How (Not) to Find Your One Thing

Today I got back into some of my usual podcasts while working. I began with some of Alec Baldwin’s Here’s the Thing, which is a relatively new discovery for me. But then I moved on to one of my favorites from the past year: The Moment with Brian Koppelman. (Strong language occasionally finds its way into both, so be advised.)

I like interview podcasts in general, but The Moment is unique because I always walk away inspired and challenged. Koppelman more than others I’ve heard really tries to get at what practice or characteristic makes someone successful. When their big moment came, what was it that carried them from what they were to what they would become?

Most of what I get out of the show is a challenge to create something. I get ideas and strategies for becoming more creative, more productive, more purposeful. This blog is a result of that. The hope is that if I practice writing for a public audience every day, I’ll become a better writer.

But often this urge to create has no place to go. In the past I’ve dabbled in other projects: art, music, web design, curriculum, fiction, and more. But I can’t do it all at once, and I can’t do much of it well. So I have to choose what I want to invest in. And what all the smart, successful people tell me is I should figure out where I want to end up and it will help me plan how to get there. What does success look like to you?

But when I zoom out to the big picture and I ask myself the Big Question, I run into a conflict.

What is the Big Question, you ask? One of my seminary profs asked the class some version of this question: if you had the power to accomplish anything for God, what gift would you offer Him? If you dreamed as big as you dared to dream and you could only lay one completed project at Christ’s feet, what would it be?

The intent of course is to get at what you value most, understanding that the unique way God has designed you will push you in a certain direction. And this is one (admittedly grand) way to try and figure out where you want to end up and thus what you should do with your life.

And I’ve been trying to use it to help me pick my projects.

So what is the conflict? I don’t know how to answer the question. I’m supposed to say something like “build the next great Christian university” or “write the definitive systematic theology of the 21st century.” But when I think of the big picture, I have a hard time landing on one thing. Sometimes I’m not even sure I could.

It seems to me that the kinds of creative projects I’m considering can’t bear the weight of the Big Question by themselves. They have to serve a greater purpose. And often, for me, that greater purpose isn’t something you could hold or buy or measure—it’s a state or a quality.

For example, I want to raise my children to love God, to devote their lives to serving Him, to be people of wisdom and character. But how do you measure that? The product isn’t a person, it’s a quality of person. And I don’t succeed at this by slaving away in my workshop for months on end; I have to achieve a kind of quality myself and find a way to pass it on.

So I’m trying to chase virtue, but I also know both the desire and ability to create come from God. On a good day I even know that our creations can be good in themselves, that they don’t have to serve some greater purpose in order to have meaning and value. I believe God takes joy in our small creations.

But how do we align them with that greater purpose? Do we need to?

Maybe the Big Question is a flawed approach. A person should have some sense of direction, some foresight if he or she is to steward wisely what God has given. But one thing? I’ve been trying to make it work for years, but it hasn’t been helpful for me.

The other day I saw a friend had designed a personal mission statement, and I’ve done that for resumes in the past. Maybe that’s the difference: the Big Question is about a thing, whereas a mission statement has more to do with an activity. Activities adapt far more readily.

I don’t know that I’m any closer to answering my initial question of where to focus my creative energies in the short term, but I do feel like I’ve tested the Big Question method and found it wanting. And I’m told that if all you’ve done is disproven a hypothesis, you’ve still had a productive day.