Years ago I did an exercise from a book, Gay Hendricks “The Big Leap” on what EXACTLY is your Zone of Genius? What makes your heart sing, your mind dance, what keeps you up all night in sheer excitement? This is part of my responses. The black text is the questions asked, the red is my answers the bold is what I realized is my exact Zone of Genius. We all have one, learning to see it is hard. Selling my work will never be mine, creating it is.
What do I most love to do?
Design something interesting that fits odd parameters.
What work do I do that doesn't seem like work?
Design stuff. Secondary is make neat things that exist only in my head before that. Designing is the best part, but seeing it happen is fun too.
In my work, what creates the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to time spent?
There is the problem. “in my work” the things I get the highest satisfaction from are NOT the things that produce the most abundance. THAT’S what needs to change.
What is my unique ability?
To see possibilities, to fit things together in nonstandard ways. I look at the world differently than most people.
I can both see the concrete reality of what the parameters and resources are, and can visualize what solution can be made from those resources that fit the parameters.
I’m at my best when I’m:
working out a nonstandard solution to a nonstandard problem.
When I’m at my best the exact thing I’m doing is:
looking at the problem, investigating the resources, thinking on it, researching it, drawing it out if needed. (Although drawing limits me too much, that’s really a last stage thing on most designs.)
When I’m doing that the thing I love most about it is:
the challenge, can you DO that with this stuff? Seeing the possibilities expand, not only can I do THAT, I can do THIS too! And THAT!! Whee!!
A story of a
project. I have two best friends, one died after a year of hospitals, I was his power of attorney, did everything. The group I run with does a 3 day Halloween party every year, I did decorations for 20 years until I moved, and we were making it sort a wake for him that year. At one stage in things he had said the party needs to be held at the Prancing Pony Inn, from Lord of the Rings, so in his honor, I made the Prancing Pony Inn at the party that year.
Parameters of the project: I had Eric's front
yard, $50.00 budget I could work with, 2 people to help paint, 1 person to help install it, and any junk I had or could scavenge. I borrowed the Lord of the Rings movies and looked at the scenes, as that's what other people were expecting, I'm a reader had not seen them (didn't watch the movie, just found the right scenes, I don't like other people's visuals contaminating my brain, what I see in my head is SO much better, but seeing
video etc overwrites my cool stuff.) I don't like doing anything based off what someone else did before, but it mattered to other people that I did so, as they wanted it the way they visualize it, from the movie.
Started with a bare sand yard, some stumps in the area (they got used for seating along the edges), rock wall, a couple of T posts.
I got huge cardboard boxes, and designed it, dumped it all over my driveway, and got a couple of puzzled ladies to help paint it. I tried to tell them "here are walls, this the fireplace, these are windows. One of them said "I see a pile of boxes. I see no walls, no windows, no fireplace. Just tell me what to paint." Ok then. from here to here, put a brown stripe... and paint blobs of these colors all over this area...
I made a sign for it, sort of matching the one from the movie, I'm not good at faces, that pony went through looking psychotic, constipated, and about to throw up before I got him to this expression and quit while I was ahead.
I made a fire, it was multiple layers of this sort of cut paper and hologram stuff. The layers were installed with flicker flame lights between them, and it looked really neat. Didn't photo well, because you can't see the aliveness of it.
Installed in the yard it looked like this before the fire was put in:
Once all that was up, I ran VERY well grounded wire, buried so no one tripped on it, and installed the fire.
We added things like tablecloths and a bit more random decor people brought, tables, chairs. The fireplace hearth was made to be structural, and I actually tiled it with real tile. That made it so people could sit on it, lots of pictures were taken in front of the fireplace that year.
My favorite quotes I heard at the party about this: The lady who I quoted above about the pile of boxes "She said it was going to be a fireplace, and that I just had to paint blobs, and then she painted a bit more, and LOOK! I made a fireplace! I didn't know I was doing that!!" Someone walking into the party "Oh cool, Eric built a fireplace! WAIT!! PEARL built a fireplace!! Oh NEAT!" A man I didn't know, who had married one of our ladies "You must be the Pearl. I was told you were making something cool for this, you MADE all this?" "uummm yeah, I guess I'm THE Pearl :) I DID make it!"
So the best part to me of doing it all was the tight constraints: Tight budget, I bought lights, and the battery candles that are pretending to reflect in the "glass" of the windows (all cardboard, paint, and electricians tape); tight space; needed to be safe and comfortable; able to hold for 5 days (3 days plus installation and removal time); and look like what people would recognize to a point, but still be my style.
This is how my brain thrives, when it got weird with odd constraints, and something cool bubbled up. To me, designing and building it was more fun than the party. I was asked one year "if you could costume and decorate for the party OR attend it, which would you do?" No question at all for me, costume and decorate.
A random chunk of my weird designs :) Welcome to the Prancing Pony Inn in my head.
Imagine what I could have done with a higher budget and more help!
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