The Freedom to Create Work that Matters
By Levina Kusumadjaja
“Once you free yourself from the need for perfect acceptance, it’s a lot easier to launch work that matters.” –Seth Godin
Work that matters is work that serves people. It is the kind of work that helps make other people's lives better. Meaningful work is hard to forget, it makes you want to tell everybody about it because of the depth and impact it brings to you. It’s the kind of work that doesn't place people's validation as its top priority. Work that matters cares about getting people to their goals and solving people's needs. It doesn't care about trends because it understands what's trendy doesn't always make things better. This kind of work values giving to people rather than accepting from people.
Seeking for people’s validation means that you are fixing your attention on yourself. It is constantly asking yourself to perform and be perfect so that other people will accept you and see you as someone worthy in the creative world. But creating work that matters isn't about yourself at all. The work you create matters because it is so fixated on helping other people, that others cannot help but the value in what you do. They feel so cared for and understood through the things that only you can do, because only you can help people in a way that’s uniquely you.
Freeing yourself from other people's validation means...
You don’t have to do what everybody else is doing.
You don’t have to do it at the speed where everyone is going.
You don’t have to worry about what other people think about what you are doing.
You have no obligation to fulfill people's standards. You don’t have to do what everybody else does. Just because people are doing it doesn't mean you should, especially if you're not having fun doing it. You are allowed to do it your way. You are free to go at your own pace and use your own frameworks. Make sure that what you do helps someone else. Whatever that looks like and no matter how long your progress takes, enjoy the journey. The only rule is: serve people while you’re at it.
It’s so easy to fall into this comparison trap. With social media and everything moving at such a fast pace, it’s easy to compare and get fixated on other people’s highlight reels. However, everyone has a different story to tell and each story can help people in its own unique ways. The moment you get caught up in wanting to be like everyone else, you risk losing the chance to help people in a way that is uniquely you. If you feel discouraged today, remember this: you are uniquely you, and that's something only you can bring to this world.
Cheers!
Levina
Get the Brand Strategy 101 FREE Mini Course
Tired of being an order-taker? Start getting paid to think. Subscribe now to receive helpful content, plus instant access to this free video course. 6 days. 6 videos. 10 minutes a day.
About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!