What’s Fun Got to Do With It?

I was sitting in an art workshop a while ago when the instructor called out, “Remember to have fun! If you’re not having fun, why are you doing it?”

The question has stuck with me.

I do have fun while creating art. I also have frustration, uncertainty and sometimes even boredom. If I was motivated purely by having fun, I would have packed my brushes away long ago.

So why do I create art if not just for fun? 

I create because I love exploring materials, techniques, and ideas. I create to help make sense of my thoughts and emotions. I create as a way to communicate ideas.

Exploring, discovering, building understanding, connecting with others – these are the things that give meaning to my art making. These are the things that keep me coming back to the studio even when the work is not fun in the moment.

Many artists share these same drives.

On exploration and discovery as drivers of the creative process, sculptor Louise Bourgeois said:

I don't know where I'm going until I get there. I never plan a painting, drawing, or sculpture beforehand... I want to discover as I'm working. I want to be surprised.

On art as a way of making sense, writer Joan Didion said:

I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.

And on the motivating desire to communicate and connect, George Saunders says:

To me, fiction is the ultimate form of ‘doing something.’ An idea or notion or image leaves the writer’s mind, goes directly into the reader’s, and has the potential to change what it finds there.

Wired to explore, learn, and connect

The drive to explore, to make sense, and to connect are not specific to artists. They are, in fact, fundamental human drives.

We are a species whose survival depends on information, understanding, and social connections. And in order to occupy that unique evolutionary niche, we have developed both the capacity and the motivation to meet those needs.

Consider the very human desire to explore. That drive has been enabled by the evolution of clever hands and big brains. And it has been ignited by the evolution of an inquisitive disposition. We spend our babyhood exploring with mouth, hand, eyes, and ears. We spend our childhood exploring both physical and conceptual territory though constant play and experimentation.

In adulthood, our desire to explore often looks different, but it is still with us. We might, for instance, spend less time in pure play and more time exploring specific topics or places related to our professions and other interests.

Given the ingenious evolutionary system of rewards, it is no surprise that both the striving toward and the meeting of our fundamental needs have positive consequences – satisfaction, happiness, purpose, joy, and yes even fun. It Is also no surprise that when these needs are not being met, we might feel the opposite of those things.

What is surprising, given how important meeting our needs are to our well-being, is how easy it is to forget about them. Maybe this is because our core needs don’t lend themselves to metrics. How do you quantify exploration? How do you place a value on time spent discovering something or connecting with others?

It is easier to focus on the things we can count – income, productivity, promotions. But study after study shows that these are not the most important things when it comes to motivation or overall life satisfaction.

In his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink draws on decades of research on human motivation to highlight what is really important to people. The big three – whether at work, at school, or at home – are: Autonomy, or the ability to do and figure things out things on our own; Mastery, the drive to develop and demonstrate our knowledge and skills; and Purpose, the feeling that what we do matters.

When it comes to the larger question of what leads to overall life happiness and satisfaction, studies in positive psychology all point to the same most important thing – strong social relationships and the sense of connection and purpose that they foster.

Paying attention to what matters

If we want to promote well-being – whether in our organizations or ourselves – it’s important to remember what we really need and to create opportunities and environments to meet those needs. How can we encourage and support exploration and discovery? How can we build and nurture social connections? How can we remember to look up from the day to day in order to contemplate our larger purpose?

We can start by measuring our days not just by what we got done or whether we had fun, but by asking ourselves:

What did I explore?

What did I discover?

With whom did I connect?

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