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If you've lost your creative genius, watch this

Dan Koe34:29Added Aug 31, 2026

Build 2 hour content system in 14 days (writing challenge starts April 7th, join before then): https://stan.store/thedankoe/p/build-a-2hour-content-ecosystem...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. I feel brain fried

  2. 00:00Over the past few weeks, I've just felt completely brain fried. And this just
  3. 00:05happens. It feels like it happens in cycles for me. Like once a year, I go through this period where things just
  4. 00:11pile up. The stressors, the business fires, all these other things, and I
  5. 00:17just feel off. And I'm sure you know that exact feeling. It's like you feel like you're thinking about everything
  6. 00:23and nothing at the same time at any time of the day. And when you try to have a
  7. 00:29good idea or you try to think deeper about something or you try to brainstorm, just nothing's there.
  8. 00:35Nothing comes to mind. And it's not like a normal burnout where you're just emotionally fried. It's just cognitive.
  9. 00:41Like you can't think, you can't generate ideas. And as a creative person, as a creator, that's the worst thing that can
  10. 00:47happen because then like your entire work suffers. The same thing if you're starting a business or you're running a
  11. 00:52business, like you need your most valuable asset is your ability to think. That is your most valuable asset is the
  12. 00:59ability to be creative, which is what this video is about. And it just feels terrible because just a month ago,
  13. 01:06writing a newsletter or an article was a breeze for me. Putting out YouTube videos, putting out content, just ideas
  14. 01:12were flowing in my brain. And that's arguably one of the best feelings for me at least. And the longer this went on,
  15. 01:18the feeling just compounded more. I couldn't stop thinking like, why can't I write? Why can't I have good ideas? I
  16. 01:25have all of these ideas that I can work with, but why can't I remember them? Why can't I think of them? And then the
  17. 01:30final question that you just get to is how do I get that back? How do I get that creative ability back in my head?
  18. 01:36And that's my primary goal with this video. I want to provide a guide for both you and myself. I'm creating this
  19. 01:43more for myself than I am for you to help us return to our most creative
  20. 01:48state. And that's very important as you'll find. My secondary goal is to show you that even if you think you
  21. 01:54aren't a creative person, you can tap into this incredibly enjoyable state of
  22. 02:00consciousness. It's similar to the flow state, but it's potentially more potent. You aren't focused on breezing through a
  23. 02:07set of tasks. You're more so noticing things for the first time. You're seeing a deeper layer of reality that you
  24. 02:15either forgot was there or you didn't know was there in the first place. And it's like a dog who sees grass for the
  25. 02:21first time and they're just sniffing around and they're like, "What is going on? Their dopamine is going crazy." And then my tertiary goal in the last
  26. 02:28section is to provide you with a 7-day protocol that you can return to whenever
  27. 02:33you feel this way so that when you go through the protocol, you hopefully go from feeling brain fried to feeling
  28. 02:39alive again. And it's a very simple protocol. Many people may scoff at it and think that it's too simple and then
  29. 02:45they'll close their minds off to it, which is the opposite of what we're trying to accomplish here. We're trying to accomplish this open state
  30. 02:52creativity, not narrow state stressed focus. And while I say it's simple, it's actually incredibly difficult to do
  31. 02:58because you've accumulated these habits over time that are keeping you in this state. Right? Your state of
  32. 03:04consciousness is a reflection of your behavior over time. And so we need to
  33. 03:09undo that which can be painful. Now the last reason that I'm creating this is because in today's world your creativity
  34. 03:17is the most scarce resource. Anyone can build anything today. Anyone can think
  35. 03:23anything. Anyone can write anything. The people who will win in business, writing, art, and just general quality
  36. 03:30of life as always will be those who can take the most creative path. The path
  37. 03:35that nobody else considered to take. So, that leads to point number one is that you don't have ideas because there's too

  38. You don’t have ideas because there’s too much interference.

  39. 03:42much interference. Now, it kind of pisses me off when people say, "I'm not a creative person." I used to say that
  40. 03:49myself because that statement that people don't actually take the time to think through before stating it, makes
  41. 03:55creativity seem like it's just talent or skill. And sure, it is those things in a
  42. 04:02way because that's what we're talking about here. We're talking about how to refine the skill of creativity by getting back to your creative state.
  43. 04:09It's a skill to be able to sustain a creative state over an extended period of time. So, if you aren't in that
  44. 04:15creative state or you aren't a creative person, so to say, then you just haven't practiced the skill of getting back to
  45. 04:23that state. Because at its core, creativity is just a natural way of being. It's a state of consciousness.
  46. 04:30It's a capacity that everyone has. But that capacity gets buried over time. And
  47. 04:36how does it get buried? It gets buried with anything that narrows your mind
  48. 04:41because creativity is a very open, relaxed state where you see connections, patterns, and possibilities that aren't
  49. 04:49immediately obvious. It's the act of noticing the unnoticed, which is not the
  50. 04:54same as what most think creativity is. And they think that it's creating something from nothing. That nothing is
  51. 05:01already there. It's already raw material you're creating with what's in reality
  52. 05:06and that's a lot of stuff. Now, in my eyes, there are three narrowers of the
  53. 05:12mind. We'll call these the three narrow narrowers of the mind. That one's difficult, but that's what we're calling

  54. Conditioning is the enemy of wonder.

  55. 05:17it. The first is just conditioning. Conditioning is the enemy of wonder. Because when you think of creativity,
  56. 05:23you think of children. You think of your younger self. Because children see the world through such fresh eyes. They
  57. 05:30haven't received the negative feedback yet from their parents or teachers or peers. If a kid were to ask ChatGpt to
  58. 05:38build a teleportation device so that them and their friends can go to Pluto, nobody would bat an eye. They'd just be
  59. 05:45like, "Oh, you're so silly." But if you did that, they'd think you're an idiot and they'd just tell you that's not how
  60. 05:50the world works. You need to be more mature. Now, I'm not saying that that's possible, but receiving negative
  61. 05:56feedback for thinking about imaginary things or creative things is the point
  62. 06:02here. And so, the typical feedback that people receive is just guidance down the default path. And if you stray from the
  63. 06:09default path that was created during industrialization and past generations, then you're scolded. I mean, you go to
  64. 06:15school and you receive grades so that you correct your behavior to fit into
  65. 06:21society more. Like the entire system is just meant to keep you on this one path turning everyone into the same person.
  66. 06:28You must go to school. You must do your best to get a highpaying job. You must praise this God. And if you disobey,
  67. 06:35you're going to hell. And if you don't get a high-paying job, then you aren't respected by society. So by the time
  68. 06:40most people turn 20 years old, they're the exact same as everyone else. The same thoughts, the same beliefs, the
  69. 06:46same actions. They're just going down the life path that was assigned to them, not the one they chose or created.
  70. 06:52Creativity requires holding beliefs loosely and entertaining an idea without immediately rejecting or demonizing it
  71. 06:59as everyone does on social media because it drives engagement and facilitates group think. Now the second narrower of

  72. Productivity as a priority is a losing game.

  73. 07:06the mind is productivity as a priority and that is a losing game because when
  74. 07:12the nineto-ive job the concept of the nineto-ive job became a thing just a few hundred years ago during
  75. 07:18industrialization nineto-ive jobs haven't been around that long before people directed their own work. They
  76. 07:23were artisans, farmers, apprentices, things of that nature. But when the nineto-ive job became a thing,
  77. 07:30productivity became the highest value. It became God. And then everyone became
  78. 07:35a specialist in a factory that knew one piece of the puzzle. They knew how to place one piece into the puzzle because
  79. 07:42if they understood how to create the entire image themselves, they would be an entrepreneur, not an employee. The
  80. 07:49trap that I fall into and you probably fall into and everyone falls into is that they just feel like they're falling
  81. 07:55behind. I mean, have you seen Claude on Twitter? Anthropic just pushing out updates. It just feels like we're in
  82. 08:02this speed tunnel or something that feels like you just can't keep up. I mean, I'm building a software and we
  83. 08:10made the mistake of competing with AI companies in general and we just feel like we constantly have to keep up. And
  84. 08:15so, we're taking a step back and looking at what's going to be here no matter what. What are the human things that we
  85. 08:22need to help facilitate like creativity so that we aren't just constantly stuck
  86. 08:27in this hype cycle? And even if you're not building a company, you just feel like you're behind. And if you're being
  87. 08:33real, you're never going to catch up. You're always going to feel that way. So what's the only way out? Creativity. And
  88. 08:39the thing with always feeling behind is that there's always this deadline. There's always some kind of deadline
  89. 08:45there. And if you know what a deadline does, it's very good for productivity. It's a productivity hack if you choose
  90. 08:52it, if you implement it yourself. But if there's just this invisible deadline in your life all the time that just leads
  91. 08:58to a constantly stressed and narrowed mind. And that's just the thing. If your life isn't centered around efficiency
  92. 09:06and optimization in today's world, everyone just thinks you're useless because that's the normal way to live.
  93. 09:12In other words, if you aren't a robot, you're useless. But that's exactly what
  94. 09:17creativity demands. It demands useless wandering, true boredom, or creating
  95. 09:22space for the right idea to emerge that will take you much further than the productivity bros stuck in the same race
  96. 09:28as everyone else. People who schedule every hour of their day don't stumble

  97. Infinite input and zero processing time.

  98. 09:34onto anything. Now, the third narrower of the mind is having infinite input
  99. 09:40with zero processing time. So, I want you to think about fitness or health. It's kind of obvious that your
  100. 09:46metabolism can only go so fast. And if you're in niche circles on social media, there's always this group that's just
  101. 09:52trying to speed up their metabolism. Speed up their metabolism. And I guess they get it to work to some extent, but
  102. 09:57there's a limit. Like, you aren't just going to burn 10,000 calories a day without running or doing cardio for that
  103. 10:04amount of time. And then you're just going to drive yourself into the ground. Why would you even do that? Nobody even wants to eat that much food. But it's
  104. 10:11obvious that you have a certain level of metabolism, how much you can burn in a day. And if you eat over that, if you
  105. 10:18overeat food, then you get fat. Of course, this is over an extended period of time. But most people don't realize
  106. 10:24that this applies to the mind as well. You have a set amount of information
  107. 10:29that you can digest and metabolize and actually use. And that's the problem. People feel like they always have to
  108. 10:35keep up. So they feel like if they don't listen to 10 podcasts a week that they
  109. 10:40won't be able to keep up. They'll be useless. And now there's a time for consuming information or researching
  110. 10:46information, a curated set of information that helps spark more ideas.
  111. 10:51But if it isn't kept under tight control, then you overeat, you over consume. Now I write content. I write
  112. 10:58newsletters. I write tweets. That's like my foundation. I love writing. That's it. If I don't write in the morning, my
  113. 11:05day kind of sucks. And I know that I shouldn't bank everything on being able to write good ideas in the morning, but
  114. 11:10that's just kind of how it is. I really like writing. I love the process of capturing ideas, internalizing them,
  115. 11:16thinking about them, researching them, strengthening them, stress testing them, and then putting them out into the world
  116. 11:21to see if they help people, and then getting feedback so it refineses it further. I mean, in today's world, like,
  117. 11:27isn't that just incredible that you can talk about your interests and other people can find it interesting and then
  118. 11:33if you do the right things, you can turn that into a source of income. It's pretty freaking cool if you ask me. But
  119. 11:38with that, the way I used to think is that I need to consume information in
  120. 11:43order to have ideas so that I can put out into the world. So, if I struggle to write or to have ideas, I felt like I
  121. 11:50just wasn't consuming good information, which is kind of true. But creativity is rarely an input problem. I love the
  122. 11:57saying that you can only cook with what's in the fridge, but most people's fridges are just overflowing with like
  123. 12:03candy and ice cream and trash. Now, as an aside, I'm doing a writing challenge that probably starts in a little over

  124. The Next Challenge: Build A 2-Hour Content System

  125. 12:10one week by the time this video goes out. It's going to be called build a 2hour content system in 14 days. It's 14
  126. 12:17days long. You get 14 AI prompts, so one every day. And these aren't AI prompts
  127. 12:23that write posts for you or write newsletters for you. We're not that desperate yet. They help refine your
  128. 12:29thinking. They help stress test ideas. They help you learn. They help you gain clarity on what you actually want to do,
  129. 12:35what you actually want to write about. They help you learn how to structure your ideas in a way that captures
  130. 12:40attention and becomes more valuable so that you don't just put out fortune cookie tweets and act like you're Marcus
  131. 12:47Aurelius when nobody's going to care about you because you're not Marcus Aurelius. The reason I'm running this is because I I just need that intensive
  132. 12:55challenge. I'm going to be doing it with you. And it's meant to get your creative juices flowing. And you'll also understand why I'm creating this in the
  133. 13:01very last section of this video. Because in order to be creative, you need something to create. So, by the end of
  134. 13:06the challenge, you'll have some kind of brand, an understanding of what your unique voice is, a batch of non-slop
  135. 13:13social posts, and the first draft or even the first published piece of a newsletter, article, Substack, whatever.
  136. 13:21And since X articles are doing really well right now, and articles, long form writing is a moat in today's world
  137. 13:27because AI can't really replicate it. It's never been a better time to start writing, especially authentically. So, I
  138. 13:33would join before the challenge starts using the link in the description and I hope to see you in there. Now, point

  139. You’re not bored, you’re overstimulated.

  140. 13:38number two, you're not bored, you're overstimulated. And now, I say this because boredom is how you really tap
  141. 13:45into creativity in a creative state. It's how you get ideas to just pop into your head. But then people say that
  142. 13:51they're bored all the time and they're not creative. And that's the thing. Being chronically overcaffeinated and
  143. 13:57overstimulated is not boredom. You're so fried mentally that you've gone all the way off the deep end and then you
  144. 14:05associate that with boredom because things that would previously give you euphoria or enjoyment don't even impact
  145. 14:13you anymore. So you just you're bored all the time because literally nothing can excite you. And so you quite
  146. 14:19literally can't go any further away from true boredom. You have to go back. And
  147. 14:24so true boredom after you go through your withdrawal period does a few things. First is that boredom is a

  148. Boredom provides a gateway to novelty.

  149. 14:31gateway into novelty, novel ideas, new things. So many of you know Carl Young,
  150. 14:36OG psychologist, but he harped on the importance of shadow work, which is confronting the uncomfortable aspects of
  151. 14:43ourselves that we typically avoid. And sitting with boredom does just this. It activates breakthrough insights when the
  152. 14:50rational mind stops trying to solve everything. And an important thing here, whether you're trying to be creative or
  153. 14:56just trying to get out of a rut, is that true boredom sets the scene for three
  154. 15:01flow triggers. And what I mean by that is you're more likely to enter this intense period of flow, like this monk
  155. 15:08mode, so to say, where you're just making progress non-stop. Because in order to do that, you do need a creative
  156. 15:14idea. You need this influx. You need good ideas, idea flow, because you need to you need something to build. So those
  157. 15:20three flow triggers are one deep embodiment which is just being present with discomfort, two novelty because
  158. 15:27boredom forces you to seek new healthier stimulation and three unpredictability
  159. 15:32which is not knowing what will emerge from the void. So if you don't know what you should do with your life, maybe you
  160. 15:38should do nothing. And I mean actually nothing, not the default nothing that everyone else falls into. The second

  161. The brain will upregulate dopamine receptors when deprived.

  162. 15:44thing that true boredom helps facilitate is that the brain upregulates dopamine
  163. 15:49receptors when it's deprived. Hideonic adaptation is your psychological thermostat. No matter how high or low
  164. 15:57the temperature goes, it always tries to return to the set point. Now, this creates what psychologists call the
  165. 16:02hyonic treadmill. I'm sure you've heard of it before, where you're always running toward the next source of pleasure, but the satisfaction never
  166. 16:08lasts. Each experience becomes your new normal, requiring more intense stimulation to achieve the same
  167. 16:15emotional high. But when you deprive yourself of pleasure, the opposite happens. It's a hydonic reversal. So
  168. 16:22slowly, then rapidly, simple pleasures become enjoyable again. And you've noticed this. I'm sure you've noticed it
  169. 16:28before. You just haven't registered it as something that you can actually do and control. And when this happens, it's
  170. 16:34like you notice the detail in the sky again. Or when you have a good meal, you notice that you can like pick apart the
  171. 16:41flavors. You're not just pounding down food and like, "This is so good." You have a well-cooked meal and you're like, "Oh, is that a is that a hint of
  172. 16:48rosemary?" You feel more sophisticated. In other words, life becomes electric as

  173. You don’t need motivation, you need clarity.

  174. 16:53it should be. Now, the third thing that boredom helps facilitate is that you don't need motivation, you need clarity.
  175. 16:58So, a quote from Naval to nail this nail in the coffin. All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to
  176. 17:05sit quietly in a room alone. So boredom creates space for sensemaking. That is
  177. 17:11processing and integrating experience. So if you're consuming too much information, you just need to stop. Now
  178. 17:17on to the third section that you've been waiting for, which is the 7-day protocol to slow the [ __ ] down for those who want
  179. 17:23to feel alive again. Cuz I'm sure you get it by now. Creativity is important and you should probably prioritize it
  180. 17:29more. But how how do you actually prioritize this thing? And it's the same way you get results in anything. We look
  181. 17:35at the problem which is being mentally overweight or mentally bloated or overstimulated and then we design a
  182. 17:42system that results in the alleviation of those things. And true change is
  183. 17:47behavior change. The only way to solve a problem for good is to change your own behavior. And so that sounds kind of obvious, but a lot of the times you
  184. 17:53don't notice your own problem. So that's why a video like this can be helpful because it can shine a light of awareness on something you were blind to
  185. 18:01before. And sure, you can ask ChatGpt for this stuff, but you can't ask ChatGpt what you don't know to ask. Now,
  186. 18:07we don't need a full dopamine detox like I've talked about in a previous video, but we do need to commit. We need to
  187. 18:12commit for one week. So, that's my challenge to you. And as I said, this is very simple. I'm going to go through it and you're be like, h, yeah, nah. So
  188. 18:21people are going to think that they're above it and that's an enemy of creativity. So no matter how simple you
  189. 18:27think this is, just [ __ ] do it because that's one reason you aren't very creative. So days one and two,

  190. Day 1-2: Reduce The Input Fast

  191. 18:33tomorrow and the next day, you're going to reduce input fast. And this is going to be the equivalent of intermittent
  192. 18:39fasting for your mind. We're not doing a 7-day fast, but we're doing some kind of intermittent fasting, some kind of
  193. 18:46deprival. So the first thing, impose strict time blocks on your workday. If you can, you want to limit work to four
  194. 18:53hours a day for this next week. And if you can't do that, that's fine. Just set an alarm that marks the end of your
  195. 19:00work. And when it goes off, you're done. You're not doing one last task. Your job is to not think about work or
  196. 19:07productivity when you're not working. You're practicing the skill of letting something feel unfinished without
  197. 19:13anxiety or without the stress of feeling like you're not keeping up because you're not doing anything when you're
  198. 19:20not at work anyways. Second thing is to cut out your primary input source. It's like the junk food in the cabinet at
  199. 19:26night. You want to pick the one source you reach for the most mindlessly and then eliminate that. So this could be
  200. 19:32the podcast on your commute. Could be the scroll before bed or in the morning. Could also be the news in the morning if
  201. 19:38people still watch news nowadays. And just replace it with nothing. Sit in silence. Listen for an idea. And the
  202. 19:45third thing, as many could have guessed, is to go on a walk. Not because it will do anything magical for you just yet,
  203. 19:51but because ideas are caught in motion. So don't use any headphones and even leave your phone at home if you have to.
  204. 19:58This walk won't do much for you yet since it may be your first time. But just trust the process. So that's it.
  205. 20:04Day one and two. three simple changes. And psychologically, removing constant input allows your brain's default mode
  206. 20:10network, which is the brain's wandering system, to fire. This is the network responsible for random insight,
  207. 20:16self-reflection, and imagining the future. It cannot be active while you're consuming. Now, days three and four,

  208. Day 3-4: Digest What’s Already There

  209. 20:22we're going to digest the information that's already there, and we're going to practice digesting information in
  210. 20:28general. So, now that you've created space, it may feel like a flood of ideas
  211. 20:33are coming in. not just ideas, but information in general. It's going to feel kind of chaotic because your mind
  212. 20:39is opening up. It's starting to let things in that have just been there for a long time. You're going to notice
  213. 20:45unfinished thoughts. You might remember things. You're going to notice suppressed feelings or random
  214. 20:50connections or just ideas you forgot existed. So during this phase, what we're going to do as we're digesting
  215. 20:56this information is we're going to try to notice the deeper layers of reality. So the first thing is to read one
  216. 21:03chapter of a book slowly, like way too slowly. Like you feel like you aren't doing anything because you aren't trying
  217. 21:09to finish the book, right? You don't have the goal, the productive goal of finishing x amount of books in a year.
  218. 21:15You're not even trying to learn something. You're just trying to simply notice when a sentence makes you stop
  219. 21:21and think. You're not reading past it. When it does, you just put the book down. You sit with why that line hit
  220. 21:26you. You think about it. And in my eyes, this is the best way to read in general. Like you don't have to finish books and
  221. 21:33you don't have to try to do it quickly because you're hoping that someone will care that you finished it quickly. Just
  222. 21:39get what you need and put the book down. That one idea will impact you more than the entire book if you actually think
  223. 21:45about it. So you're going to do that once a day. Do it in the morning. Just like start the day with something like
  224. 21:51that because then the rest of your day will be a bit more creative. Now if you want to stack this with number two,
  225. 21:57here's what number two is. You can do this right after and that's sit with nothing for 10 minutes. You can call it
  226. 22:03meditation, sure, but I don't want you to use a meditation app or any guided breathing technique. Just sit somewhere
  227. 22:09and let your mind do whatever it wants. It will be chaotic at first, but that's the digestion happening. Don't do
  228. 22:15anything with it. Just sit. And now the third thing, keep going on a walk. One walk a day or two or however many. Same
  229. 22:22rules. No headphones or any stimulation. But this time, try to actually see things. You've passed by these things a
  230. 22:28hundred times, but have you noticed the detail in the sidewalk? Have you noticed the structure of the trees branches or
  231. 22:34the vastness of the sky? And in terms of looking at the sky, I bet you didn't even look up the last walk. So, what
  232. 22:40we're trying to do here is release the grip that you have on your subconscious, which is the thing responsible for kind
  233. 22:46of processing background tasks and surfacing those aha moments. And the best way to do this is just stepping
  234. 22:53away from task oriented work. And if those moments of insight or those aha
  235. 22:58moments allow you to do less but higher leveraged work that gets more results,
  236. 23:04then aren't you being more productive by not trying to be productive? Aren't you

  237. Day 5-6: Become Interested In Life Again

  238. 23:10getting more done by not working? Now, for day five and six, the goal or the
  239. 23:15intention is to just become interested in life again. Because something I think about often when people say, "Oh, I just
  240. 23:22don't find anything interesting." Right? When I was a kid, at a certain age, like people ask, "Oh, what are you interested
  241. 23:27in?" And I think, "Well, I guess the gym, I guess this, I guess this." But no, not really anything. And now I can't
  242. 23:33help but wonder like, "Haven't you looked around?" Like, "I'm looking at a camera." Like, it's so weird. I I know
  243. 23:39it sounds stupid to think this way, but that's exactly what I talked about at the beginning of this thing. Like, allow
  244. 23:44yourself to romanticize things a bit. Like, this camera, this piece of technology is just incredible. I don't
  245. 23:50know anything about it. I don't know how to recreate one. it it's a work of art. It's a work of genius and it's mass-
  246. 23:56prodduced at scale and it allows me to talk to you like asynchronously. And if
  247. 24:02I just let my mind continue to go down that rabbit hole and don't let any beliefs or like thinking this is just an
  248. 24:09immature line of thinking, if I don't let that stop me, then I get to some kind of idea. I start thinking about how
  249. 24:16is how it was done. How can I replicate that? How can I learn about this thing? How can I apply something in this camera
  250. 24:23to my business? Or even that's like going down the productive line of thinking, but just let yourself go
  251. 24:28crazy. And that's the thing is like your mind and my mind at times is just so occupied with meaningless [ __ ] that we
  252. 24:35don't think anything is interesting when all of life is interesting. So by now in
  253. 24:41this protocol, the mental fog in your mind should be lifting. You feel a bit sharper and the colors are a bit more
  254. 24:48vivid if you actually try to notice them and small things feel meaningful again. You walk outside and you just finally
  255. 24:54like enjoy a breath of fresh air. When was the last time you enjoyed a breath of fresh air? So, three things for these
  256. 25:00days, five and six. First, trust that ideas will come back. What I mean is that you should resist the urge to take
  257. 25:07notes on everything. If it's important, it will find its way back to you. When I'm talking with my co-founders on this,
  258. 25:13when we're building a software in order to capture ideas or to have ideas, I often think about this when I jot down
  259. 25:20ideas, like if they're more than 7 days old, I'm not going to go back to them. Like, I'm not going to remember them.
  260. 25:25And if it's important, it will find its way back to the top of my notes. And I used to worry about that, but now I'm
  261. 25:31just like, oh, whatever. Yeah, it'll come back. We're in a different state now where that idea doesn't matter
  262. 25:36anymore. So, I want you to practice not writing something down for now. Now, I'm not saying that's a worthless activity,
  263. 25:41but just stay in the stream of consciousness for the 7-day protocol. Don't reach for your own phone and just
  264. 25:47learn to trust your own mind. Now, the second thing is to have one real conversation. No catching up for 5
  265. 25:54minutes before your next meeting. No networking to form a business connection that feels fake. We're not trying to
  266. 26:00perform here. We're trying to remove the performative act. So, you want to listen to other people's perspectives and
  267. 26:06attempt to be as present as possible. and your brain may just light up. And the last thing, extend the walk. And you

  268. Day 7: Create With What’s Emerged

  269. 26:13might find that you don't want to stop. Now, day seven is to finally create with what emerged. You're going to create
  270. 26:19something. And this is actually going to be a part of the next video, which is why writing an essay is such a powerful
  271. 26:26practice, why it's something that you should probably do. Because an essay doesn't start with a conclusion. You
  272. 26:32figure out the conclusion as you write. It's a way of figuring out what you think about things. An article on the
  273. 26:38other hand for the sake of giving distinction while these things can overlap in many ways it starts with the
  274. 26:43topic it starts with the conclusion you map out the structure and you like fill it in and it's like informative in a
  275. 26:50sense and now why we waited for 7 days to actually create something is because most people try to create from a
  276. 26:56depleted state either a depleted state or just a overstimulated state and then everything just feels forced and I know
  277. 27:03this feeling well because I've written a newsletter I've written articles I've writt I've created content for the past 5 years consistently. Long form content
  278. 27:10I've done short form for longer than that. But this last month, like I talked about, it just felt forced. I didn't
  279. 27:16have anything to write about because I was in this overstimulated state. And I've had many times throughout my
  280. 27:21career, so to say, where I felt depleted, where I haven't had anything to write, but I tried to force it out
  281. 27:27anyways because I wasn't in this creative way of living. So now that we've spent six days creating space,
  282. 27:35processing information and letting connections form, we can actually create from a place of abundance now. So two
  283. 27:40things here. First, make something with no plan. Write, draw, record a 20minute
  284. 27:45voice note or cook without a recipe. The only rule is no rules. No strategic
  285. 27:51thinking or trying to find the perfect angle here. Just start a thread and follow it. Now the second thing is don't
  286. 27:57share it. I know this is antithetical to everything that I preach, but we need to remember what it's like to not have
  287. 28:04silent opinions influencing your direction. Notice how it feels to have made something that's yours. And then
  288. 28:11after at least 24 hours, then you have my permission, not that you need my permission, to share it. Post it
  289. 28:17somewhere. Be my guest. And if you enjoy that practice and you don't know what to post or share or how to do it, then
  290. 28:24again, I'd recommend joining the writing or content challenge that starts very soon. Link in the description for that.
  291. 28:30But it's to build a 2hour content system in 14 days with 14 AI prompts to help
  292. 28:36you do that faster and more creatively and not just have it write everything for you. Now, what we're doing on that
  293. 28:42seventh day is we're separating generative thinking from evaluative thinking. So, normally this happens in
  294. 28:48tandem. Like when you're writing an article or a newsletter intentionally, you're trying to produce novel ideas and
  295. 28:54like criticize them and edit them at the same time. But when you do that, you suppress the generative thinking's
  296. 29:01potential. The level of novel and creative ideas you can have is kind of suppressed by the part of your mind that
  297. 29:07is critiquing them and judging them and telling you that they're worthless. Now, the last point here, point number four,

  298. To be creative, you need something to create.

  299. 29:13is that to be creative, you need something to create. So, if we go way back in our lives, maybe I don't know
  300. 29:18how old you are, but do you remember spelling tests in school? Because I remember this vividly actually is when I
  301. 29:25would take a spelling test or prepare for one, I don't remember exactly which,
  302. 29:30I would learn a new word. And once I learned the new word, I would just start hearing it everywhere. Like someone
  303. 29:36would say it as I'm passing them, I would overhear it in conversation. I would see it somewhere written. I would
  304. 29:42see it on my computer when I played video games. And the same thing happens when I saw a new car. I'm like, "Oo,
  305. 29:48that that's a pretty nice car. What is that?" And then I'd look it up and then I'd literally see the next day I'd just see it everywhere. I'd see like 10 of
  306. 29:54them. And when I started a business or just made it a goal, an actual prioritized goal to start a business,
  307. 30:01then I would notice more business opportunities. And I didn't know these existed before because I was made to
  308. 30:07believe that getting a 9 toive job was like my only option. So this thing, this
  309. 30:12phenomenon is the single most important catalyst for creativity. It's the reticular activating system in our
  310. 30:19brains. It's kind of like a homing mechanism, right? It's like a heat seeeking missile going towards the heat.
  311. 30:25And it's based on what's important to you. It's based on the goals, the unconscious and conscious goals that
  312. 30:32kind of occupy the frame in your mind. So, if you're going on the default path your entire life, then you're really
  313. 30:38only going to notice things that help support you going down the default path.
  314. 30:43But if you change direction, you truly change direction. And it's not as simple as just saying, "Oh, I'm going to change
  315. 30:49direction." Then you start to notice things that aid in you going that direction. Talked about this many times.
  316. 30:55Go and look at the most popular videos on my channel. People really resonate with that fact. Go watch any of my
  317. 31:00videos that have change your life in the title and it will go over that. So you
  318. 31:06need a meaningful project to work on. You need a problem to solve. You need a business to build. You need to create an
  319. 31:13essay, a design, whatever, you're creating a lens by which you reprogram your mind. Because if you are the
  320. 31:20culmination of the ideas you've accepted into your head and the ideas you accept are based on what you deem important and
  321. 31:26the only things that were important to you were the school, job and retirement that industrial culture permeated into
  322. 31:31your parents, teachers and peers, then the primary way to pursue a rare life is to simply question and choose what is
  323. 31:38important to you. When you have something important like a project, a design, a product, even a conversation
  324. 31:44you overhear on the street becomes creative fuel. You read a book and a sentence pops out to you, but when
  325. 31:50another person reads it, they don't get the same effect. So, without a project, it's like your mind is a boat just
  326. 31:56drifting in water. The 7-day protocol we just did helped calm the storm that was previously there rocking your boat. But
  327. 32:03even if the sea is calm now and you don't have a direction, you're just a boat floating. You're just going to stay
  328. 32:10there. It's nice, but at some point, you're probably going to want to do something. So the question now is what
  329. 32:16makes a good frame? What makes a project worth creating? The first thing is that it has to be something unsolved for you.
  330. 32:23It doesn't have to be completely original or novel, but it must be a challenge. There must be something you
  331. 32:29don't know the answer to yet, which allows your subconscious to become a magnet for relevant and useful ideas.
  332. 32:34Second, it has to matter to you. Your pattern recognition is powered by emotional investment. So, a project you
  333. 32:41chose because it looks good on paper, like a high-paying degree that you don't actually care about, won't activate the
  334. 32:47same radar as the one that genuinely keeps you up at night. And third, it has to be sharable. In other words, it has
  335. 32:54to take some form. It has to exist in reality. It can be words, visuals, code, a conversation, a business, or a meal.
  336. 33:00You have to take the abstract thoughts in your head, ground them in reality, and test their worth. We aren't just
  337. 33:07imagining things we can't do here. And we are we're letting our mind get very creative and be like a kid again who
  338. 33:13wants to build a teleportation device. But that's for thinking, right? That's for getting the ideas. When you actually
  339. 33:19put them in reality and test them, then yeah, it has to be useful. But don't let that stunt how creative you can think.
  340. 33:27And so that begs the final question, how do you find this meaningful project that you want to build? And honestly, it just
  341. 33:34takes a bit of floundering, which is very unpleasant, but it does help if you flip the problem on its head. You invert
  342. 33:40it. So, what you do is you think deeply about all of the meaningless projects, tasks, and activities you currently
  343. 33:46tolerate to fill your time. Because if you aren't engaged in something meaningful, where do you think your life
  344. 33:52will end up? If you cultivate this deep awareness of what you don't want in life, that starts to create your frame.
  345. 33:58You start to see it everywhere. And once you see it, it's much easier to start moving in the opposite direction. Thank
  346. 34:05you for watching. Like, subscribe while you're here if the video actually impacted you. Links in the description
  347. 34:10for my newsletter that I send out weekly with very similar thoughts to this. So, if you like this, it's definitely worth
  348. 34:17reading as well. So, subscribe to that. And then just keep an eye out for the next video on why writing essays is very
  349. 34:24important and why you should probably do it. Thank you again for watching. I'll see you in the next one. Bye.