You work because you want to make a good living. Good money. Even if the work you are doing is not creative, you don’t mind. Among many purposes that work serves, making a living is the most important one. Once you achieve that, something subtle changes. You finally earn a choice — a choice of how to spend a day. Now you are no longer running after making a living; you want to figure out how to make a happy one. A more satisfying one.
How do you find something that is not boring? How do you find the hook you can hold on to for an entire lifetime? That hook is creativity. An original impression coming out of your own mind gives a kind of satisfaction nothing else can match. Once you see clearly that most things around you are copies — ideas borrowed from others — you naturally start to move toward originality. You want to “create,” not “copy.”
Try a simple experiment: write down everything that bored you in the last few years. Most of it won’t be original. Those are borrowed ideas. And then look at people who seem lucky — the ones who got to do creative work from the beginning, and even got paid for it. But most of us didn’t get to choose what we did early in life. Some of us get the chance later. The real question is: when we finally have that choice, are we ready to pick?
Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest scientific minds in human history. He died poor. He contributed to breakthroughs in alternating current (AC power systems), radio communication, wireless transmission of energy, early robotics, and more. He spent his life doing deeply creative work. He kept going without money because the work itself gave him satisfaction. There is nothing wrong in having money — Thomas Edison was doing the same work in the same era and built an empire from it. But one thing is non-negotiable: creativity. Creativity is the wheel that keeps life moving; money is only the body of the car. A car cannot move without wheels. Life cannot grow without creativity.
It is not hard to understand why someone may feel dissatisfied despite having enough. A strange void stays. Often, the reason is simple: no creative outlet. Creativity doesn’t have to be painting a masterpiece. It could be singing, writing, filming, or speaking ideas out loud. Even simple work like cutting grass can be creative if you choose to do it differently. Any work can carry a spark, because the spark does not come from the work — it comes from the person doing it.
The idea is simple: leave a little of yourself in whatever you do. Don’t blindly follow. Be original, even if it is small. If your daily job doesn’t allow creativity, then give yourself a little time after work… to write a bit, read a bit, cook something new, or make something with your hands. Creativity is not a luxury. More than anything else, it is what gives satisfaction. And the day you add even a drop of originality to something — the day feels lived. That feeling stays. It reminds you that life is not just about earning; it is about leaving a trace of who you are before the day ends.
