The right kind of passion can make you more creative

In order to be successful and happy and nurture your creativity it’s really important that you understand why you want to do something. Scott Barry Kaufman PH.D., cognitive psychologist, is interested in the development of intelligence, creativity and personality and he says that there is an essential difference between obsessive passion and harmonic passion. Obsessive passion will decrease the potential for creativity whilst harmonic passion will greatly increase your creative potential.

Scott describes how children are naturally enthusiastic, they want to learn and create. They do what they do for the joy of doing it, they are intrinsically motivated. When you do what you want to do for the value the activity has for you even without any external reward, you are relaxed, you feel in control and you are likely to be in a state of flow.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi studied extensively the state of flow which he found has the following qualities:

1)   You’re present in the moment, you’re focused and concentrated.

2)   You have a sense of ecstasy, being outside everyday reality.

3)   You experience great inner clarity.

4)   You feel that your skills are adequate to the task.

5)   You are in a place of serenity, in a place where you’re not thinking about yourself or worrying.

6)   You have a feeling of timelessness.

7)   You’re intrinsically motivated, you do what you do for the love of it.

When you are following an obsessive passion and you’re extrinsically motivated, you pursue an activity for the external reward you hope to attain, this could be money, fame, fortune or praise/recognition. Research has shown that extrinsic motivation often is a sign of low self-esteem and an unstable ego. You hope that the reward will make you a better, more worthwhile person and for this reason the reward can become more important than the actual activity. You feel that you must do something because it will give you the desired outcome irrespective of whether you enjoy the activity or not. In the long term this can lead to feelings of stress and being controlled by the activity you so strongly feel you need to do. In this state you are not able to do your best work, fulfil your potential and nurture your creativity.

The conclusion is that, in order to unfold your creative potential, it is best to concentrate on the activities you love doing and to allow yourself to get immersed in the experience. When you are in a state of harmony within yourself and follow your natural passion you effortlessly tap into your authentic creativity and new ideas can flow into your consciousness.