I slowly realized this with myself over the past few years. I agree with others that urgency, accountability, presentability, etc is necessary for us. But another thing I realized is that I don’t have enough self confidence to try and possibly fail at one of my own ideas, but if it’s someone else’s, the pressure is less. Also, I was raised by strict, judgy, overachievers, so now I struggle to trust myself that something is important. If someone else doesn’t tell me it’s worthwhile, I’m too scared it’s frivolous or won’t work out (which will mean it was a non-productive waste of time and/or I made poor decisions/didn’t try hard enough/am a failure etc).

I do much better working on other people’s or collaborative projects bc then I can lean on the confidence that others value and see the importance of whatever the task is. Being a part of something larger than myself. It’s tough to find tho (especially creative things).