I tend to pick projects that either have high-need time-limited attributes, or are in a new area that I’m interested in and would like to learn more about. The two primary stimuli are, in these cases, response to human need and the desire to learn knew things. The common element, though, is my perception that there’s a unique contribution I can make because I’m the one with the crossover skills to make it happen. I often seem to end up in that position.

There’s a problem with being the only person with the crossover skills, and that is isolation. When you’re the only person who can initiate a deep process, you are doing it alone. And I find that I don’t function very well alone. I require, apparently, both a tangible sense of external need and the freedom to explore new fields. If there’s anything I thrive doing, it’s figuring stuff out and creating tiny experiments. However, I seem to enjoy it most when I’m with an equally-excited person who’s willing to work. I don’t enjoy it when I am working by myself on behalf of someone else’s need. I guess I like to work with other peoples INTERESTS and PASSIONS, not their abstract needs.

I’ll have to keep this in mind. It may be that I need to start working with people again in lead role, directing energy and the work of others, and take myself out of the critical production path.