With the ever-increasing deluge of information we all face, the task for each of us is to discern which inputs are relevant to our work and which are simply noise. We face tremendous pressure to keep up and the vast majority of creatives say they are constantly on the verge of information overload.
I (Todd Henry) call the information and experiences we absorb “stimuli” because these are the raw materials that stimulate thought. Each creative idea is the combination of previously existing ideas, or bits of stimuli, into something new. The stimuli we experience can stretch us to think differently, to open our eyes to new ways of seeing the world. But many creatives don’t give much thought to what they allow into their minds. E-mails, reports, web videos, TV, magazines, and more flood through their life with no one keeping watch of the gate. Over time this can result in an overall lack of focus or a general numbness to potential inspiration. Discerning what is useful and what isn’t in a world without filters on our stimuli becomes a difficult task. After all, a drowning man isn’t thinking about what he wants for dinner, he just wants a life preserver! In the same way, when we lack structure around the types of stimuli we experience, we lack the space and focus we need to apply our experiences to the work we’re engaged in.
This same principle applies to cultivating a healthy diet of stimuli in your life. Because so much of the information you must process in a given day is determined by the nature of your work, you need to be purposeful about including self-directed, thought-provoking, and capacity-increasing stimuli into your life on a consistent basis. Whether it’s in the form of print media, movies, web videos, conversations, advertisements, or anything else that is delivering a message you must process and assimilate, the stimuli you take in over the course of your day informs the quality of the insights you generate. Just like good food increases your capacity to be active and healthy, the higher the quality of your stimuli, the better you are setting yourself up for high-level breakthroughs.
What are some characteristics that mark higher quality stimuli?
It’s challenging.
We want stimuli that will help us grow in our capacity to comprehend complex things. Pop culture is helpful for keeping up with trends, but we also need to commune with great minds and experience mind-stretching concepts and ideas that challenge our existing view of the world. This helps us break through mental ruts and consider new options that were previously obscured by our assumptions. While there’s nothing wrong with catching a sitcom or two throughout your week, you may also want to structure time into your life to watch documentaries on stimulating subjects.
It’s relevant.
This doesn’t mean that we should be looking only for stimuli that offer specific solutions to the creative problems we are facing, but it does mean that when we are working on highly intense projects, we should somewhat limit our stimuli to materials that will help our minds focus more effectively on those problems. Are there leaders in your industry who have published papers or articles that may help you think in new ways about your work? Are there trend reports that may help you think through where your business is headed next? A good rule of thumb is that every single day should include some kind of stimuli that is directed at your personal growth (working through a book, studying a skill or technique, etc.) and some kind of stimuli that you’ve sought out for purposes of advancing your work (an industry trend report, a research study, a trade magazine).
It’s diverse.
While carrots are healthy for me, if I eat nothing but carrots for a few months I will probably find my body in serious disrepair. Similarly, we must diversify our diet of stimuli by exploring divergent topics of interest, by varying forms of media, and by ingesting the opinions of others we may be inclined to disagree with. This diversification will expand our capacity to process information, help us form new and interesting thought patterns, and stimulate different parts of our brain than would be triggered if we were to continue in the same stimulus rut. Another thing to consider with regard to diversity is that often our next great breakthrough is more likely to come from outside our industry or area of expertise than from within it. When we diversify our base of stimuli, however, it forces us to approach problems from a new perspective.
As you consider the diet of stimuli in your life, these three factors should play a role in the decision.
* Source: The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry