Creative Output

Creativity thrives on consistency, but producing regular creative work is no easy feat. How do you maintain a steady flow of innovative ideas and deliver them on time? How do you get creative ideas? How do you ship consistently? These are NOT original thoughts. This is bringing together different notes I have taken over the past few years on reading. First, let us get into how do you get consistent ideas?

I want to start with the idea of ‘Creativity Faucet‘ shared by Julian + Early work by Paul Graham. First, you need clarity. To get clarity, you must first empty the bad ideas. Let the bad ideas flow and produce improper output. With the feedback, our minds self-correct to give better output. There are no shortcuts. This is the Way! (sneaky Star Wars reference.)

Start with a dumb idea and write a stupid essay. The ones who do it are still greater than the ones who haven’t yet started. A good hack for refining dumb ideas is to think why the dumb idea would work and write a piece defending it. We get a new angle, which we can expand. The harshest critic to overcome is ourselves. Let’s be a little kinder and not overestimate our work's importance & urgency. When we think we have done something important, imperfection takes a backseat. When you save a life, you don’t think about the sloppy CPR you did.

Still unsure! The best way is to find a group of like-minded people and start a group challenge. Working in a group provides a support system that keeps us on track. Tell the world what you plan to do and stick to it. Consistent output definitely leads to quality output.

Build the urgency with challenges and join a tribe with a similar creative skill you wish to excel in. The next step is determining how we overcome creative blocks and continuously generate ideas.

Here is advice from some creators:

• Better inputs give rise to better outputs. What we consume influences what we create. Most of us are not smart enough to be brilliant and original.

• Choose the right information stream. Be extremely selective on whom we follow on social media and what we consume. By staying extremely close to the right minds, we are not far away from a good idea. An idea could be someone else's, but our interpretation is unique.

• Clear the mind. Still, if the mind is confused, taking a stroll is a good idea. Plug out from all distractions.

• Switch the activity. If you are unable to focus, switching to a lighter task is a good idea. A new insight into an unrelated task might spark a creativity wave.

• Find the source of the block. Introspect why we are stuck. Is it unrelated to a lack of ideas? Use the HALT method. Think about whether we are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.

• Find a remedy to the emotion and try again.

  - If hungry, eat something.

  - If angry, control your breathing.

  - If lonely, talk to a partner or phone a friend.

  - If tired, take a power nap.

• Do a mechanical act. When stuck, try doing other mechanical acts like reorganizing the notes or editing posts in progress. The dopamine effect of doing something might jumpstart creativity.

The Bhagavad-Gita says, “It is better to follow your own path, however imperfectly, than to follow someone else’s perfectly.”

Innovation >> Imitation in products.

We might not create a great product, but we can create a product we care about. True learning (as opposed to education) is a voluntary experience that requires tension and discomfort (the persistent feeling of incompetence as we get better at a skill). We can never achieve creative excellence. It is a journey.

You are not your work. Your work is a series of choices made with generous intent to cause something to happen. More importantly, it is a series of choices on what to exclude. You shipped your work. You made it to the beginning. What happens now?

Just add - 'You shipped a product' to the beginning. And refine it. OR start a new work. Or maybe go to the very beginning and RESTART!