Inputs Before Outputs. That Is the Real Secret of Creative Productivity No One Talks About.
Read this when you struggle with online writing or creative work
Denis Gorbunov asked me about writing productivity recently.
He wanted to know how we can keep going as online writers without scratching the wall of self-destruction and burnout.
Brilliant question.
There are millions of obvious answers online. However, I often wonder whether the contributors of those articles missed the point about creative productivity.
To be clear, I refer to creative productivity.
Not generic productivity.
I am not interested in preaching how you can produce 10 online articles without using ChatGPT within 24 hours.
Instead, I am interested in figuring out how we can give birth to our best work each time our fingers kiss the keyboard.
The conventional focus on psychological Flow is merely 50% of the work
By Flow, it means you are in the zone.
- Your eyes are on the screen.
- Your mind is on the following sentence.
- Your fingers are typing the next segment.
Flow dictates how intense we are in the moment. According to Psychology Today,
Flow is a cognitive state where one is completely immersed in an activity — from painting and writing to prayer and surfboarding. It involves intense focus, creative engagement, and the loss of awareness of time and self.
It focuses on our state of mind when we burn our brain cells in the cubicle writing, typing, rewriting, editing, zipping along, and giving birth to 100 words per minute.
That’s a brilliant state to get into each we write.
But I argue that that is the latter 50%.
It presupposes that we have,
- All raw materials are ready for our creative production work,
- A vivid picture of how the end piece of art would look like,
- A clear idea of what we want to share with our readers.
The first 50 % cannot be and will not be accounted for by Flow. It’s not Flow’s job. It’s ours.
We must be ready before we get into the flow… if that makes sense.
I’ll start with these 3 things
By definition, productivity is about getting sh!t done.
Many online writers I follow find it sexy to quantify their output as a measure of The Big P. I have no beef with that, but it begets a question.
Is output the apex measure of creative productivity?
Is the…
- Number of articles published a day,
- Number of words per article,
… the end all and be all?
Chew on it.
Honestly, I doubt it.
You should, too.
Because…
If you genuinely think so, you should not be writing online.
Go learn to prompt ChatGPT instead. That free-to-use AI-driven chatbot program can spit out 100 articles for you daily [if you like].
The pillar of creative productivity does not lie with the word productivity. It’s on the word creative. It’s about the creator.
John Spacey said it best.
Creative works are work outputs that differ greatly in value from one producer to another… The value of creative works depends on the talent and original insight of the producer such that they defy standardization and commoditization.
These are the keywords that caught my eye.
- Differ greatly,
- Original insights,
- Defy standardization and commoditization.
Flow cannot close the deal on these items.
Perspectives, personal stories, experiences, and exposures can.
To be creatively productive requires us to step back from relentless writing and smell the roses along the road as we journey through life.
Strangely enough, not writing [actually] helps us get better at writing.
What should we focus on when we are not writing… so we can be fired up when we start typing our life away?
I recommend doing these.
- Asking questions about topics you care about to people from all walks of life,
- Curating life stories,
- Read boring things.
Imagine that you are a creative factory. You require inspirational input(s) to produce something. Take time to work on these 3.
I have the professional convenience of speaking to many people in my day job. That is one cool thing about sales. I ask clients for a deal. When they are not ready, I ask them about their life.
I love to ask them about money, financial planning, and perspectives on retirement.
What they tell me is nowhere near what online news platforms preach about.
No one [absolutely no one, for f**k sake] in their right mind gives a sh!t about the 4% rule, the Rule of 72, paying off all debts whenever they can, and hustling after working for 14 hours.
Bots tell you that. Humans? Fat chance.
Humans care about firing their bosses today, retiring tomorrow, and how to become a Millionaire in 59 seconds.
Don’t believe me? Ask your Dad how he feels if he hits the lottery.
Ask him what he will do and not do.
It will be a fun story.
A genuine one also.
Or, speak to any real-life millionaires you know. They aren’t as snobbish, cucumber-cool, and confident as most online articles portray them to be.
They are like you, like me.
Ex-colleagues from my consulting days who made Managing Director and millionaire by 37 and 38 [continue to] plunder their neighborhood bakery for steep discounts on bread. They walk under the rain in ponchos, not umbrellas.
Ask them why, and they tell you things are too expensive.
That is real life. Millionaire cheapskates are real.
Doing nothing and watching turtles by the beach is rare.
Who does that all day? I don’t know.
Maybe… those are stories written by digital nomads, as they project their ideal life onto millionaires. Could it be? Well, who knows? But it makes a good story.
What about reading boring stories?
Haha, well, that is easy.
A boring story is a wasted opportunity. Rewrite that your way, and you get rewarded for it. Work to inject your life into that boring read brings color to a black-and-white story.
It works.
And don’t start writing about it first.
Chew on it.
Think.
Visualize the end product.
Once you have a vivid picture of what that output looks like — Chisel away. You will be in your element.
Or in your flow.
Article inspired by a random conversation with Denis Gorbunov, Matt | Financial Imagineer, and Sarina Chiu
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