Science

Passion Sucks PT 2

Passion Sucks Pt 2

Random Thoughts

A friend of my wife has recently become really excited about blogging for the vegan food movement and in a conversation about being really happy they thought, “Is this passion?” This comes after my last article about how passion sucks… there’s nothing wrong with that. Finding the thing you love is a good thing and I don’t want to take away from that, but here’s one possible reason why things look good right now: this blogger is living her dream, as opposed to daydreaming about it and never making it happen.

Listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Hidden Brain, an episode popped up about how daydreaming can become an obstacle to success. The study and book about the effects of positive thinking by Gabriele Oettingen, who wrote Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside The New Science Of Motivation, talks about how positive thinking puts people into a mental state that mimics accomplishment before they have even started out and actually creates negative results.

This is the trouble that I have with wishful thinking, or passion in this case: it’s not moving the ball down the field. You are not gaining any momentum and if we consider the interview below it may actually be counter productive. The resolution, it turns out, is to be more realistic to counteract your flights of fancy.

Learn more about how to overcome this problem by listening in and be sure to check out the rest of the catalog. It’s a great show that I highly recommend.

Listen to the Hidden Brain Podcast: WOOP, There It Is! here. 

 

 

Copyright © 2016 Robert C. Olson

Ganske

Connecting Inspiration

Videos

Micah Ganske, along with people like Simon Stålenhag, Cold Design Ltd or Ian McQue, have made a living bringing the future into reality. Though I’m not sure how much Ganske does the sort of industrial design that others do for games or movies. However what interests me isn’t the design-y art work, but his take on inspiration.

I’ve been thinking about how inspiration works in my life and making connections is one way seeing the relationship between creative work and where ideas come from. However, my memory isn’t great and making connections can be a surreal experience if it happens at all. To a degree I feel more free although I do worry about losing it all one day.

What Ganske and I agree on here is that inspiration comes almost after the fact. I don’t think about connections before I start creating. I create and find connections stepping forward from the darkness while I’m working. It’s strange really. And makes it difficult to find and tap the endless well of inspiration.

For Ganske’s part speed plays an important role. For me it’s getting out of my seat and exploring the world.