Focussing on creative goals

Much of the time when we think about the end, we focus on what we want to be materially - rich, famous, successful, powerful. I have come to realize that these are not active, "creative" goals but rather the passive result of achieving creative goals.

Creative goals usually entail having acquired mastery of specific skills that often lead to the contribution of something unique and useful to society, with emphasis on "mastery", and "unique" and "useful". It is not enough to be merely good at something, one should be great. And society usually rewards "great". "Great" can come in many forms - the great concert pianist, politician, scientist, engineer, plumber even.

I think it is fundamentally important to shift focus from passive end-state goals and plow all my energies into identifying and achieving Creative goals - to be a great writer, to be a great speaker, to be a great scientist, to be a great musician, to be a great thinker. The end-states are peripheral, and the accomplishment of these Creative goals would then be a conduit to achieving those desired end-states.

It is thus also fundamentally important to focus on the process, of putting in the 10,000 hours needed to achieve mastery. Since I am very human and still need sleep, I will have to make careful choices about where I decide to funnel those 10,000 waking hours, rather than indulging my senses in a wide variety of activities as I have been doing.