Mojo’s and Motivation – How To Access Your Creative Mojjo On Tap
It’s another good day today, we’re caught up with work (Just about) and I have an afternoon to write up a new Steemit post. I was going through ideas that I’ve been wanting to get down for some time now when I started to think about Motivation and Creative Mojo. I was actually going to keep this one about photography, but as I started it got a little wider reaching, so I thought I’d make this post about Creative motivation/ motivation in general!
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Finding your ‘Mojo’
If you have a passion or an interest, the chances are you know what I mean when I talk about feeling the Mojo. It’s that feeling you get when you’re loving what you do and it’s loving you right back, it’s filling all those creative crevices deep down inside and you’re fully engaged with what you’re doing. It’s not always about results, sometimes we feel like we’ve got our Mojo even when we’re producing something that’s less than perfect. For me it’s all about the feeling you get while you’re doing it, that sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. In my work that’s usually the feeling I get when I’m photographing a wedding and I feel like I can see all the angles I want to see and I’m making the best out of whatever environment I’m in. The people and the light might not be playing ball, after all they aren’t within my control, but I’m in the ‘zone’, shooting intuitively and leaning on years of experience without hesitation.
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Loosing your ‘Mojo’
I posted the photo above a few days ago from a sunrise shoot in the Lake District last week. My wife and I adore the Lake District and my parents had booked a two bedroomed apartment for the week. We only had a couple of nights free so we wanted to make the most of it, in our one full day there we shot Sunrise, Sunset, some Astrophotography and everything in between. I was so desperate to make the most out of it I felt like I’d completely lost my Mojo. I just couldn’t do anything right, I was moving my tripod more than a fidgeting toddler and complaining that I just couldn’t get the shot I wanted. Here I was, in my favourite place to shoot in the world, at the best time of day for a beautiful sunrise and I didn’t feel GOOD shooting. The funny thing is that looking back on the images I was stoked with what I came away with. The trouble is they never quite have the same shine as images that I LOVED shooting. If I’m impartial about this the shoot was an absolute success, coming away with way more ‘keepers’ than I ever have on a shoot. But creativity is rarely impartial, and the ‘Mojo’ affects more than just the products of our creativity. It affects our continued motivation and impulse to push ourselves.
Where do you get your motivation?
I’m not talking about your ‘why’. Is it just me or has the creative world become absolutely obsessed with everyone’s ‘why’!? I get it, stories sell, but honestly most of the time I don’t care about anyone else’s ‘why’ and I don’t particularly care to share my own. I care about what their ‘why’s’ produce, and what I produce! All of that comes from our motivation to create in the first place, but where does that come from for you?
Intrinsic Motivation
Maybe you’ve heard of Intrinsic Motivation before? Motivation that comes from withIN. Back in 2004 I developed a motivation for photography. I’m not talking about when I got my first camera later that year, I’m talking about when I made the decision to save for that camera, to get out and work for my dad as a gardener in the school holidays. I have no idea where it came from, I think it was a longing to feel creative in a very sports and science based life. My family were quite traditional and creativity was never an option as a career choice, the rebel in me wanted to see what they were so afraid of! I read voraciously, spent hours online gathering as many resources as I could find to improve my knowledge and skill. I was still training 20+ hours a week and in full time education, not to mention working for my dad to fund my photography addiction yet I MADE the time for my photography. I wasn’t doing it for money or acclaim, I was doing it purely for my own reasons. My motivation for photography wasn’t borne of aspirations of wealth or a need to pay the bills. It was just for me. I now train for Triathlons for the same reasons, hell my own motivation to write these posts isn’t a burning desire for the ~$5 I might expect to garner from this post on a good day. It’s because I LOVE to write, a passion that had been lost for almost a decade, and I have a desire to teach and share!
Extrinsic Motivation
Over the years my motivation for photography turned to Extrinsic motivation, that is to say it came from external sources. The need to pay the bills, the desire to earn money and save, even the awards I wanted my photography to garner. We all have things in life that are fuelled by extrinsic motivation, be it our day jobs or even our health and fitness routines. Some exercise for fun, others do it to keep in shape or stay healthy. Extrinsic motivation isn’t just motivation based on potential rewards, it’s also motivation that comes from our fear of negative consequences. As my passion for photography grew, so to did my experience and skill. Eventually that skill was enough for me to become a professional and earn a living from my photography. Suddenly I wasn’t just going out and taking photos of the things that interested me, people were paying me to take photos of something of their choosing. I had entered the world of commercial photography where we are shooting based on a clients brief, be that wedding photography or product photography. Some may say they get creative freedom on a wedding day, we’re lucky enough to have that, but let’s not forget that we’re still being paid to capture a specific event. Without the money would you be there on a Saturday taking photos for 15 hours?
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The Overjustification Effect
Ok, I’ll admit this one was new to me, but only in name. It’s a phenomenon that I’m sure we’ve all witnessed or experienced, it’s essentially a tipping point when it comes to Extrinsic Motivation, and one that seems especially pertinent to the world of Steem. The Overjustification Effect is simply a point in which an individual becomes solely motivated by external rewards. I’ll use my photography as an example: I started off taking photos for fun – Intrinsic. When I got better I started charging, that became my career and so my motivation for photography turned into Extrinsic motivation. After a few years I became so used to getting paid for taking photos that I literally never took photographs outside of work. Essentially I felt like I should be paid every time I picked up a camera. The Overjustification Effect. The same thing applies perfectly to Steem, whether it’s intrinsic or extrinsic we all started here on the Steem platform. Many people see their rewards increase to a fantastic level, to a point where if the rewards were to stop (Maybe that Whale stops upvoting your posts, or crypto takes a nose dive and your hard earned SBD are worthless) the users would lose interest in the platform. How many people on this platform have gone from earning nothing with their posts to paying all of their bills with them? This is where the overjustification effect comes into play again.
Getting back to that Mojo…
It seems to me that Mojo has to be linked to where the motivation is coming from. When we are fuelled solely by extrinsic motivation we struggle to feel fulfilled with what we’re doing, enough that we struggle to get into the ‘zone’, or feel the ‘mojo’. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve had my own issues with motivation when it comes to my photography. I will be going into photography specific methods in another post but suffice to say I found a way to separate my passion and personal photography from my professional photography. This freed me up to actually enjoy my professional work more than ever before, understanding WHY I was doing what I was doing and working as hard as I could to maximise my value as a photographer to my clients. Those times when I felt like I have Mojo all stem from times when I appreciate I’m there to earn money, but I fully enjoy doing so and embrace the passion that I use in my personal photography. I would recommend that for anyone struggling to find their Mojo, they remember what it is they loved about their passion in the first place. Then look at what’s blocking you, it might just be pressure you’re putting on yourself that’s holding you back.
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Getting into the Groove
If Mojo comes from feeling in the zone, then our best bet for learning to access our Mojo on tap is to learn to embrace whatever we’re doing, even if it has become an extrinsically motivated chore. If it’s something that we have a desire to do, especially if we are driven by extrinsic forces, the chances are it’s something we have a talent or proclivity for. So take a moment to appreciate that. If you’re a professional photographer stuck in a rut, remember that someone is paying you for your ability. If you’re a blogger with a captive audience, even if it’s just of one person, then remember that that one person appreciates what you have to say. Maybe you’ve lost your Mojo even though you’re intrinsically motivated? In my experience when you’re internally motivated you’re likely to be interested in learning or exploring your activity. That feeling of Mojo kicks in when you’re pushing yourself to something new, or taking an extra step towards mastering the activity. The trouble is it’s hard to continually evolve and progress, instead perhaps try to appreciate your own refinement of your skills. Rather than finding something to push yourself to the next step, why not make sure you have firm footing at the step you’re currently on.
Superhero Pose
Have you ever heard about the advice for confidence with the Superhero pose? Basically you stand in front of the mirror with a superhero pose and it makes you feel more confident. There was a study done on it and it does indeed improve confidence, much like smiling while exercising is proven to reduce the effects of fatigue. The mind is an incredibly powerful thing and it’s amazing what it can do when we give it a helping hand. Hell, most of the time it’s doing some pretty amazing things even when we’re not actively encouraging it! In fact most of the time we’re best just getting out of our minds way and letting our past experiences do the heavy lifting. Sometimes we spend too long fixating on what we should and shouldn’t be doing and we don’t give ourselves enough credit for the time we have already put in. Whether it’s successful of failed past experiences we can be sure of one thing, we’ve come away from each one with an increased knowledge of our chosen activity. If you’re struggling to find your Mojo, take a moment, relax and do what comes naturally. Listen to your gut and don’t start overthinking things now!
Understanding is key
There’s so much I could go into on this subject, honestly even just writing this has filled my head with potential branches to explore, but I don’t really think a 10,000 word dissertation would help that much. Maybe I’ll expand it over time (for myself!) and see how it all turns out. The truth is that all of the exercises and tips in the world won’t let you get into the zone anytime you want until you understand where your Mojo and Motivation come from in the first place. There’s nothing wrong with being extrinsically motivated, we all need intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in our lives but sometimes we need to compartmentalise these in our own minds to enjoy everything we do to the fullest.
Normal Service will resume shortly
I realise that this post isn’t my usual photography related post, and to anyone who came here looking for photography specific ideas fear not, I’ll be following this article up with another on photography based motivation/mojo inducing techniques! I feel like this one was just one of those posts that got away from me a bit and I didn’t want to limit it to just photography! Photography has taught me so many things, I’m constantly amazed at how many of those translate to other aspects of life! Thanks for reading!
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NICE POST, dude!!
This is pretty close to the same crisis that I've been dealing with for the last 2+ years. But I totally learned something here- I didn't know it was called the Overjustification Effect! This happened to me and it hit me hard.
Anyway, I do hope you do more writing about this subject. It's super interesting and I must say comforting to read about other folks having the same struggles as me.
Cheers!!
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Thank you so much! I had heard of the phenomenon but didn't know it actually had a name and was a proven thing! It's crazy when it does because - might be just me - but you don't realise until you're way down the line! I realised one day that I just wasn't taking photos outside of weddings. That's when I bought my first Mirrorless as a way to make myself shoot more!
Thanks for the support! Will definitely try writing more about this and see if I come up with anything else to post along the way!
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And thanks for recommending @flaversham take a look at my blog!
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I wrote a post about feeling "meh" the other day. I guess I wasn't feeling my Mojo as you call it.
I am back up on my feet, I brushed off my knees and took myself to the store to buy a new lens. I was still using the one that came with my camera and I wanted to do better. Photography is a huge draw for me and I am hungry to learn. I think I have a natural ability to capture a decent shot but I don't have the technical knowledge or skill that I'd like to have.
My itch to learn is driving my mojo. I'm not planning on becoming professional - I sincerely just enjoy planning a photo shoot and coming home to see what the camera noticed that I didn't. It gives me joy.
I liked reading your mindful meanderings. There is always something to glean from others.
I look forward to your other posts. I am a sponge to learn.
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I saw that post! Glad to hear you're feeling better, and even more glad to hear you bought a new lens! Always a good pick-me-up! You clearly have a talent for photography and the rest will come with time!
In some ways I think enjoying something as a passion and nothing more is the most honest and artistic way to do it, once it becomes a profession things change a lot!
Thanks for following along and the kind words!
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Well you've definitely struck a nerve. Was so deep and spoke to me on so many levels. I had to ask myself why I do what I do and idk if I have a definite answer. Something I'm going to figure out before I move forward! Thank you!
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Thanks! It's awesome to see people commenting and upvoting this one so much, it's not my usual post so it's awesome to know people found it interesting :)
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really amazing @skiesandsports work dear
keepitup @skiesandsports
informative
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Thank you very much @upvoter1! Much appreciated!
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Great post! Very well said with nice photos as a background of the whole! I have the same feelings and the same experiences , photography is a beautiful thing!
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Thanks @photovisions, you're right, photography is beautiful and it's such a shame when it turns into just a 'job', that's why it's good to remember what you love about it!
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Thank you for that post, it's inspiring, exactly what I needed to hear! And your work is superb. I followed you.
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Thanks! It's always awesome to get a new follower, I really appreciate the support!
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Hey! Firsties, my eyes are super happy because your photography is beautiful!
Loved reading your thoughts on motivation. @Caitycat suggested I come on over and check it out because I wrote my own post on it today, too!
Have you ever heard of flow? It's essentially what you were writing about from feeling in the "zone". I always know I've experienced it when I look at a clock and all of a sudden an hour or four has gone by. Flow is definitely the goal when it comes to creating or achieving something.
The overjustification effect is super interesting. I think I probably see something similar in my high school students with their obsession with grades. In my post I talk about mindsets and how they can help you get over that sort of obsession with extrinsic motivation.
Thanks! And thanks to @Caitycat for giving me a heads up on your writing!
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Hey @flaversham, thanks for stopping by! That's awesome, I hadn't heard of Flow before but I've just had a quick skim and it sounds really interesting! I'll be checking that out in full tomorrow! Bit of a long day and late night tonight but I'll be checking out your post tomorrow morning for sure! I'd love to read your take on it, strange timing too!
I found the overjustification effect really interesting because it's one of those things I think we've all seen or experienced in some way but putting a name to it and understanding it is always nice!
Thanks again for the support!
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Seems like the topic of motivation is certainly going around! For me, I was responding to the @steemiteducation prompt.
Hope you had an okay end to your long day!
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It's really good, keep going
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Nice article! Check out please my article about Transilvania! Thank YOU 🙂 https://steemit.com/cityscapephotography/@catalin2903/transilvania-s-gems
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wow nice....pic...
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I'm so happy to see this post get supported and upvoted! Great topic! For me, there's definitely a mix of internal and external motivation being on Steemit. When I started here Steem was less than a dollar so this really wasn't about money. It was a fun outlet to explore photography without annoying my friends by overposting on Instagram! But, as the price of Steem began to rise, this has become more externally motivated. But, I still find all of this entirely fun and entertaining or I wouldn't be doing it!
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Thanks man! And thanks for your support before it got a curie! Funnily enough I was the opposite with Steem, it came along at a time that a little financial boost went a long way, then as January went along and finances changed it became so much more about putting out my personal photography, something I've not done in a decade or so! I always loved Landscapes but just decided the money wasn't there and I had to pay the bills. It's not like my Landscapes will pay the bills, but having somewhere that it feels like they get the chance to actually be seen, kind of in earnest, is a really nice feeling!
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Perfect post. Every single word. I feel totally identified with it. I've had a hard time searching my mojo, but I noticed it was because I was no photographing what I loved. Once I shifted to what really passionates me, everything changed. Great post! Following you now.
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Thanks! That's awesome to hear! It's so easy to lose that Mojo but it goes in waves, noticing when you've lost it and doing something is the perfect way to get it back! thanks for the follow!!
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fantastic shots : so vivid, so perfect colors and light; very good work. congrats Chris.
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Thanks dude, really appreciate it!
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Superb
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Your post has been scouted by @livesustainably. We are running a weekly photo competition under the #lsphotocompetition tag and feel your photos have what it takes.
If you would like to enter for free, please check out the requirements by clicking the link How to Enter
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