3 Reasons to Create With Purpose

Whether you have a day job or are freelancing full-time, it’s critical to keep your passion projects alive for several reasons.

1. Passion projects will keep you motivated creatively
2. You will become a better creative
3. Your projects will increase your value

Passion projects show your creative style. They highlight what you genuinely enjoy making, and what you are good at. They are often your best work.

Being on the client side of a major corporation, I can tell you that my team has hired countless creatives based on their passion projects alone.

Creating for the sake of creating [link to relevant article] is important. But passion projects should also have purpose so they can help you get where you want to be, and do what you want to do.

Below we’ll outline the 3 main reasons you should have purpose in passion projects. At the end you’ll find example purposes for different creative disciplines.

Passion alone isn’t sustainable

Passion is a starting point. It’s what got you to where you are, along with dedication and hard work. But once you’ve turned your passion into a career, it’s not enough to keep you motivated and creating high quality work.

When I was in college, I would take my camera out for the sake of it and take all kinds of pictures. I remember one day, I grabbed my boyfriend’s roommate because I had a stroke of genius. We went out to the parking lot and I grabbed a bunch of dead leaves and threw them in front of me. He snapped the shutter when I told him to. I was proud of this photo for a long time.

These images may not have been “good” to my standards now, but they were a unique expression of my passion.

When I turned that passion into a career, my desire to shoot for the sake of it began to dwindle. Picking up the camera became a chore. More and more, I needed a reason to create.

In my mind, if I wasn’t creating to make money, then I wasn’t being productive. Almost all the creatives I’ve spoken to have struggled with this. But the good news is that if you use purpose, you can avoid feeling guilt when you are creating for fun.

Purpose keeps you focused

When we apply purpose to what we want to do, the easier it is to get it done. When passion has to be the starting point, we’re essentially trying to conjure up a will that may not exist. 

Of course you’re passionate about what you do, but that doesn’t mean you always feel that passion. And if you’ve convinced yourself that you need a fiery burst of inspiration to create, then you’re going to find yourself working on projects few and far in between.

Purpose, on the other hand, is a guide post. At every intersection, crossroad, or dead end, if you have a purpose to lean back on you will ultimately keep going. 

Purpose is more flexible than Passion

When your passion runs out, purpose can always be there. When your passion shifts, purpose can shift with it. This is because purpose is the reason you are doing something, and passion is what defines what you are doing.

My overall passion is storytelling. It defines what brings me joy and how I experience the world. It has never changed for as long as I can remember, because it defines who I am at my core. My purpose is to help others grow while also growing. There are an infinite amount of ways I can use my passion to fulfill my purpose. My purpose is very flexible.

I am not always be in the mood to tell a story or take pictures. I will be the first to admit that I don’t make enough time to create. But when I really do want to create, I can always find a purpose to tell a story in a meaningful way.

Everything in life doesn’t necessarily need purpose, but it certainly helps to have it.

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Examples Purposes for Projects

Photo/Video Project:

• To shine light on an issue I care about
• To improve my storytelling skills
• To spend more time with interesting people
• To get out of my comfort zone
• To get featured in a major publication
• To express what I’m going through right now
• To express what the world is going through right now

Art/Design/Mixed Media Project

• To make a difficult subject accessible 
• To envision something that can’t be captured without art
• To connect people
• To encourage people to think outside the box
• To bring people together

Digital/Design/Engineering

• To create a new useful tool 
• To use a tool in a novel, unique way
• To make a fun and useful tool
• To help people interact in meaningful ways

Community Project

• To spark meaningful conversations among people
• To make an impact in someone’s life or in the world
• To be more honest with myself and others
• To make new friends

General Purposes: 

• To create something I’ve never seen before
• To push my creative boundaries
• To become a more disciplined creative
• To have more fun with my work 
• To challenge the status quo 
• To create an additional source of revenue