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This is the closest to home for me. I started coding when I was around 10. I wrote software every day for 12 years, enthralled and eager to try new things. I

This is the closest to home for me. I started coding when I was around 10. I wrote software every day for 12 years, enthralled and eager to try new things. I learned every language I could get my hands on. When it became a job, I lost all my passion for it. I quit coding for 10 years. Not a single line. I decided to become an automotive mechanic instead... Today, I'm in IT and my creative outlet is board games. I not only play them, but I design them as well. Last year I licensed my first game and suddenly this dream that I have always had of being published was fulfilled. My first instinct was to embrace that success and use the boost to create more success. I had to pause. I was trying to force success again. The difference this time was that I realized quickly that I was trying to monetize a hobby. Forget it. I'm not abandoning passionate game design for money. It's just not worth it.

the_cat_kittles 15y ago
I think the rub is that creative things (maybe almost everything, actually) really only grow out of intrinsic motivation. For most people, money is the exact opposite of that.
- Random_Person 15y ago
  I completely agree with you. I also think that "most people" never truly understand and instead chase the almighty dollar believing it to be the measure of their success. Money doesn't motivate me at all. It is a means of surviving without self-sustaining. I cut my pay in half to become an automotive mechanic and it was the greatest move I ever made. I was no longer working for the dollar, I was working for the joy of fixing things. Literally overnight I became poor and happy simultaneously.
  - the_cat_kittles 15y ago
    That is really, really cool and inspiring. I think way more things can be fascinating and fulfilling than we think, its just a matter of thinking about them right. Shakespeare's "for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" rings truer every day to me.

the_cat_kittles 15y ago

I think the rub is that creative things (maybe almost everything, actually) really only grow out of intrinsic motivation. For most people, money is the exact opposite of that.

Random_Person 15y ago
I completely agree with you. I also think that "most people" never truly understand and instead chase the almighty dollar believing it to be the measure of their success. Money doesn't motivate me at all. It is a means of surviving without self-sustaining. I cut my pay in half to become an automotive mechanic and it was the greatest move I ever made. I was no longer working for the dollar, I was working for the joy of fixing things. Literally overnight I became poor and happy simultaneously.
- the_cat_kittles 15y ago
  That is really, really cool and inspiring. I think way more things can be fascinating and fulfilling than we think, its just a matter of thinking about them right. Shakespeare's "for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" rings truer every day to me.