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Yay! Today I’m soooooo excited to feature an interview I did recently with Catharina Bruns who runs workisnotajob., a concept and design studio that not only does outstanding design work but also serves up amazing doses of inspiration and loving kick-in-the-pants reminders of what’s truly important.

I had been following Catharina on Twitter for a while, and finally got the opportunity to meet her while we were both working out of the Loosecubes headquarters the other week.  We got into a discussion about a blog post I had just written about the strange habit of people to compete with each other over prizes that don’t actually matter that much (like having more Facebook friends than anyone you know). Cath had some really interesting things to say about what motivates her, so I asked her if I could interview her, and these are her thoughtful responses. 

Me: We were talking the other day about people being motivated by somewhat arbitrary prizes (like having more Twitter followers than someone else or earning more money) – you said that those things never really cross your mind as motivators. Since those aren’t factors, what does drive you? 

Cath: I just strongly believe that we all should contribute to the world by living our individual talents and make things that we feel passionate about happen. We should use this life to satisfy ourselves with our work and help others along the way. I don’t understand how it is motivating to look at other people’s achievements. I personally don’t see competitors, I only learn from other and see the  work I want to do. And to do the work and the challenge to create my own path and fulfill a purpose – constantly motivates me. 

Me: Do you think you’ve been motivated by the same things as a kid or has that changed over time? 

Cath: Well, I certainly didn’t call it “work” back then but I always thought that I need to “do something” to express myself and loved it when others were interesting in the way they were doing stuff. I was so busy with trying to understand the world and how I make sense in all this – I am obviously still learning and think if you do the work you love (aka do something that leads to something you can work with) it really helps you to understand your purpose. And motivation I think has a lot to do with knowing your purpose.

Me: You mentioned when we were talking that you are able to be authentically excited for someone else’s success. A lot of people have trouble with that. What is your philosophy or approach to life that allows you to celebrate the success of others so easily? 

Cath: This might not be an exciting answer but: Firstly, there is room for everyone. The more people do interesting things, the better. But also: It just doesn’t even occur to me that other people’s success etc is in relation to my own journey.  Clearly, everyone has their own background, reasons, gifts and challenges and to compare your dreams, achievements or your struggles with someone else in the world is to do a disservice to the uniqueness of both of you. I love when people work on what they love and get rewarded for their work – I want to encourage everyone to be on that journey and even if you don’t aspire to do great things, I think you should! I think to do what you individually can is crucial for the greater good,  so go and live your dream already. And you better not compare yourself to others on the way because even if it seems someone else’s life path is similar to yours, it is not. I wish you great success!

Me: There is more emphasis now on finding work that is directly connected to your passion. Do you feel like you have a definitive passion? If so, when did you discover what it was and what was the process like to get there? 

Cath: I am convinced that the things that come naturally to you, that make hours pass like minutes, that make you feel alive – that is where your passion lies. As anyone else, I am very passionate about some stuff and pretty ignorant to a lot of other things. I actually believe, indifference is as important as passion. To actively explore the areas that you feel passionate about sometime seem to be in conflict with what society suggests you should pursue and what’s “realistic”- that’s why a lot of people end up in jobs they hate, spend money they don’t have and do things that kill their spirit.  So we need to ask ourselves in who’s reality do we want to live in? We need to realize that we don’t have to be what other people expect us to be and that we don’t have to comply with other people’s structure. I do what I love because I believe, anything else is not right for me and not helpful for anyone else either. When I freed myself from the thought I had to “work they way the world works” and learned to embrace my own way of doing things, I was able to pursue my passion.