Finding Your Why
Speaker A: This ad free podcast is part of your slate plus membership.
Speaker A: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Working Overtime, the bi weekly advice focused peeps to workings Capri’s cream egg.
Speaker A: I’m your host, June Thomas.
Speaker B: And I’m your other host, Ronald Young Jr.
Speaker B: So, June, what are we talking about?
Speaker A: Day well, Ronald, I want to talk about the importance of finding your why?
Speaker A: There are other names for this why?
Speaker A: A personal statement of purpose, a mission statement, your ikigai.
Speaker A: But what I’m talking about is explicitly naming your motivation for doing the things you do, whether that’s focusing on artistic pursuits or any other kind of project, and using that information and motivation to help set priorities and decide how you’re going to spend your time.
Speaker A: Do you have this kind of personal mission statement?
Speaker B: I don’t really have a personal mission statement, but I really like to think about my motivation.
Speaker B: And most recently, it’s been like wanting financial independence.
Speaker B: Specifically, I want to buy a house I’ve been renting for a very long time, and I just want my own little piece of land.
Speaker B: But I also want to be able to, when I think about things I want to do creatively, I want to be able to foster meaningful conversations about things that I think are important.
Speaker B: Like there’s a lot of activism, there’s a lot of equality and equity and social justice work, and I want to be able to have conversations that are kind of feeding into those and helping to bolster those narratives.
Speaker B: And I like to weave that into my creative work as well.
Speaker B: I don’t want things to be kind of like a direct metaphor all the time, but I like to tell stories that kind of allow you to unpack a larger lesson.
Speaker B: So that’s all kind of what motivates me to continue doing this type of work.
Speaker A: You’re clearly very mission driven, so you might not have a statement, but it seems like you certainly have a why there.
Speaker A: And I was going to say that I only recently figured my why out, but I don’t think that’s quite true.
Speaker A: I think for a very long time, my main priority was make enough money to do the kind of work I want to do, which was journalism.
Speaker A: And because that was my preeminent concern, I focused on jobs that paid on a predictable schedule, and that meant I didn’t do as much of my own creative work as I would have liked to.
Speaker A: And about three years ago, I realized I’d gotten to an age where I basically had to make a change if I wanted to write a book, which was something that had been kind of a dream of mine for many years.
Speaker A: If that dream was going to become a reality, I’d have to make some big changes.
Speaker A: And I wasn’t unhappy in my previous life, not at all.
Speaker A: But I felt a calling to do something different, and that required some reshuffling.
Speaker A: That’s when I left my full time management job at Slate and I decided to move to the other side of the Atlantic.
Speaker A: And as other opportunities arose, whereas I once might have decided whether or not I could fit them into my schedule based on how much they paid, now my most important concern was how much it would derail or distract me from the work I valued most, which was working on my book.
Speaker A: And I still said yes to some projects.
Speaker A: After all, here I am on this podcast, but my calculation changed based on shifting priorities, and I think having clear priorities wise makes that kind of tough decision making easier.
Speaker A: Does that all make sense to you?
Speaker B: Absolutely.
Speaker B: There’s always going to be trade offs.
Speaker B: I remember when I was working on my other show, wait for it.
Speaker B: I remember I was pitching it around and I was getting a lot of no’s.
Speaker B: A lot of people saying, oh, we like this, but no, we don’t want to do it.
Speaker B: And eventually I had to make it independently.
Speaker B: And I remember while making it independently, one thing I realized that I was the final stakeholder.
Speaker B: I was the one calling the shots.
Speaker B: I was able to make the show that I wanted to make.
Speaker B: However, I also was still having to think about my bills all the time.
Speaker B: We’ve had the freelance discussion, so really committing to that idea of freelancing and maybe having to struggle a little bit for a check meant that in return, I got to make the show that I wanted to make.
Speaker B: That has been kind of well received by audiences, which is something I really enjoy.
Speaker B: So I’ve kind of started thinking that remaining independent for creative freedom is important for me, just so I have that autonomy.
Speaker B: And again, it goes back to being able to have the conversations I want to have and to be able to kind of push the agenda that I want to push without someone kind of like telling me what I can and can’t do.
Speaker B: So there’s always trade offs when you kind of have a place that you’re trying to go.
Speaker A: I also want to point out that not only has wait for it been popular with audiences, but also with the people who know the X best podcast of the year.
Speaker A: Very garlanded show.
Speaker B: Thank you, Jim.
Speaker A: I have to admit that proselytizing for everyone having a why is like pushing people to really commit to their goals in a workplace annual review kind of setting it can feel a bit of what the Brits call box ticking exercise.
Speaker A: But as with annual reviews, I think it can be really valuable if you take it seriously.
Speaker A: And I suppose the basic question is why do you need such a thing?
Speaker A: Why do you need a why?
Speaker A: To give an example of when.
Speaker A: I think it really helps.
Speaker A: A lot of the advice questions we get here on working overtime are really best answered by getting a clear sense of your why.
Speaker A: How can I find time to do my creative work?
Speaker A: Well, what do you want to do most?
Speaker A: What’s your why should I give up my day job to focus exclusively on my artistic work?
Speaker A: Well, are you willing to live on less money to make time for that work?
Speaker A: These are really questions about priorities, and if you don’t know why you’re doing the things you do and what’s important to you, it’s very hard to set priorities.
Speaker A: All right, we’re going to take a break, but when we come back, we’ll talk more about finding your why.
Speaker B: You hey, listeners, do you have any tips or questions about the creative process?
Speaker B: Get in touch and share your advice.
Speaker B: You could email us at working@slate.com or even better, you could call us and leave a message at 304-933-9675 that’s 304933 work.
Speaker A: And we’re back.
Speaker A: Okay, I hope I’ve convinced everyone that having a why is important, but how do you figure it out?
Speaker A: Ronald, a few weeks ago in our conversation after your working interview with designer Wendy McNaughton, you mentioned having made an enormous life change a few years ago when you left it to focus on making podcasts and spending all of your time on creative pursuits.
Speaker A: It sure sounds to me like that was a decision based on your why.
Speaker A: Can you talk about what your motivations were and how you decided that the time was right?
Speaker B: Well, the time was decided for me.
Speaker B: I had always said that I wanted to be full time audio production by the end of 2020.
Speaker B: January 2020 came, and I’m like, all right, Ronald, you got to the end of the year to get that thing done.
Speaker B: Then February and March 2020 came, and I said, maybe this decision needs to take a little bit longer than I thought.
Speaker B: But in June, I was let go from the job that I had, and I kind of just had to jump into the freelance pool, find a couple of contracts and get going.
Speaker B: And that was kind of the beginning of my freelance audio production career.
Speaker B: So I was always motivated to get out of what I was doing before I was doing a lot of it, consulting type of work.
Speaker B: But that work wasn’t exciting for me.
Speaker B: I didn’t enjoy it.
Speaker B: I kept wondering if I was just going to be doing this for the next 30 years.
Speaker B: And I really never had a reason to do it except to finance my life.
Speaker B: Like, my sister always said something to me, Ronald, I don’t understand if I have my car to go to work or if I have a job to pay for my car.
Speaker B: And it felt like that was kind of the existential thread of having a job was, what am I doing this for?
Speaker B: So I needed a job that I was excited to do.
Speaker B: And when I got excited about audio production, I knew that there was a lot more for me to expand into.
Speaker B: So it felt good.
Speaker B: So the time, I didn’t decide that the time was right.
Speaker B: The time decided that it was right for me to not do what I was doing anymore.
Speaker B: It kind of just worked out that way.
Speaker B: But I was excited and I’m glad I made that transition.
Speaker A: Yeah, well, and you could have tried to get another one of those it jobs.
Speaker A: I mean, heaven knows they’re plentiful.
Speaker B: They’re available.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker A: And I just think that being excited about working every morning, that’s a really good.
Speaker A: Why?
Speaker A: That’s a really good reason to make a big life change.
Speaker A: I think one reason I’m so gung ho about setting clear priorities and making your internal motivations explicit is that there is so much in life that is unpredictable.
Speaker A: If you’re going freelance, it’s impossible to know how many gigs you’ll get, how many Patreon supporters will sign up, how many paid newsletter subscribers you’ll get.
Speaker A: In other words, how much money you’ll earn.
Speaker A: So faced with so many unknowns, the more you can clearly articulate, the more you can just have a statement in front of you, just on a postit note on the wall in front of you.
Speaker A: I just think you’re going to feel better.
Speaker A: How did you deal with so many uncertainties when you made your big change, especially in 2020?
Speaker B: Man, at the time, I had no idea what I was doing.
Speaker B: I go to therapy and I pray a lot.
Speaker B: And once I get my mind right, I keep a spreadsheet.
Speaker B: I stay constantly networking because you never know where your next opportunity is going to come from.
Speaker B: I try to plan ahead financially when I can.
Speaker B: That’s not always easy because you don’t know when the next check is coming or how much it’s going to be for.
Speaker B: At times, therefore, I ask for help when I need it.
Speaker B: I have a lot of good family and friends and a lot of folks that are willing to step up and support me, but there’s a lot that I can’t control.
Speaker B: There’s a lot that I can’t control.
Speaker B: So sometimes I just kind of have to roll with what comes, and that just means kind of having a positive attitude, going back to therapy and prayer, just hoping for the best.
Speaker B: I’m an optimist and I always hope and know that things will work out or be as they are supposed to be.
Speaker B: And I think if I lean on that framework in my mind, I feel generally a lot better.
Speaker B: But there’s practical steps too that I just went through that are also helpful, that get me through the day to day logistics.
Speaker A: I agree that yeah, having the right mindset is so crucial, and having those sort of mental resources to fall back on also super important.
Speaker A: All right, we’ll be back with some final thoughts about finding your why after this.
Speaker B: Listeners, I just want to remind you that if you’re enjoying working overtime, please subscribe so that you never miss an episode.
Speaker B: If you listen on Apple Podcasts, we’d love for you to rate and review the show.
Speaker B: It really does help new listeners find us.
Speaker B: And if overcast is your app of choice, please hit the star to recommend the episode to others.
Speaker A: Okay, we’re back because our focus on working and working overtime is on the creative process.
Speaker A: I’ve been talking a lot about prioritizing time for things like writing or playing music or making pottery.
Speaker A: But I suspect that for a lot of people, relationships and family are the things that make them reshuffle their priorities.
Speaker A: So whether it’s about meeting someone and feeling that you’d rather take those weekends that you used to block out for working on your novel and spend them with that person, or because you’re drawn to spend more time with friends or aging family members, or you decide to have children and realize you’d rather spend your nights at home with your family rather than in clubs playing with your band, who would ever make that choice?
Speaker A: I would contend that these kinds of decisions are all about thinking about your why and acting on your ever changing priorities.
Speaker A: I also want to say that thinking about your why does not necessarily mean committing to change.
Speaker A: You may well do your periodical reconsideration of your life’s purpose and decide that you’re on track.
Speaker A: Or you just need to make really small adjustments, maybe putting a little more emphasis on health or friendships for a season or whatever.
Speaker A: It’s not necessarily a prescription for leaving your job and moving across the world.
Speaker A: You can do smaller things.
Speaker A: Do you have any last thoughts on this?
Speaker B: Ronald, something that I’ve been thinking a lot recently is being present and being patient.
Speaker B: And I think a lot of times when you’re focusing on your why, it’s easy to get impatient when things aren’t happening as quickly as you would like them to or as frequently.
Speaker B: And I think if you could just focus on what is happening in your life right now, what is happening for you and in front of you in your life right now, things that you enjoy, even the things that you don’t enjoy so much and just kind of like analyze those, reflect on those, understand why they’re happening.
Speaker B: I think you’ll find that you can kind of write the ship a little bit more in the moment when you’re feeling a little stressed, when you’re feeling a little upset that things aren’t happening or being laid out in the way that you want them to be.
Speaker B: If you could do that, I think you can bolster your patience a bit and make it a little bit further down the road.
Speaker B: So be as present as you can.
Speaker B: And I really just want to echo that again, because a lot of people say be present.
Speaker B: It just means like a throwaway word.
Speaker B: And when I say be present, I mean think about everything that’s happening in your life currently.
Speaker B: Take a real mental evaluation of that and kind of reflect on what that means to you and how that is pushing you forward.
Speaker B: And I think you’ll find that you have a little bit more gas to go a little bit further.
Speaker A: I so agree that we sometimes use terms like mindfulness, and it’s almost like a thing that you do, but actually it’s just about being sensitive to what’s happening in your life and just paying attention.
Speaker A: That’s all the time we have for this episode.
Speaker A: But let me leave you with one last piece of advice.
Speaker A: I think you should subscribe to working wherever you get your podcasts, and if you have ideas for things we could do better or questions you’d like us to address, we would really love to hear from you.
Speaker A: You can send us an email or a voice memo to working@slate.com or give us a ring at 304933 Wo R.
Speaker B: K.
Speaker B: If you’d like to support what we do, sign up for Slate plus@slate.com workingplus.
Speaker B: You’ll get bonus content, including exclusive episodes of Slow Burn and decodering, and you’ll be supporting what we do right here on working.
Speaker A: Thank you as always to working Overtime’s producer, Kevin Bendis, and to our series producer, Cameron Drew’s when we’re recording episodes of working.
Speaker A: My why is to make sure that Kevin and Cameron are happy.
Speaker A: We’ll be back on Sunday with a brand new episode of working, and in two weeks, we’ll have another working overtime.
Speaker A: Until then, get back to work.
