There’s a pattern I’ve noticed in myself over the years: I build things.

Career wise, that meant building teams and departments from the ground up. It included creating structure where there wasn’t any, shaping roles, developing people ***MY FAVORTIE PART***, and turning ideas into functioning systems.

Outside of work, it’s shown up as creative output: writing books and articles, making songs from my poetry, and experimenting with other creative projects. Some of it has been seen, some hasn’t. Some of it earned money, most didn’t. Sometimes I think about what it means. Am I just keeping myself busy? Am I chasing the wrong kind of success? Is any of this leading anywhere? Does it even matter?

Every team I built, every project I started, every creative thing I made, they are all ways of meeting the maker and the maker is me.

• The part of me that sees gaps and fills them.
• The part that creates structure out of nothing.
• The part that stays curious and refuses stagnation.
• The part that keeps learning even when the outcomes aren’t obvious.
• The part that builds without waiting for permission or for applause.
• The part that isn’t scared to be creative even when there is no audience or will ever be an audience.

Not all work is meant to be immediately successful by external ego based standards. Some work exists to introduce you to yourself. If you’re in a season where your efforts aren’t producing external results or you’re creating things that aren’t “taking off”, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re off‑track. Sometimes it means you’re in a chapter of capacity-building, identity-shaping, or skill compounding that will matter later in ways you can’t see yet.

It also can mean that you are focused externally instead of on the joy of the making. Sometimes the work is the reward. Sometimes the work is the teacher. Sometimes the work is simply the mirror that shows you who you are becoming.

The ego doesn’t like not having external “rewards”, but you are the maker of your life.

May you meet more of yourself in the making.

Additional Reading:

• Collective Illusions by Todd Rose
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
• The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth
• Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong
• Plays Well with Others: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Relationships Is (Mostly) Wrong
• The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
• Leaders Eat Last

Amazon Recommendations *Thank you in advance if you use the affiliate links in this article which may result in a small commission. Every Amazon shopping trip helps even if you don’t purchase any of the linked items! 🙂