In the United States this past week was our Thanksgiving holiday. For me, there are two things I consume heavily in this November break: carbs and content. The former is something I personally need to cut back on, but the latter can add a lot of value. November and December remind me of the holiday breaks I used to have in school many eons ago. When it’s too cold to touch grass, it’s time to get cozy with movies, TV shows, audio, and reading. The last few days for me was finishing Zone to Win, replaying Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater (a holiday tradition), and re-watching all the seasons of Star Wars - Rebels.

I’ve been taught it’s more important to create content than consume it. The intention of this statement is you don’t want to have your screen time be excessive and put your energy towards creating and building. That’s true, to a point. The quality of your output is what matters, not the quantity.

Content is the creative calories

There are good calories and bad ones—a great metaphor for how you consume content. I am not a dietician and not giving you any health advice, but I’m willing to bet that what your body needs to balance physical and mental health is unique to yourself and you are the driver of those outcomes. This can be applied to creativity. Indulgence can be what you need to get past a mental challenge in your project. Remember, despite what I’m writing, it is completely okay to watch a TV show for pleasure and nothing else.

It’s difficult to create quality content or build something if you are creatively depleted. It would be like working out without proper diet or hydration. The past few days of consuming a lot of content allowed me to collect ideas that have been put aside in the midst of day-to-day work.

Consume content attentively

Binge-watching television shows and doom scrolling alone doesn't guarantee productivity the same way taking notes like a transcription doesn't. Being attentive to the content you're consuming and lead to new directions or ideas you haven't considered.

I'm not saying binge-watching an entire series of a show is going to make you automatically creative. You need to take note and learn from it. As I've been taking it a bit easy these days, I'm accompanying my consumption time by taking notes in Obsidian, sketching out ideas, and keeping it in a backlog of ideas.

If you don’t know where to start, here are a few ideas of consuming content attentively:

• Listen to a podcast about a topic you want to learn more about

• Watch a movie and turn on the director's commentary¹

• Put on a documentary related to a topic you're interested in on

• Go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole

With the right mindset and focus, content consumption is a type of desk research.

Take actionable notes

Creators are world builders, and the more worlds you experience, the more you can incorporate in your own work. Take note of your observations of what lesson you can apply in what you consume.

The 10 things exercise

Here's a simple way to get started. The next time you're watching a TV show or listening to a podcast, write down 10 things you want to research deeper on that were mentioned in the episode. This could be something directly quoted by a person on the series or mentioned passively. The purpose of the exercise is to generate ideas to forward thinking. Podcast episode notes are great examples of this practice. Capture these in your note-taking tool of choice in a place you can revisit them.

This is harder than it looks—give it a try. You can see in the sketch I’ve already started highlighting in blue future topics I can write about.

The next time you find yourself on the couch or in front of a tablet, consider being slightly more attentive in what you’re consuming. It’s a great passive way to collect ideas that can spark your creative outlet.

Tweet of the week

Dr. Julie Gurner @drgurner

Yearly reminder: If you have enough to eat, a warm place to sleep, are fairly healthy, and can pay your bills handily...you are one of the luckiest humans alive. The rest is just details. There is so much to be grateful for - have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

4:16 PM ∙ Nov 24, 2022

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