This is Water
So you like the sound of approaching things with a spark. You hope that your daily tasks can ignite into a bigger blaze than one person might be capable of controlling (I’m not recommending you go to work and light your desk on fire. Please read between the lines.) I struggled with this for years. I was self employed and while I did some interesting work and learned a lot about myself, after a while I figured out that sparks will grow to blazes a lot more often when you work with a good team. But a good team doesn’t guarantee success. It still comes down to you, and how you approach those daily tasks.
You have to know how to think. You have to know how to break out of your automatic or default settings.
One of the best pieces I’ve heard on the topic is a commencement speech from David Foster Wallace. He directs a graduating class to take the time to think, to be absolutely clear about what they’re paying attention to. Ultimately, it comes down to approaching life with curiosity. As he says in the speech, that takes will and effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFNh2_dSBg#start=0:00;end=9:22;cycles=-1;autoreplay=true;showoptions=false
“This is water…this is water” is a fantastic reminder from David Foster Wallace. “The most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.”
It’s up to you to decide how you see things. It’s up to you to break out of the automatic and really think. Try to take the time to think today. You can decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. Try and notice the connections in the world around you. Picking up on the sparks from those around you will only multiply the chances of having a blaze on your hands.