enjoying a creative process and creating something you are proud off? If you fancy sharing that creation then it is out there for others to enjoy. I admit in years gone by I had those heady illusions of becoming the next J.K. Rowling, most writers do. One has to have a dream and have a fantasy or a delusion every so often. Mine can be somewhat frequent and we won't go into the one about doing a headstand on a paddle-board (I am actually working on that).

So let me ask you honestly: does doing something for money and approval make you happier than when you do something just for the sake of doing it?

Let's consider baking a cake - don't you do that because you love it or have a cakey urge? I would guess you like creating it and then sharing it.  How does that change when the financial dynamic comes in? Will you only make a cake if money is given to you? It is strange how society has developed that something only has worth if you make money from it. Yet you can't make money from being happy. Isn't happiness worth more?

The whole doing something purely to make money is a hard lesson I learned in my late twenties when I had my own photography business - I lost my love of photography because I had to make money from it. I had to take on work that I did not love and spend hours making photographs that I did not enjoy making. When you have been in that situation for a few years then something shifts - you realise that you work in something you enjoy to earn money whilst keeping your passion on the side because you enjoy it.

Admittedly there are people who make money from their passion and I celebrate them. Yet for me when money was assigned to creativity it became like mental constipation. I was having to mentally force rather than simply enjoy a creative release. I wanted to spend my time creating the books that I loved and explore the stories I desired to write. Now the irony about all this is that my books do make an income; however, they were already created and the income is a by-product from doing what I love.

With all of this in mind: what is it that really motivates you to do what you do?

My audio books can be found here: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_mn_mt_ano_tseft__galileo?advsearchKeywords=ruby+allure&x=0&y=0

Money and Your Value as a Human Being...

What inanimate object can determine your life decisions, your attitude to yourself and how you relate to others? What object can evoke, fear, worry and a sense of feeling controlled?

 

 

 

Answer: Money.

If you think about it most of our life's decisions are based on the Money concept. Can we do this or that because we have the money? Do we have a enough money to buy the house, the clothes, pay the bills or the buy the car? The unfortunate truth is the money concept carries a value and that value merges with your 'self.' Money correlates to freedom and experience. Consider this - what if money were shells. Would you care how many shells were sitting in a pile? Would you work yourself to the extreme to accumulate a shell? Would you desperately need to show off your shells to others? When you shift the object of value then you realise how ridiculous the illusion is that we have been persuaded with. Yes money makes the world go round but that is because we believe that is so.

 

With the above in mind: If money is how you value yourself then how can you value yourself more without money as the gauge? How can you demonstrate your true value to yourself? What makes you feel rich inside? Well these are some questions that have crossed my mind since writing Money Farm and having it turned into an audio book by the brilliant Helen Lloyd. The thing that I have realised is that so many people often feel that their  intrinsic value is directly proportionate to how much money is sitting in their bank account. Those that are in debt often experience a sense of financial shame. They feel worthless because they are stuck in financial ruts that they can see no way out of. When I was researching the debt figures related to Money Farm I heard the expression 'Nillionaire' - someone who has little or no money. That expression, albeit amusing, made me think of how many Nillionaires there are in the world. Can you imagine someone saying that person over there is a Nillionaire? How many would be proud of that title instead the tar of shame would be coated upon them.

Whilst writing Money Farm I looked at other systems of exchange and it dawned on me, in times gone past, when we had to eat we went out to hunt. We caught food and ate it - we cut out the 'money' as a middle man. When we needed other forms of food we traded. Values were applied to grain, cloth and other goods. I wondered how the world would exist without actual money and looked at alternative spheres of exchange and how values were applied. It was all so fascinating yet the truth is culture and civilisation need an exchange mechanism. We can't all take to the forests and hunt or forage. The truth is we need that exchange concept, although that exchange mechanism does not need to be intrinsic to the person. Money is not the extension of self, instead, it is simply a tool that can be invested, accumulated or spent. Once emotion and attachment is removed from the financial equation then there is a sense of liberation. Once you stop being your money and your money stops being you then that is where the fun begins. I am not saying stop earning money, what I am saying is that you are more than your money. You are a phenomenal person existing in time and space. I am sure that if you asked your soul what you were worth then it would not determine it in terms of money.


With that in mind, I will ask the question: how you can you value yourself without having money as a device for your self value? How can you demonstrate your own vast value to yourself without applying the concept of money? Finally how can you feel rich inside so that is shines into the world?
Enjoy:)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010BJOYFQ