This quote. From Doreen's long lost German book is pure genius. It is the first and best description of the reality I've been experiencing:
"The idea was that you have a certain budgeted ability to do a particular type of thing and if you aren't getting enough of that thing, you will do more of that type of thing voluntarily (as a hobby) and if you are being forced to do more of that type of thing than your internal budget supports, you will start experiencing burnout."
Everything else I've read has generally been about increasing capacity, and perhaps to some extent one can, but perhaps there is a sweet spot. For example, in lifting weights, you have your capacity for today and for this week, and you want to manage hitting your sweet spot for where you are at a given time so that you can grow without injuring yourself.
This shifts the conversation from trying to find and endless source of creation inside yourself (not realistic) to an awareness of and managing your current energy budget for a specific type such as creativity so that you tend to your self and optimize your choices so that energy is not wasted.
"The idea was that you have a certain budgeted ability to do a particular type of thing and if you aren't getting enough of that thing, you will do more of that type of thing voluntarily (as a hobby) and if you are being forced to do more of that type of thing than your internal budget supports, you will start experiencing burnout."
Everything else I've read has generally been about increasing capacity, and perhaps to some extent one can, but perhaps there is a sweet spot. For example, in lifting weights, you have your capacity for today and for this week, and you want to manage hitting your sweet spot for where you are at a given time so that you can grow without injuring yourself.
This shifts the conversation from trying to find and endless source of creation inside yourself (not realistic) to an awareness of and managing your current energy budget for a specific type such as creativity so that you tend to your self and optimize your choices so that energy is not wasted.