Extrinsic motivation concerns doing something for an outcome beyond the activity itself, such as payment, recognition, a qualification or avoiding disapproval.
There is nothing automatically suspect about wanting to be paid. Rent has a remarkably practical attitude towards creative fulfilment.
The useful question is what happens when the outside reward becomes the only reason to continue, or when pleasing an audience starts deciding what you make before you’ve chosen it.
You can want the work and the reward.
You enjoy designing clothes. You also want customers, income and a business that lasts. Those wishes can support each other.
But suppose the collection becomes something you don’t like because you can no longer tolerate anyone saying no. A different kind of pressure has entered the making.
The Creative Hero’s Journey explores what you want to create alongside the recognition, security and belonging you may hope it will provide. You don’t need a purified motive. You need enough honesty to know what you’re choosing.
Intrinsic motivation considers interest in the activity itself. Approval examines the point at which encouragement becomes permission you can’t act without.
The Center for Self-Determination Theory’s introduction to Self-Determination Theory explains different forms of motivation, including the importance of whether an action feels chosen or controlled. It is more nuanced than dividing every ambition into noble and selfish.