A little secret to stand out

Inspiration and experiences are an important part of being creative. They give us new ideas and allow us to make unique connections between things that no one has thought of.

But something on my mind lately has been how homogenous our experiences get if everyone watches the same Netflix shows, listens to the same songs on Spotify, or travels to the same places. Our conversations become stale too.

I want to encourage and challenge you to dig a little deeper. We have too many choices to just stop at what some publication deems the best (even if it's Holiday Matinee). Besides, there's nothing better than the feeling of discovering something very few people have seen and turning a few more people on to it. Not to be the arbiter of cool, but to give the creator some props.

We are most definitely what we consume. That goes for our bodies, but also our minds. If you consume what everyone else is, how can you expect to be any different? I mean, sure, I like myself, but I don't want to be bored by knowing carbon copies of myself either. That's no good.

I totally get that we are all in different circumstances with different responsibilities and limited free time, but if you want to stay creative, I think it's part of the job.

So how can you do this besides getting a boring office job where you are paid to browse the internet? Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy books a spot in his calendar every Friday to discover new music. You could do the same for architecture, street art, or whatever you're drawn to. Maybe even choose a new topic you know nothing about. 

Acknowledge that you could watch/listen/do what everyone is raving about, but try something different. This isn't about rejecting what's popular. Some of it is popular for a damn good reason. But there's an incredible world of stuff waiting for you outside the algorithm — if you're curious enough.

Stay curious and stay creative. Your future self will thank you.