Be Strategic in What You Consume to Boost Productivity

Today's guest post is from Todd Henry, founder and CEO of Accidental Creative, a consulting
firm that helps organizations like P&G, Mattel, and State Farm generate creative
ideas. He has one of the top
business podcasts, The Accidental Creative. This post is an excerpt from his recently
released book, The
Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice.






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.




But it's not just the sheer amount of information that's the problem; if it were that
simple, we could just shut it off. The real challenge is that some of this onslaught
of information is necessary for us to perform our jobs. We must somehow engage with
the information that enters our daily lives, process it, and turn it into something
meaningful.



While our minds are unparalleled in their capacity to experience and assimilate information,
they also have a limited bandwidth for doing so. As a matter of survival, they tend
to weed out information that is deemed irrelevant to our immediate needs.




However, our minds are also capable of taking random bits of input and forging brilliant
connections that are not apparent on the surface. This is essentially how the creative
process works—it's the connection of multiple preexisting patterns into new solutions.




One pathway to creating more effectively and consistently
is to be strategic about our inputs.




I call the information and experiences we absorb "stimuli." Here are 3 characteristics
of a high-quality diet of stimuli.



1. 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.




2. 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. A good rule of thumb
is that every single day should include some kind of stimuli that is directed at your
personal growth, and some kind of stimuli that you've sought out for purposes of advancing
your work.



3. 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, varying forms of media,
and by ingesting the opinions of others we may be inclined to disagree with. This
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 continue in the same stimulus rut.



Another thing to consider 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, it forces us to approach problems from a new perspective.



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If you're loo[image error]king
for a guide to stay inspired and experience greater creative productivity, check out The
Accidental Creative. Or visit
the author's website to find out more.

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