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The Competition of Value
The value isn’t in what you’re working on, the value is bringing yourself into what you do. An obscure nuance, does it even matter? Maybe it doesn’t…. probably to almost everyone. For those that maybe it does.
A tendency to equate our value or worth with our work or what we’re working on. As if doing something important makes us important. Doing something valuable makes us valuable. Doing something creative makes us creative. Doing something intelligent makes us intelligent. Doing something makes us talented. Doing something elite makes us elite. Or… Doing something common makes us common. Doing something low makes us low. Doing something forgettable makes us forgettable.
What if the consideration of our value isn’t a causal dependency – it isn’t about what we’re doing that determines our value. But it’s the value we bring to what we’re doing. The wholeness of who we are, bringing our presence, the fullness of our insight, experiences, intuition and intelligence to what we do.
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Introverted // Extroverted
A trivial attempt in trying to describe introversion and extroversion as I understand it…
Introvert processes information from the inside out, relating to the world from the inside. For an introvert the “real” world is the internal world. Based on what’s happening on the outside, the introvert processes the external information on the inside, through thinking, reflection and decision.
For an extrovert the “real” world is the external world. They relate to the world as it is, everything that can be thought about and decided can be determined right then and now, it doesn’t have to go much deeper than that.
But there’s also the dominant perception of what external information is being received and processed. One dichotomy of perception, prioritizing “meaning” behind what just happened, is there a pattern that can be extrapolated, is there another internal layer beyond just the external, objective reality. Seeing, identifying and collecting this subtextual meaning is the primary perception method.
The other dichotomy of perception, ‘what you see is what you get’. There is not much if any meaning that can be derived from what just happened. All you need to know is all that’s there. This is the other primary receptor method and relies mostly on our senses and ability to be present and intuitively process everything that’s happening.
We have combinations of these in degrees and even mix and match them in different combinations. But I think really the more powerful combination of these is letting intuition and instinct converge with your insight, intellect and intelligence. That is intentionally spending time in both spaces. Take time to gain insight, reflection, awareness and knowledge as well as spending time being present and in the moment, let intuition take over, allowing it to instinctually make connections to your insight, intellect and intelligence.
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Expressions, Creativity, Connections
Expression is externalizing what’s on the inside. Letting yourself be seen for who you are, how you see the world, how you interact with who and what’s around you. Creativity is expressing yourself in some form of art. Letting yourself be seen through the creative work.
A creative must be creative. Creativity is our method of bringing expressions into the external world. Expressing the unspoken, the implied, the intuition. Focalizing it into a creative expression.
The driving force is connection. Expression is not singular endeavor, it is not solipsism. The gravity of creativity wants to bring ideas and expression together. Bring people together around the creativity – the expression through the creative work.
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Practice
We all know what practice is. We’ve all done some form of practice. Practice for the spelling test. Practice our math problems. Practice the piano. Practice baseball. Working out is a form of practice. There’s a practice for any skill you want to develop. People usually don’t like practice. They might like the event or action they’re practicing for. But most of the time practice feels like a grind, a test of will-power, grit and determination. And it seems like it’s the person that can tolerate more of the miserable grind that will excel and come out on top.
But when we think of practice, it seems what we are really talking about is process and ignoring the “play” component. Most people wouldn’t think of “play” as a component of practice. But my suggestion is rethink practice to mean process and play. if we can integrate play into our practice, practice becomes boosted, development gets accelerated, process becomes easy. Play doesn’t mean, having “fun”, easy-going or laughing through the practice. Play meaning, fully-engaged, full-present in the activity, energizing – flowstate.
Process is simply creating an underlying framework that we can “play” on. It’s having a process in place but then letting it fade into the background and letting play take over when you actually get into the practice.
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Process
“Practice” is the turning wheels of productivity, and it’s “play” and “process” that make up “practice”. That is Play + Process = Practice. But “play” is only half the equation. If play is the free flowing spirit, then process is the opposite, stiff, rigid and structured older brother. Process is cold and indifferent, it doesn’t care how you’re “feeling”, ignores your motivation level, dismisses how well or poorly you did yesterday.
There’s the day-to-day level of process, “punching in”, if you’re a writer, waking up at a consistent time to write, putting in the hours or words before getting lunch.
There’s the mechanical level of the process, doing the mechanical action properly. Maybe it’s learning to type, honing proper grammar, sentence and paragraph structure, organizing your files, or using the appropriate program. Or in the case of sprinting, making sure the mechanics of your motion or properly aligned and firing properly.
There’s the systematic level of the process, how to structure what you’re doing, the layout and or organization of the action. For writing it could be on the portion of what you are working on across the longer project. Maybe you’re in development, outlining, pre-writing, writing, or rewriting – and there’s a process for each of those. For sprinting or any kind of workout it’s the routine of different moves you script for yourself to go through that day.
This is “process”, the underlying structure to be used in combination with “play”, the sandbox to play in.
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Play
Play is the activity, mindset you naturally and are easily able to get into. It’s the activity you lose the most time in. Doing the activity actually re-energizes you, it’s like you could do it endlessly. You are fully engaged in the activity and brings a lot of satisfaction and contentment. It’s a place to get away from anxiety, stress and distractions. There isn’t a moral or value judgment on the outcome or the time spent.
Play can give us some meaningful clues as to what we’re wired for, what we’re gifted at. Where our instincts and intuition are able to flourish. Play can give us insight as to how we receive and process information and how we want to interact with the world. But we tend to dismiss “play”. When we were younger, were we ever told it was a “waste of time” or maybe we assumed what we “liked” to do wasn’t going to be able to provide a living.
But what’s important isn’t the actual specific activity but it’s how we interact with the activity. What are we bringing to the activity that makes our relationship to it special because although there are many play activities that may not be very “productive”, there are many activities that can be “productive” but require the same interaction and relationship from us.
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Practicing presence for introverts
Speaking as an introvert, introverts are usually interacting with the world in their own thoughts. They might be in a group of people or even when they’re alone, their natural state isn’t to “be in the moment”. Whatever is happening, the interaction and experience is received then usually goes through a process of thinking, sorting and assessment. In a group of people, an introvert is always in some processing of the interaction. Whereas an extrovert, intuitively is already “getting” the energy, vibe, subtext, unspoken social queues of the group dynamics. They’re able to react and respond, quickly and instinctually within the group dynamics to keep the group energy up and going. They are more naturally “in the moment”. But an introvert is always in some part of the past of what just happened, maybe connecting it to some deeper past, while trying to assess what that means for the future. More comfortable with the inner dialogue instead of letting the external present dialogue be the “real” conversation.
As an introvert I will say it’s tiring, trying to maintain two different conversations. But I’ve found being present and practicing being extroverted has been helpful. What does that mean? How does an introvert practice being extroverted, that sounds fake and unnatural. It’s definitely not my more instinctual, default state but with some practice has become easier to get into and become more comfortable and natural. And I don’t feel as drained, but in fact feel somewhat more energized.
So how? It’s just practicing being in the moment. And that starts with not trying to always be assessing or judging the situation, conversation or interaction. The second thing is being open and more receptive to the other person’s energy, that could be facial expressions, body language, inflections, tones. This might be harder to pick up, but trusting that the receptors are there even if it doesn’t feel like anything at first. It’s like trying to use a muscle that hasn’t been used in a while. And as you practice it more, it’ll become stronger and more sensitive.