“Kids” and “work” don’t tend to be words we associate with each other. However, kids do work on things. There’s just one criteria that separates them from adults: kids work on what they want to work on.
Photo by Micah Sittig
Adults have a perfectly natural tendency to get bogged down with what needs to be done. After all, it has to be done. The unfortunate side effect is that adults can often feel guilty or unproductive if they’re doing something they want to do, rather than what they should be doing. A sWe Work explains, by indulging the child-like mindset of working on the things you want to work on, you can find what’s important to you:
Kids do what they want to do. If you force them to do something, they put in as little effort as possible to get to a time when they can do what they want. Seems scarily similar to the “9-5 / work for the weekend” philosophy so many people have these days…
You won’t find a kid practising the piano for hours every day because they’re hoping to get acquired by Google one day. They play the piano because they get joy out of creating music.
Does that mean you should skirt your responsibilities? Of course not. But when you have your time to yourself, ask yourself what you want to do and let that feeling ride. Chances are, most of us have an instinct to make something cool, even if we don’t think it’s very useful or productive.
How thinking like a child can help you succeed in your startup [WeWork via 99u]
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