Motivating your creativity through the fear of death

Why does the death of loved ones cause us to think about what’s really important?

Why do funerals suddenly motivate us to start making significant changes in our lives?

What is it about terrorist attacks that somehow compel us to go find our true purpose?

It’s the perfectly human response to existential crisis. Evolutionary psychologists call it terror management theory. When we think about death, it increases our drive for meaning. Realizing that our mortality is inevitable and unpredictable, people counter their biological realities with more durable forms of meaning and value. Whatever it takes to reestablish their sense of symbolic unity.

When the global pandemic killed over a million people, it also triggered a surge in anxiety across the globe. If there was ever a doubt that the fear of death motivates much of human behavior, coronavirus reminded us of the truth of our human condition.

That’s why man’s search for meaning reached record levels in response to the pandemic. Life’s fragility was never more salient. The clock was loudly ticking on opportunities and relationships. No wonder so many people existentially reengaged for the first time in years.

Think back to how many video calls you had with old friends. Think back to how good it felt to wave hello to neighbors each day. Think back to how much fulfillment you got from simple acts like cooking dinner with your family or going to the park.

In fact, how many major life decisions did you push into high gear during the pandemic? Wasn’t it wonderful?

It’s interesting, terror management sounds like this morbid theory, but it’s actually quite beautiful. Because there are few things that motivate humans more than the fear of death.

And so, we use that tension in the service of our wildest dreams and cherished values.

During my own shelter in place order, I actually decided to launch a software platform. It was a project that had been floating around in my head for many years, but the existential crisis helped crystallize my intention behind it.

Here’s what the conversation inside my head sounded like.

Scott, what are you waiting for? Now is the perfect time to build and launch something. See if you can devise a new way to make a useful contribution to the world. See if you can scale your talents and your level of impact with something extraordinary. Hell, what else are you going to do? Everyone’s gone and everything’s closed. You have nowhere to go and all the time in the world to get there.

Five months later, my personal creativity management software launched. Prolific became the world’s first platform that helps creative professionals troubleshoot all of their issues with ideating, organizing and executing their ideas.

It’s the project of which I’m so proud in my career, and I know it’s going to change the world, because it’s already changed mine.

This is the kind of work that’s possible when you manage terror creatively.

How will you motivate yourself with the knowledge of your own mortality?