I watched a video quite some time ago by Sadia of Pick Up Limes that blew my mind!! The concept of ‘creating versus consuming’ has been on my mind every day since. I wanted to share my take on it with you today, so let me know if you find it helpful too.
Creating Versus Consuming
The whole concept of the video was that we should spend triple the amount of time on creating as we do on consuming.
How much of your life do you spend consuming? It could be…
Social media scrolling
Watching videos
Reading books or magazines
Playing podcasts
Listening to music
Watching TV
I think that we ALL spend a significant part of our day consuming content in some form.
But …
Is all of this content inspiring you?
Or do you feel drained or bogged down by it?
I think there’s a fine line.
When we consume more than we create, we often feel low energy, maybe less confident, slower and less motivated. Whether that’s a subconscious FOMO (fear of missing out) or the comparison game, or something else, I don’t know, but I definitely feel like it’s ‘energy out’.
When we spend more time creating, however, we usually find we are living more meaningfully, feel more positive in ourselves, more confidence and motivation – and more fulfilled.
“Creativity is intelligence having fun” – Albert Einstein
Creativity doesn’t mean you have to be the next Picasso. It could be as simple as…
Journaling your thoughts
Flowing through your yoga practice
Dancing
Taking a class- drama, language, arts or crafts
Working in a meaningful or satisfying career
Taking photos
Painting, art, textiles, macrame etc
Gardening
Cooking a new recipe
Creating a wonderful relationship
Insightful conversations
Blogging, vlogging, or posting something of your own on social media
Writing – whether its fiction, factual, music, songs, poetry or anything else!
Finding the 3:1 ratio
I challenge you to spend the next day/week observing your habits. Do you think you spend 3x more time creating versus consuming?
Probably not. Or at least, I definitely didn’t!
Since paying attention and changing my habits, I can happily say I spend much more of my life creating than I used to. Even my digital time is approaching 3:1 in favour of creativity.
Now that we have access to Screen Time on our iPhones (and whatever the Android equivalent is), we can really see how we spend our digital time. I know with Apple devices that you can break down your app usage into categories, e.g. creativity, social networking, entertainment, productivity etc. You can see how many minutes/hours you spend on each app, or each of these categories.
I often reflect back on my Screen Time at the end of the day. That said, I can often figure it out by feeling! If I feel lethargic, ‘tired but wired’ and busy-minded, I know that I’ve spent way too much time consuming. When I’ve spent the day creating, I’ll always feel lighter, more energised, content and accomplished.
How to improve your creativity versus consuming ratio
It is different for everyone, but I personally shifted into a creative mindset when I…
Began journalling every day
Stopped the Instagram scroll!
Worked on optimism, gratitude and joy more
Quit listening to music and podcasts every commute
Learned to enjoy silence, which in turn gets me in a creative state
Organised my daily tasks so that I was creating more often than anything else
Prioritised screen-free time every day
Let myself be spontaneous and intuitive, rather than structured and rigid
Spent my life living in the present moment
Ultimately, it’s a choice. We can choose to live creatively and fully, rather than having so much sensory input being delivered to us 24/7. Some days I will notice myself sliding back into more consuming versus creating, but I am quick to notice – and always make the choice to create more again.
