Filter the Fluff, Vol. 5 - On Creativity

Monday, April 23

Every now and then, I come across really well-written pieces on the interwebs and get the urge to share. There are so many vapid pieces floating around these days, making it more and more difficult to filter the fluff. Whether it aligns with my viewpoint or not, I only have one rule: it should be thought-provoking. The following (listed below) were just that. 

Creatives share their routines when dealing with burnout, shock and overwhelm

"...many prolific artists or authors (those who’d written hundreds of novels or created countless artworks in their lives) only spent a few hours each day creating. It is a lesson I’ve learned over and over in my 10 years as a working creative. You don’t need every hour of every day to accomplish great things. Which is lucky, because our work should supplement our life, not be our life. 
People won’t connect to how little sleep you lost over a project or how often you post, they will connect to how deeply they can relate to your work. Those flames burning inside you need to be fed. That well that you draw your ideas from needs to be filled. For the sake of good art, spend more time daydreaming and exploring."
via Extraordinary Routines, a compilation of thoughts from creative professionals on dealing with burnout.

Evergreen Ideas and Rethinking the Meaning of Content

"Somehow people have been sold on the idea that the relationship between ads and “content” is a symbiotic one, but it is a parasitic one. 
We are flooded with mediocre “content” produced for the sole purpose of transmits the ads — this type of “content,” which is now predominant online, is the reason for the epidemic of clickbait, the carrier for the highly contagious impoverishment of thought and feeling we are undergoing as a civilization."
Maria Popova is out here preaching on the modern definition of content and its state of mutation. 

Why I Believe in Community Over Competition

"Community over competition is competition rightly ordered–it’s putting relationships before opportunity. It’s an understanding that the best businesses serve others. Yes, the best businesses serve others–their customers lives are enriched through the company’s products or services. 
Competition is healthy when it’s not at the expense of others. It was never meant to hold people back or put people down, but to push people forward–in both winning and losing. Competition is a healthy part of life, but life is not a competition. Life is about relationships."
Davey Jones penned this piece two years ago for Honeybook, but I'm just now discovering it. Better late than never.



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