Maintaining Steam Part 1: Motivation vs Inspiration (Patreon)
Content
Hi Everyone!
I'm going to be posting a series on a variety of topics I consider related - writer's block, motivation drain, and how to stay productive on a project when you're facing those things.
All of these things are based on my personal experiences, and if I've learned one it's that everyone is different. And we all work through these kinds of things differently.
Even so, I hope this is at least somewhat helpful for you guys.
We have a very productivity oriented culture that sometimes feels obsessed with working to produce content all the time. To the point that I know many indie game devs who feel guilty if they take a break or don't work weekends.
None of what I'm about to say is meant to encourage that level of productivity. What I'm going to be talking about is simply how to avoid losing your steam mid-project. How to finish things. Because finishing things is powerful.
But it can be incredibly hard.
It's a problem just about every writer has. You start a project, you're gung-ho and determined for a while, but your energy slowly tapers off like an engine losing steam. And eventually you stop working on the project. You think about it a lot. You feel bad for not doing it...
But you can't seem to muster the energy. Or else, you've lost interest in it entirely, and have gotten distracted by a completely new project. Or you hit the dreaded Writers Block.
Visual novels, in particular, take a long time to complete. This means they're rather prone to this sort of slow evaporation until the project stalls out and vanishes. But all types of writers experience this phenomenon.
Sometimes it feels like we create what is almost a mystique around people who complete projects - as if they have some sort of innate quality we don't possess. As if they don't struggle with writer's block, lack of motivation, bad habits, and the like.
As if there is something inherently unachievable about project completion unless you are one of these strange creatures who somehow manage to stay focused and determined through the entirety of a project.
I think we do ourselves a disservice when we hold this sort of view. Because, in the end, we all make choices or develop habits that either help or hinder us when it comes to project completion.
And that's what I want to talk about.
INSPIRATION VS MOTIVATION
All projects start with...an idea.
It takes motivation to develop the idea and turn it into something more.
Some people claim they never finish things because they have "too many ideas." I personally think this is rubbish. Because no creative person has ONE idea at a time. We are all constantly bombarded with ideas. That's what it means to be creative.
I think the idea that sometimes a person is "too inspired" to stay on one project is a little silly. (And I'm not talking about people who, say, have ADD. Legitimate focus problems are different than being "too inspired.)
A lot of times, what it really comes down to is how motivated we are to stick to the one.
Inspiration and motivation are two different beasts.
There is some overlap in definition, but I think too often us creative types try to use them interchangeably.
We get into this bad habit of saying we aren't inspired when what we mean is we're not motivated.
The reason I think it's important to differentiate between the two is that it's my experience this conflation of terms is sometimes a deflection method. We blame our lack of motivation on an outside force called "inspiration."
This is a really convenient way to not have to address the actual source of the problem. Because doing so is usually fraught with guilt and self-doubt and all number of unpleasant emotions. We are all really good at beating ourselves up for not being good enough - so it's just way less stressful to blame our not doing stuff on something outside our control.
One definition for inspiration is "A sudden, brilliant or timely idea." It's that lightning bolt that just hits out of nowhere. I feel like we've probably all experienced that. It's not something we necessarily work for...it just happens to us.
Motivation, on the other hand, is defined as a "desire or willingness to do something." It's an internal feeling that comes from inside our own minds and hearts.
If we think about it as a progression, then...
Inspiration happens to us, motivation fuels our willingness to do something with it, and productivity is the actual work.
The breakdown in the creative process usually happens at the motivation stage or between the motivation and productivity stage. It's important to understand that it rarely, in my experience, happens at the inspiration stage or between inspiration and motivation.
In other words, most of the time if we're not actually doing anything with our ideas, "inspiration" (lack of it or too much of it) is not the issue.
What we have is a motivation issue or a motivation to productivity conversion issue (we have motivation, but we're not turning it into anything productive).
There's no reason to blame yourself for not being motivated or being willing, but unable, to work on things. However, knowing where the breakdown is happening helps immensely in coming up with strategies to overcome it.
Knowing what the problem is and what is causing is the first practical step to fixing the problem.
And that is what I want to talk about next time.
To Be Continued...