Tag: moleskine

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#unfiltered #60 There’s No Such Thing As Writer’s Block

writer, inspiration, ideas, creativity

Years ago, I remember reading somewhere, “Writer’s block is not that you don’t have any ideas. It’s when you don’t have ‘good enough’ ideas.” In my opinion, one of the greatest fatalities of the 2020s is not that people lack ideas. But people have a poor way of capturing ideas when ideas do come to them.

And in the theme of ideating in the busy world we live in today, I wrote a short thread earlier this week on the seven ways I capture ideas.

  1. I carry a physical journal almost everywhere I go. Personally opt for a nice, weighty journal that I can’t wait to write in (none of that spiral bound, thin page notebooks, but that’s personal preference).
    My favorite brands: Leuchtturm1917/ Moleskine
    Page density: >150 g/m2
  2. While I’m at it, a good pen. I prefer felt tip or fountain pen.
    Psychologists do say you tend to remember thoughts more if you physically write them out, over typing them out.
    For felt tip: Staedtler fineliners
    Fountain pen: LAMY
  3. Reserve a full page for every idea. Even if your idea is only one sentence, give it space so that in the future you can come back to it and flush it out. As the wise Ron Swanson once said, “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.”
  4. Allocate at least 10 minutes to generate ideas. Even if you can’t think of anything for 10 minutes, sit through the whole 10. A few months ago, amidst a catch-up, a founder friend of mine – for lack of better words, a serial builder, having created more apps that I can count – shared with another friend and I something incredibly insightful about finding inspiration. “Not enough people give themselves bored time. To produce ideas, you have to give yourself time to be bored.” These days, I try to allocate 30 minutes of bored time.
  5. I have a whiteboard in my shower. Yes, I take shower thoughts seriously. In fact, this blogpost originated from a shower whiteboarding session earlier this week. I’m not really picky on brand here, since it’s just to get thoughts on a board as quickly as I can, but get rain-proof markers.
  6. Handwritten notes are notoriously hard to track. So, I have a 3-step process for this.
    1. I have a table of contents at the back of every notebook. Usually reserve 4 pages for that. In there, I write down, page #, title of each journal entry, and key/most thought-provoking content.
    2. By the time I finish each journal, I revisit the now-completed table of contents to highlight/circle what resonates with me the most from that table.
    3. A few months later or 1-2 journals later, I revisit the same table of contents, browse through what I highlighted/circled, and for those that STILL resonate, I port over to my Notion, which becomes more or less my evergreen knowledge/idea hub.
  7. When I’m completely lost or need inspiration, I find that the best way to generate ideas is to ask great questions. For questions on people and passions, I’m a big fan of Tim Ferriss and Sean Evans. For startup or VC questions, I love Harry Stebbings and Samir Kaji.
  8. As a bonus eighth tip which I didn’t include in the Twitter thread, if you are still stuck, I find the question “What is the most important question I should be asking myself today?” quite useful.

Some examples of things I write in my idea journal:

  • Startup ideas
  • New things I learned in the venture capital space
  • Blogpost ideas
  • Introspective thoughts
  • Phrases and vernacular that other people say or write that I really like
  • Great questions to ask myself or others
  • Recipes I come up with
  • Dreams
  • Riddles or puzzles
  • Short stories
  • Concept art

In sum, anything is fair game. The more I allow my mind to expand without constraints, the more I’m able to draw parallels between seemingly disparate data points and create new meaning. At least for myself.

In closing

I passed by another quote over the years, and the attribution escapes me. “If you have don’t have any ideas, read more. If you have ideas, write more.” I’d extend it even further by saying, when you have a deficit of inspiration, consume. Read and listen more. There is a plethora of content out there today. And they are all more accessible than ever – from books to podcasts to articles to videos. When you have a surplus of inspiration, produce. Write and do more.

Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash

#unfiltered is a series where I share my raw thoughts and unfiltered commentary about anything and everything. It’s not designed to go down smoothly like the best cup of cappuccino you’ve ever had (although here‘s where I found mine), more like the lonely coffee bean still struggling to find its identity (which also may one day find its way into a more thesis-driven blogpost). Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

Stay up to date with the weekly cup of cognitive adventures inside venture capital and startups, as well as cataloging the history of tomorrow through the bookmarks of yesterday!

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#unfiltered #10 Idea Journals – How to Start, Prompts that Stretch your Parameters, The “Right” Setting, Embracing Imperfection

idea-journaling, sunrise, sunset

Three weeks ago, in the prelude to this post, I mentioned the art of ideating and how I personally pursue the expansion of my creative horizons. Though I have or had other systems in place (i.e. whiteboard in the shower, pen in pocket everywhere I go, meditation), idea-journaling has been, by far, the most impactful in stretching my creative muscle.

When you start:

  • Dedicate your time to doing it daily, with no cheat days. Set aside ten minutes each day to do so.
  • Invest in a journal you love. Don’t skimp. I fell in love with the Moleskine sketchbook at first sight. Though I have graduated to the Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook now. For me, investing in a higher end journal made me more inclined to journal daily – not wanting my Hamiltons go to waste.
  • Don’t worry about completeness or complexity. A journal entry can be 1 sentence or 5 pages or even a drawing. Regardless, dedicate a minimum of 1 page to each entry, even if you only fill it in with 1 sentence.

Explore different mediums of thought. Here are some of the prompts I started with:

  • Write a short story.
  • Draw a picture.
  • Design a logo.
  • Compose a tune.
  • Jot down a recipe you think could work. And after, how would you plate this dish?
  • Create a new language.
  • Write a poem in that new language (or language that’s not your native tongue).
  • What stood out to you today?
  • Write out a conversation you would have with your role model, a celebrity, your boss, your friend. Or even what your follow-up conversation would look like with someone you talked to today?
  • How would you resolve a problem that’s plaguing you now?
  • If you could change or add one fundamental universal law, what would you change and why?
  • And, if you’re still stuck without a prompt, what should be the question or prompt you ideate with today?

Why? By exploring different avenues of creative output, you give your mind more degrees of freedom to think. Expand your parameters. That’s why multi-linguists are able to host such a vast vernacular bandwidth.

The Setting

Just like the process of idea-journaling, the setting in which you do so is equally as important. Why? You ideate best in a positive or neutral environment, when you won’t tie down emotions and biases to the environment you’re journaling in. Find your sweet spot, and make it a routine. When and where do you find yourself to be the most relaxed and/or the most creative?

For me, although I don’t shy away from ideating throughout the day, I find my mind the most expansive: (1) right after I work out, and (2) right after a good hot shower. And though rare, if the above two don’t work, I take at least a 20-minute walk, tuning into either a podcast episode I’ve heard before or a non-lyrical playlist.

Once I find peace in the preamble of my ideation “ritual”, then I settle down in a place where I feel comfortable and at home. Before the crisis, my go-to spot in the city was Sightglass Coffee on 7th. Now it’s in my backyard garden. With good lighting and a cup of chamomile or green tea.

Embracing Imperfection

My idea journals are a sanctuary for me to be imperfect. And arguably, its is where I found myself to be the most courageous. I didn’t have to cower in fear of judgment and biases from other eyes. And I can be unapologetically myself. Over the past 2 years, I’ve been lucky for that same courage to have bled outside of the book-bound acid-free pages.

If I can quote a line from the prologue of Bob Iger‘s brilliantly wicked book, The Ride of a Lifetime…

“True innovation occurs only when people have courage[…] Fear of failure destroys creativity.”

Give yourself room to fail. You’re not going to like every single one of your ideas. In fact, if you’re like me, you might end up hating 4 out of 5 ideas you have when you first start off. But keep at it. Make it a habit. And one day, you’ll notice the distribution of good-to-bad ideas shift in your favor.

If you’re anything like me, when I get stuck, take some time to look up at the jewel-studded indigo canopy above. As your mind hops between one twinkle to the next, you might pick something up in the traversal.

As you make it a habit…

Although an unintentional upside when I embarked on this journey, the endeavor is truly meditative, perpetuating a positive feedback loop of euphoria. And over time, you’ll find yourself concepting more robust and intricate ideas. Hopefully, unbounded by your situational constraints. The sky’s the limit!

Photo by Leon Biss on Unsplash

#unfiltered is a series where I share my raw thoughts and unfiltered commentary about anything and everything. It’s not designed to go down smoothly like the best cup of cappuccino you’ve ever had (although here‘s where I found mine), more like the lonely coffee bean still struggling to find its identity (which also may one day find its way into a more thesis-driven blogpost). Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

Stay up to date with the weekly cup of cognitive adventures inside venture capital and startups!

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Drawing Inspiration

drawing inspiration, ideas, eclipse, writer's block

On Tuesday, I had the great honor to jump on a call with someone who is both a brilliant composer and an acclaimed orchestral conductor. Though he was classically trained, he found fame in the world of video games. And I couldn’t help but ask where he draws his inspiration when composing musicality to pair with various mediums of entertainment, even outside of games. He answered simply:

“Everywhere.”

He followed up that to help him frame his ideas around the subject of his piece: “I watch a little bit, not too much to have the show or game dominate in his mind, but enough to start off.” Just a small spark to start the fire. What he said echoed in mind, reminding me of a conversation I had with another friend – entrepreneur, author, and podcaster – prior to self-quarantining ourselves. He told me: “There’s no such thing as writer’s block. It’s that desire for perfection that holds us back from putting our pen on paper. But once we let go of trying to be perfect, we can find inspiration from everything around us.”

In all honesty, when he first told me this, I thought he was being quite presumptive. Especially it was at a point in time I was struggling to find content to put out weekly. But he was right. And, as you may have guessed, that became the kindling for the #unfiltered series.

Similarly, a few weeks back, a college buddy asked me where I find my inspiration for pieces on this blog. Though I am echelons shy of the musical talent I spoke with two days ago, I offered him the path I took to get me here:

  • Practice ideating daily.
  • Talk to people.
  • Meditate and/or write in a gratitude journal.
  • Write an audience of one.

Practice ideating daily.

My brain, like your brain, is a muscle. The more I practice using it, the better it gets. The same is true for ideas. The more ideas I write, the better I’ll get. It can be one sentence. Or, it can be 5 pages. But make sure to dedicate at least a full page to each day, even if 95% of it may be blank. The point is to deliberately do so every day, with no cheat days. Personally, I spent the first 2 weeks, writing one sentence entries.

So, I invested in an idea journal. In fact, probably my best investment I made in the past 3 years. And, I didn’t bother buying a cheap one. It was a Moleskine art sketchbook. At the time, a $17 purchase plus tax. And for a broke college student, that was a sizable amount – two good meals worth. A good alternative and the one I use now is a Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook. Why? Because it forced me to use it. I realized for me, the better the notebook is, the more I’m inclined to not let it go to waste.

Although I wish this was my original idea, my professor at Cal taught me this simple, but effective strategy.

Talk to people.

When I found myself unable to grasp at any ideas (that I thought were good), I talked to people. The more obsessive they were about their passion, the better. The more (positive and negative) emotion they channel into their work, the more insight they’ll have. And, frankly, excitement is contagious.

Talk to at least one of them from this cohort a week. Take notes, follow up, and ask more questions. The last part usually more independently, depending on their bandwidth.

Meditate and/or write in a gratitude journal.

Be thankful. It’s a useful frame of mind to be in. Positive thinking helps with more expansive creativity. Negative thoughts and stress, depending on its severity, narrows down the scope of your creativity.

Write for an audience of one.

Many professional writers are taught to find a target audience and write for them. Focus on a specific segment, before broadening, if ever. My mentors taught me to take this one step further. Instead one specific segment, just one person. It’s much better to write for 1 person who I know will always love my content than to write for a hypothetical many who may or may not even like it. For me, it’s myself. When I’m writing here, I’m merely a hobbyist. I don’t have any grand goal of reaching one million subscribers (not that I’m opposed to it). I’m just here to immerse myself in the joy of writing. And if I am lucky to have affected someone else’s life in a meaningful way, that’s my cherry on top.

Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash

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