The Danger of Monetising Your Passion

There are two types of motivation in life.

Intrinsic – This is when we do things simply because we love to do them, motivated by the sheer joy and pleasure they give us.

Extrinsic – This is when we do things for the reward, financial gain, or to pay the bills. We’re motivated by the results of getting these things done, rather than by the act of doing them.

When I look around me, I see a world shackled to extrinsic values. Society, media, education institutions and even our parents encourage us to achieve and reap the rewards. But, the problem is, extrinsic activities leave us feeling empty. They don’t feed the soul.

When we’re absorbed in intrinsic activities, time flies as our hearts swell and inspiration bubbles up through our psyche. When we’re forced to carry out tasks with purely extrinsic motivation, it causes inner pain and conflict. It singes our desire and passion. When we’re doing functions as a means to an end, time grinds by as laboured hands mosey slowly across clock faces, and we long for five o’clock.

Turning your passion into something that pays the bills can kill the joy

 

This distinction between doing things out of desire versus out of need is complicated. Sometimes, activities can cross the indistinct border between intrinsic and extrinsic. That is, things we do out of joy and passion can become toxic once we monetise them.

How is this possible? How can you grow to resent something that gives you pleasure?

There’s a lot of quotes out there preaching motivation porn statements like “find what you love to do then find someone to pay you to do it”. Sounds simple right? Well, it’s not quite that simple. You see, once we turn our passion into a source of income our motivation can become extrinsic as we feel like we’re suddenly being judged on our passion. Our focus can shift from being motivated by the pleasure of something to looking mainly at the financial rewards (or lake thereof) of completing these tasks.

Once you turn your passion into a source of income to pay the bills, it can just take the joy out of it.

Being judged and having to succeed can stunt creativity

 

When I was young, I had a guitar. It was a typical first guitar… a cheap, knockabout with clumsy nylon strings, a fat neck and a crass, orange pine varnish. I lost days fumbling my way through the common chords that make up so many songs.

At first, I loved it. I longed to sit, alone with my guitar, slowly working my way through learning songs I liked. But, then something changed. I started having weekly lessons. In these sessions, I’d be taught new songs and graded on my performance. I’d spend weekends preparing for the end of year concert where all the students performed a chosen song to an audience of wide-eyed, proud parents.

I no longer loved the guitar. Instead, I saw it as something I had to do. A weekly chore where my teacher (ironically named Peter Pik) would take me through my paces. I stopped playing as much and even failed to get ‘American Pie’ down for the annual concert. Instead, I ended up jamming away in the chorus band, strumming through repetitive four-chord patterns as the better students took the lead.

So… what happened?

My passion suddenly became something which I was judged on and had to do well at to succeed. My intrinsic passion, and motivation to learn music became an extrinsic exercise not just to do well but, do better than the other students. It turned from a desire to a skill that I had to master… Talk about killing the joy!

Eventually, I stopped having lessons and something strange happened.

Once I was no longer being judged on my ability, I started to love the guitar again. I no longer saw it as a compulsory exercise. Once again, I appreciated the guitar as a creative instrument, and I enjoyed our time together. I was allowed to master the songs I chose and, once again, was back in control and able to fulfil my desires… not have them dictated to me and judged.

Thinking about this story, makes me wonder how often this happens in life and how it affects or motivation and mental health.

If our whole focus in life becomes a means to an end then we will end up depressed, anxious and empty.

Art and creativity are intrinsic

 

In my opinion, this problem becomes exacerbated when it comes to creative pursuits. Art is fundamentally intrinsic, as are many other creative areas.

Art is also deeply personal to the artist and an outward expression of something deep within their psyche. Now, when you take something that’s so deeply rooted into the core of your being and turn it into a commercial exercise to make money, it can create a toxic relationship that stunts personal creative expression as artistic activities become dictated by the price that someone is willing to pay for them.

I’ve seen this frustration on creative faces all around the world. Travel bloggers who no longer enjoy travel, jaded chefs who don’t enjoy cooking anymore and creative photographers spending their weekends in shopping malls photographing babies in flower pots.

In these examples, activities that where intrinsic not only become extrinsic but, they also change in nature. The very act of creation changes in to meet demand for financial reward. You may want to pain abstracts because it’s an expression of you and you love it but, people will only pay for portraits. So, you find yourself frustrated, brush in hand, churning out portrait after portrait which absorbs any creative expression and desire within you.

The guilt factor: ‘I should be happy’

 

This scenario leaves us empty, anxious and depressed. We feel guilty because we ‘should be happy’ because we’re finally ‘doing what we love’ and getting paid for it yet, the very nature of getting paid has polluted the nature of creation and nullified our passion in doing the activity at all.

The problem is that, whether we like it or not, we all need to earn money and we don’t choose our passions based on potential income or rewards that they may bring. Our intrinsic desires seem to come from a different place and seem to choose us. So, when it comes to making a financially stable career, we often get caught up in the stickiness of responsibility and find ourselves in job roles we hate just to pay the bills.

We could try and change things and do what we like, but it’s hard…

“we are kept from our goals not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal” – the story of my life. We often take easier, more immediately secure decisions in life and then become stuck. As we accumulate more, our material world becomes complex. There are mortgages to pay, car finance, bills, school fees and more. Suddenly, we think that it no longer makes sense to make decisions based on passion and heart and instead, waste our lives away doing something we fundamentally don’t like.

Disconnection from meaningful work causes depression

 

This disconnection from meaningful work is creating a mental health epidemic. Many studies have shown a correlation between being in control of what you do and doing meaningful work and high rates of depression. It’s impossible to be happy when you’re doing something you hate and feel as though your deepest desires aren’t being met in order to pay a mortgage. It’s a horrible reality and one that creates duality within us… and inner conflict between what we want and what we feel we need to do to make ends meet.

So, what’s the answer? Do we just follow our passion at all costs and wait for someone to pay us? Do we stick to purely extrinsic activities to make money and leave our passions for weekends in the garage when we finally get time to do what we love?

I think that there’s a fine line, and the answer is; don’t compromise and don’t confuse the two. I think it’s fine (and even great) to get paid for your passion but, we need to be careful to keep our motivation in check. We need to stand by our passion and keep it authentic to our desires.

We must ensure that our motivation remains prominently on the desire and joy to do what we love and not the end result. We mustn’t allow clients, customers or society to alter our work and dilute our self-expression. Instead, we need to remain faithful to our passions and stick with it… there will be someone who’ll want to pay you. Don’t sell out.

If you’re stuck in a horrible job, motivated only by the pay cheque at the end of the week then, you may need to reassess your life priorities. Life’s too short to not follow our desires and dreams.