5.26.24

Why are some creative projects so obsessively compelling while others should feel exciting, but you have to force yourself to work on them?

Among other things, I’ve been reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book, Be Useful, which is mostly a highly amusing motivational book in which Arnold brags about his life. He keeps talking about the importance of developing “your vision” for your life and what it should be.

And this got me to thinking about why certain projects, creative endeavors, or times in your life you (I at least) become manically obsessed with a particular thing I’m doing and other times have to really force yourself to focus and make something happen.

Why do certain projects become obsessions while others don’t?

There are games I’ve made (Brute Force, MCOC, Disney Mirrorverse, many others) where I worked 14 hours a day and still had a notebook by my bed filled with scribbled To Do notes every single night. There are books I’ve written that achieved the same level of obsession. Sometimes companies can be that way too; there were certainly weeks at a time when I gave almost every waking moment to, say, creating the Digital Games division and strategy at a company. But then, there are other projects that languish, where there’s always something else more interesting to devote time to, or where putting one foot in front of the other and getting ‘her done (as the Canadians would say) feels like WORK. Why?

Why do certain visions turn us (sometimes many of us) into devotees and others may be interesting, cool even, lucrative, etc. but just don’t capture our imaginations and become an obsessive vision like the Governator is talking about?