The delicate balance between consumption and creation
Often times I find myself in a creative rut. It’s not so much that I don’t have ideas but more-so that I don’t pursue the ideas that I have. I end up spending time doing things like browsing Twitter (now X), reading Reddit posts, searching through HackerNews, or watching YouTube videos.
I get a lot of value out of each of these things from time to time. Not all the time but enough so that I’m able to rationalize doing it again and again. For instance, when I stumble upon a post on X detailing some great marketing and advertising scheme that a start-up has employed I’m taking in valuable information that I might one day use but, on the other hand, when I’m streaming X to my TV and watching cat videos or the like, I’m probably not making the best use of my time.
Sure, you can argue that down time is important and watching cat videos is some form of stress relief, and I’d be inclined to agree, but I think you get the picture.
As mentioned above, we often times we see things online that spark ideas for grand visions. These are good things to see. It is good to find inspiration and knowledge and I do think that it’s important (at least for me) to look for these things by organically taking in the internet. However, you can’t lose sight of your overarching goal, which is to create.
I’m sure there is an optimal balance between creation and consumption but I wouldn’t want to waste time deriving the numbers. The important thing to keep in mind is, you need to be doing both.