Introducing The Creating & Consuming Journal
For the last 5 years or so, I have often told people that my favorite phrase and in some ways my mantra is:
“Stop Consuming, Starting Creating.”
This provocative message is meant to overemphasize the importance of creation. Even though I consider myself a creator, I often feel that the pull of the world wants us to consume and consume and consume. More facebook posts, more HBO documentaries, more Chipotle, more niche sports games, more advertisements, “they” simply want you to consume more.
And to create, you have to fight and fight hard against the magnetic pull of an Instagram Feed, that new NYT best selling book, one more episode on Netflix, or that regular season Baseball game. Everytime I see and think of this phrase it feels like a pull back to the good side. A win for creativity in the constant tug of war against the natural pull of consumption.
When I started sharing this phrase with more people, they began to defend of some consumption and said that I was being too harsh. Many argued that the 2 were always linked because without consumption, creation lacks an audience and a purpose. While I still like the dramatic nature of “Stop Consuming, Start Creating”, it did feel blunt when taken literally, and often lead to the wrong interpretation. Which led to the development of a revised version: “Create More. Consume Less” which still holds the same meaning but in less dramatic terms.
Recently however, I have been truly inspired and filled with life from some truly amazing things that I have consumed, and I have com to appreciate the importance of good, quality consumption (that trip to the art museum or killer podcast) as a way to supplement and inspire creation. This lead to a 3rd iteration of my aspirational manta:
“Boundless Creation and Quality Consumption”
The Creating & Consuming Journal
For the next year, or possibly longer, I will be taking a daily log of what I have I have consumed and created each day. My hope is that this will help me to continue to reflect on my goals of boundless creation and quality consumption.
I know that, as a creator, I feel my best and am my happiness when I create regularly. I know this is not true for everyone, but more me this journal will end up being a reflection of who I am and my happiness on a given day.
There are so many ways that we create in our daily lives. Personally and for the exercise of this Creating and Consuming Journal, I will define creating as:
Creating: the act of making something new that didn’t exist on the previous day.
This can be anything from my dinner to wooden table to a great memory to a spreadsheet for work. Although I aspire to be creatively challenged daily, I accept that many, if not most, of the things I will create will not be artistic in nature. I also will not limit this log to things that are purely physical or lasting in nature, but also more ephemeral creations like meals and amazing memories.
I have noticed that despite consuming many things on an average day (news articles, emails, presentations, videos, photos) there are occasionally things that excite and invigorate me. Whether it is a song that brings back a memory, a historical sight seen while traveling or a book that teaches me something, there is something simply different about quality consumption as opposed to our regular daily, drum of content that shows up on our phones.
Quality consumption should do one of the following things:
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
kianamaiart
andulkaphoto
gummygunk