To stay motivated in something, we have to be like game designers and turn it into an interesting thing that allows people to continue to feel good about themselves. Why make something interesting and easier to accomplish? The following is a collection of reasons I collected for you. Let's have a look!
How to make a thing interesting
Text: Susan Kuang
To stay motivated in something, we have to be like game designers and turn it into an interesting thing that allows people to continue to feel good about themselves.
How to design?
On the one hand, we need to work hard on the design of the system (goal realization process), that is, we need to think about how to refine the goal into small tasks with appropriate benefits, so as to ensure that we can continuously experience growth and sense of achievement in the process of action;
On the other hand, we can also give full play to our creativity in the design of forms and results. For example, we can think about how to turn this thing into something that others can see and even have certain value to others.
In this way, we can meet the two most profound self needs in human nature - a sense of achievement and a sense of self-worth.
If we find that what we do can not only bring self-improvement and growth, but also be seen by others and get the attention and recognition of others, then the good self feeling we get from it will be doubled and the motivation will become stronger, because we will feel that we are not only capable, but also valuable.
In this article, let's talk about how to get a sense of self-worth simultaneously in this process.
01
My first solo exhibition
I'd like to share a story of myself, a story I'm proud to remember - I once planned and held a personal painting exhibition for myself in the United States.
Why do you think of holding a solo exhibition for yourself?
To be honest, it was actually an idea that came out of my mind when I studied painting after work. Although this idea is a little sudden, there are two very powerful supporting forces behind it: childhood dream and self transformation determination.
Painting used to be the most important thing in my life:
I started painting when I was 4 years old, but I didn't learn from my teacher at that time. I just liked to lie on the table quietly and draw the characters and stories in my mind.
At the age of 13, my works were honored to be selected in the selected works of Chinese young calligraphers and painters, and I was also included in the dictionary of Chinese young calligraphers and painters. In the same year, I was admitted to the provincial key middle school with the first prize in art, became a student with art specialty, and started the formal art study. At that time, my biggest dream in life was to become a painter.
However, after entering middle school, this dream was slowly erased.
On the one hand, I can't feel the fun of creation because of boring professional training,
But more importantly, there is a common prejudice about learning art. I was also affected by this prejudice that art is the choice of students with poor grades.
Therefore, when I found that I had great potential in learning, I took the initiative to give up the road of art.
Since then, achievement has become the only important thing. I began to have a strong sense of competition. I work hard, no longer because I like it, but just because I want to "win".
At the same time, I became more and more unhappy and less confident. Although I tried and explored a lot because I was confused in college, I didn't come out in the end. This state continued until I finished my graduate school in the United States.
After graduating from business school, I worked in a relatively leisurely job in the Oregon government. One day, I accidentally saw an advertisement for a painting course in the newspaper, which suddenly reminded me of my dream. At that moment, I seemed to feel that there was a power awakened in my body, so I joined the course without hesitation.
After more than ten years, when I picked up the paper and pen again and started painting again, I found that the long lost happiness was finally back. Painting has become my happiest time every day. I haven't been so selfless and devoted to doing something for a long time, and this feeling of selflessness is really wonderful.
At that time, I had made a plan to return home in half a year, so after I had the idea of holding an exhibition, I planned to take it as my farewell ceremony and use this special and meaningful way to draw a successful end to my three-year American life.
I first set a theme for the exhibition, which is called discovering the lost self. I chose this theme because I wanted to regard this creative process as a self healing process, so as to deeply understand and explore my inner feelings - those fears, loneliness, inferiority and vulnerability buried in the bottom of my heart.
After the theme was set, I followed the rhythm of painting a week, learned new painting skills with the teacher, created and finally completed 15 works. In order to make this exhibition look decent, I also imitated other artists and designed and made brochures and invitation cards for the exhibition. On the brochures are artist Statistics (used to explain the ideas and ideas I want to express), the artist's personal introduction, and the main works of this exhibition.
In this way, relying on my own strength, I spent half a year to turn the "personal painting exhibition" from idea to reality. Although this exhibition is not professional and almost all of the participants are my classmates, colleagues, teachers and friends, I am very satisfied because I have found happiness and confidence in this process, which is the most important for me.
02
What is work thinking
Why should I tell this story? Not because it is the starting point of my self change, but because I got a particularly important inspiration from this experience:
A seemingly ordinary thing (such as painting) will bring such different feelings and results when you give it a different meaning and choose a form that can be displayed externally (such as painting exhibition) to share with others. To tell the truth, if there were no exhibition, I would not have the motivation to complete so many works, let alone such a unique life experience and experience.
Later, I gave this inspiration an interesting name, called "work thinking".
The concept of work can be said to belong exclusively to the creator, because any work must have its own creator. It is a tangible intellectual achievement with certain originality produced by the creator through creative activities. This achievement can be written works such as novels, papers and scripts, as well as photography, painting, music, drama, sculpture and so on.
For creators, works are an external self presentation and a part of their self. In order to get the best presentation of themselves, creators generally put a lot of effort into their works and strive for perfection. In turn, this focus and investment will promote them to constantly explore their potential and seek new inspiration and self breakthrough.
So, what is called "work thinking"?
In short, even if you are not a traditional creator, you still imagine yourself as a creator, and then think about what you do from the perspective of works - how to "work" what you do and turn it into a work that can be displayed and shared.
Take the story I just told as an example. What I wanted to do at that time was just to start learning painting again. However, when I imagined myself as a creator and decided to hold a painting exhibition of my own, it became very meaningful - it was no longer as simple as the training of painting skills, but as a kind of self exploration and self-expression, and what I had to do was no longer simply to draw well, But to think about what I want to express and how to present it in the form of painting.
Another example. At the end of 2013, I went to India for a new year trip with some friends. I have always been very interested in Indian culture. Traveling can promote my in-depth study and understanding. In order to make full use of this travel opportunity, I began to do my homework a month in advance and finished a particularly thick book on Indian history. During the trip, I also kept reading and learning at the same time.
After this trip, I found that I had a good understanding of Indian history and culture, and I was particularly satisfied with the design and arrangement of this trip. So I thought, how wonderful it would be if I could share my accumulated knowledge and experience with those who are equally interested in Indian culture and travel! At this time, I had an idea: why not make a travel magazine about India?
In fact, at that time, I had never made a magazine, but it didn't hinder my action because I couldn't learn. As a result, in less than two weeks, I completed an illustrated travel magazine "North India of the world classroom series", which not only briefly introduced India's geography, history, religion and culture, but also introduced some major historical and cultural cities in North India, and finally gave special practical travel suggestions. After completion, I am particularly proud to share it with interested friends around me, and it has been highly praised by everyone.
03
Continuous self evolution in works
After several wonderful experiences of "work" creation, I began to unconsciously look for new creative opportunities.
At that time, I had already had my own official account and wrote many articles. After these articles are launched, although many people forward them, they will be submerged in many other information in a few days.
I don't want my hard-working articles to become one-time "FMCG", so I asked myself: is it possible to find a way to precipitate all my articles so that everyone can read them at any time? At this time, I thought of magazines again, because I found that magazines can not only integrate these articles together, but also make them get better visual presentation through typesetting. Even if no one reads them in the end, it's good for me to keep them as a souvenir.
Taking advantage of this enthusiasm, I soon finished this issue of personal magazine. In order to be conservative, I only printed 100 copies, but unexpectedly, the magazine was quickly robbed, which gave me great encouragement and confidence. Half a year later, I began to plan my second magazine. This time, I worked harder on cover design, proofreading and typesetting, and increased the number of prints to 300. As a result, I was quickly robbed of space. In order to meet the needs of more readers, I finally decided to change paper magazines into e-magazines.
After that, personal magazines became my personal series, and the content form changed from the original official account collection to a new creation (every year I spent two or three months in magazine creation). So far, I have finished six issues of personal magazine.
As for works, some people may feel that they must wait until their ability reaches a certain level before considering them, but my ideas and suggestions are just the opposite: no matter what level you are at this time, you can have your own works, because works are not used to prove yourself, but to promote learning and self evolution.
To tell you the truth, let me look back at the past works. I can find many defects in terms of ideological content, writing logic and expression. But without these imperfect works in the past and the powerful driving force brought by them, how can I achieve such great growth and progress in just a few years?
It is precisely because when my ability in all aspects is not enough, I treat every article and every magazine as my own work that I am so attentive and devoted to writing (I will spend a lot of time thinking and Research on each article, and deliberate again and again in the process of writing and revision to ensure the preciseness of structure and logic). My thinking ability, cognitive ability and writing ability, It is in this time and again in the heart of creation slowly honed out.
Speaking of this, I think you should be able to realize the benefits of "work thinking": when we set a specific work form for something, it will become more meaningful and our motivation will be stronger. More importantly, with the awareness of work, we will be more serious and involved, and we can gain more growth and fun.
04
If life is a work
In fact, this "work thinking" can be used not only in the learning and improvement of knowledge or skills, but also in all aspects of life. We can even regard life itself as our own works.
Five years ago, when I was writing the second issue of personal magazine, I wrote this sentence on the cover of the magazine: if life is a work, how would you create it? I especially like this sentence because it is the perfect embodiment of my life attitude - in my opinion, life itself has no rules and fixed patterns. It has a lot of imagination and possibilities, and the way our life will be presented completely depends on our own thoughts and actions.
Of course, this kind of life attitude is not something I have always had, but something I slowly realized in the process of growing up. When I realized that a good life needs to be created by myself, I began to devote a lot of enthusiasm to life:
I began to give up all unnecessary people and things, and spent time designing and building my own living space to make it conform to my personality and aesthetics;
I began to pay attention to health and strive to cultivate healthy eating and exercise habits;
I can cultivate more hobbies and have more fun in my spare time.
After years of exploration and practice in life, I have become more and more aware of what kind of life I really want, and slowly build my life into what I want most.
There was a time when I felt sorry and heartache for giving up art, but now think about it, I found that I didn't really give up, because what I really love is not painting, but creation - what I enjoy most is the process of turning the idea in my mind into reality - painting is just the creative form I chose at that time, and now my creative form, From painting to writing.
In this way, I seem to have unconsciously returned to my favorite and most gifted path, and become a creator like a dream. I believe that I will go on this road all the time. In the future, I may explore more creative forms, and then enrich my life with all kinds of interesting "works".