I liked this video from Jon Makes Beats. The TL;DR of the video is that boredom is the key to creativity, but most of us these days don’t experience much boredom because of the constant entertainment and stimulation provided by the overexcess of media, such as social media, Spotify, Netflix, etc. So if we want to get more creativity in our lives, we need to allow for more boredom–less stimulation from all the media that’s available to us every second of the day.

One thing Jon mentions at the beginning of the video that really resonated with me is that many of us felt more creative when we were younger (or we think that today). His point is that we felt and were more creative because we had more time during the day when we weren’t stimulated and entertained. So we were alone with our thoughts, or at the very least, our brains were resting (being constantly stimulated takes energy). Because of that, we either were coming up with ideas during these unstimulated times or we weren’t consuming energy that made it difficult to be creative when you finally had a chunk of time to make something.

I certainly do have the sense that I was more creative when I was younger. And if I think about how I came up with ideas, what Jon says feels true. I had or took a lot more time for myself when I wasn’t using media to occupy myself, and I didn’t have a specific goal or timeframe in mind. That’s true even when I was in my 20s and in school or working. There was much more time and energy in the day because I didn’t fill all the gaps between my responsibilities with taxing stuff like news and social media. I could either jot down a song lyric, sing a few notes into my voicemail, or re-energize my brain.

Today, this is less of an issue for me musically because I focus full-time on music now. But! It does show up in a couple of ways. The first is that I end my days mentally exhausted (which I have a hard time admitting because what I’m doing is “fun” and not “work” so I shouldn’t be tired at the end of the day like someone who is making a financial contribution to the world….yeah, not a great way of thinking, but it’s true). The second is that I am not creative when it comes to the other content I “should” be creating—okay, even want to create. That’s stuff like blog posts, newsletters, and workshop/course material. Hell, it applies to even just journaling and writing a work log. I have a really hard time “having” and documenting non-music thoughts.

I have been telling myself over the past several months that I should write at least as much as I read news and view social media. Like, say, for every article I read, I have to type something, even just a phrase or two. Imagine how many more ideas I’d have written down! I’ve never remotely come close to doing this. But even just forgoing reading and scrolling and sitting there thinking or meditating. I will feel so much better at the end of the day. And, without a doubt, some ideas will pop into my head that I can write down (instead of sitting myself down and telling myself “write, now!”).

So, I’m going to challenge myself to consume less and write more—but specifically, just write down incomplete sentences and thoughts—just words and phrases and such. I think that will make me feel more creative, result in more creativity, or at least help me maintain my energy for musical creation.