[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Creativity]], [[Self-expression]] - People: [[Thomas Frank]] - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAWe4Qq-Rp0 --- ## Summary - [[Creativity is just connecting things]]. - [[Cultivate a wealth of experiences, a collection of dots for your creativity to connect]]. - "Most folks don't have enough experiences." [[Without enough dots to connect, it's very difficult to create things that are better than average]]. - Explore interests and study people who've inspired you. This curiosity driven process of discovery crafts your map of meaning, which reveals itself as you explore your world of interests and yourself. - Do not allow doubt to constrain your curiosity, self discovery, or self expression. - Do not allow labels to dictate who are you. [[Labels are for cans, not people]]. ## Notes ### Connecting the dots - **Explore**. Create your own [[Personal micro-culture]]. - [[Creativity is just connecting things]]. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something." - "It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and **synthesize new things**. And the reason they were able to do that was that they've had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people." - [[Without enough dots to connect, it's very difficult to create things that are better than average]]. - To be and feel inspired to create inspirational work, you must explore and experience. You must [[Cultivate a wealth of experiences, a collection of dots for your creativity to connect]]. - [[Adventure is out there]]. Make exploration instinct. Collect knowledge and experiences. Remember them. Think about them. After a while, these experiences, these dots, may just connect themselves. ### Broaden your scope - Horizontally expand the knowledge, information, and experiences you collect. Gather a diversity of dots. - "The more you experience, the wider the variety of things, the better your creative output is going to be." ### How to start - "Study the people you admire". - Follow your interests. Don't force exploration. - Inspiration and insight can be found by exploring things that inspired the person who inspired you. - This deconstructive exploratory process crafts your personal map of the world of interests. A map that slowly reveals itself the deep and wider you explore. The people you admire act as sign posts that help guide you on this personal journey of creative and self discovery. - [[All knowledge ultimately means self-knowledge]]. - Exploitation is not exploration. Exploitation is the continuous and predictable cycle of experiencing the familiar. Exploration is an unpredictable venture of experience something new - [[Familiar and the strange | the familiar in the strange]]. - This is the [exploration/exploitation trade-off](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-armed_bandit). - "As creatives, we have to be constantly exploring." - [[You can always learn something from anything]]. It's a process of humility and curiosity. To be humble enough to recognize that you may not know enough or that you be wrong. To be curious enough to explore and seek a truth which may ultimately become [[Live and honour your truth | your truth]]. [[Always learn. Humility. Keep working hard.]] - Do not allow fear, doubt, or ego to prevent you from exploring - from taking opportunities offered. Experiences in of themselves do not dictate your character. Your character is defined by the meaning you've derived from those experiences - from connecting those experiences together. ### Labels - [[Labels are for cans, not people]]. - (External) Labels cause pressure. The pressure to align with that label, the perception and expectation of others. This pressure may cause you to limit how you explore and how you express yourself. - Do not reject opportunity simply because of **what you think others might think**. - What others think of you based on what you think of yourself. There is what others actually think, and there is what you think others may think. - Do not let the perception of other stop you from expressing yourself - [[Always be yourself | to be yourself]]. ## Original ![[This is why you don't feel inspired-1.jpg]] ![[This is why you don't feel inspired-2.jpg]] ![[This is why you don't feel inspired-3.jpg]] ![[This is why you don't feel inspired-4.jpg]]