Create > Consume

One goal of mine is to increase how much I create relative to how much I consume. I don’t ever expect to get even close to creating more than I consume because I consume a crap-ton of stuff; also, I think consuming information is a great way to find inspiration for creating. However, I know for me that consuming information and entertainment is often an excuse for not creating and contributing, a form of escape if you will. There is one thing that creativity requires though: creating something.

I know for a fact that a heck of a lot of what I create at first will be crap, but I think that’s an invaluable part of the process. Being a recovering perfectionist I tend to be very hesitant to put anything out there, mostly because I’m not sure what people will think about it. One of my biggest fears is rejection and that plays out a lot in being creative. Of course, some creative endeavors do require a certain amount of gravity, such as engineering critical components in a space ship (get it? gravity). However, I think the concern of not killing people is a much greater thing to worry about than whether people will like me or not.

Go out there and create some crap, then work on refining your skills. The internet is a great place to throw crap and see what sticks. Politics is an even better place to do that, but I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone unless I had something against them.