Create Passion in your Career
Your artistic passion is created and sustained in the same way you'll create a fire.
There are three elements that help you keep the flames of your artistic passion alive.
The first one is a reason or purpose.
Don't be a pyromaniac. Be a good camper.
Have you ever gone camping in the wilderness, miles away from civilization?
At some point, you had to create a fire as a source of light, protection, warmth, and cooking.
In the wilderness, you wouldn’t light a fire just because it’s cool. It takes effort to prepare and it consumes resources. You need a good reason to create it.
Some creatives fail to sustain their passion because they ignite it when there was no important reason to do so. They become pyromaniacs, lighting fires randomly because they like how they look. This causes a lot of damage and eventually gets them burned out.
Don’t be a pyromaniac. Be a good camper. Ignite your passion with a purpose.
It's a life or death situation
Sometimes when people talk about "purpose" it sounds so… fluffy. “Just follow your heart”, “Do what makes you happy.”
Really guys? That's the purpose?
While I believe it’s important to do things that feel good, you can’t keep your passion ignited if you are just doing it for enjoyment.
Passion requires something more visceral than that.
Passion needs an important purpose tied to survival.
As in "if I don’t do it there will be great suffering."
Or, if you want to be more positive: "If I do it, people will be rescued and have the chance to experience a better life."
When you make it about solving a primal necessity you are more likely to get involved.
That’s the difference between “I draw because I like it” versus “I draw because I want to communicate an idea that can improve (even save) people’s lives.”
Enjoyment, it turns out, is not great to sustain a passion. Purpose is.
Questions to find your purpose
What is a problem you desperately want to solve in the world?
How can you use your art to serve others?
Who will suffer if you don’t create your art? or Whose life could be radically improved just because you showed up?
Stop making art just because it’s cool.
Start making art because it’s helpful.
That’s the first step to keeping your passion fired up.
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