I just started reading one of my Christmas gifts, the book Drive by Daniel Pink. In Drive, Pink looks at what motivates us. Surprisingly, rewards such as money are not always the best motivators and can even be detrimental. One of the examples he post forward was two innovations that came out at the same time. One created my a multinational corporation and the other by a band of volunteers. One had all paid, “highly qualified” contributors while the other was created solely by people who were just wanting to do the project. On paper, it appears that there would be no contest as to which one would be the most successful. One was created by Microsoft and available for purchase, the other was created by said volunteers and made available on the internet for free. The Microsoft product was a digital encyclopedia called Encarta, and you can probably guess the other product was Wikipedia. The point is, it almost alway comes down to more than money. There’s an intrinsic motivation to be considered. I’ve had jobs that paid me well but try as I might I could not find the passion of the things that I do that I feel make a real difference in this world. I don’t make art for the financial rewards. I create art because it brings me joy and I have learned how to use it as a tool for what really fires my passions, helping people to come to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, I create work for the satisfaction of doing something well and the knowledge that I am growing in my skills. When all is said and done, money pays the bills and we all need it, but hopefully we are all creating for something more.
Why do you do what you do? This question is worth exploring.
AMOKArts 