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1/11 What is borrowed creativity?
Creativity doesn’t come from nothing. It’s always remixed, repurposed, or translated from something else.
Artists constantly intake creative raw material. Creatives have a lifestyle of gathering.
Creativity doesn’t come from nothing. It’s always remixed, repurposed, or translated from something else.
Artists constantly intake creative raw material. Creatives have a lifestyle of gathering.
2/ Borrowed creativity is the process of collecting, consuming, and digesting ideas.
These are then distilled down to the most insightful, interesting, and relevant parts which become the seeds of new creative outputs.
These are then distilled down to the most insightful, interesting, and relevant parts which become the seeds of new creative outputs.
3/ Consume with the mindset of producing.
The only constraint on your creative output is the quality of your input.
You become more discerning, your standards rise, and you don’t waste time with garbage inputs.
The only constraint on your creative output is the quality of your input.
You become more discerning, your standards rise, and you don’t waste time with garbage inputs.
4/ Building a second brain changes how you consume information.
This becomes a solution to the problem of information overload.
A tight filter for only the highest quality inputs protects you from the vast ocean of useless information.
This becomes a solution to the problem of information overload.
A tight filter for only the highest quality inputs protects you from the vast ocean of useless information.
5/ A second brain gives you the superpower of never starting from scratch.
For any new creative project you have an already existing external memory of the best ideas you've encountered.
It’s perfect recall of the highlights of your past learning.
For any new creative project you have an already existing external memory of the best ideas you've encountered.
It’s perfect recall of the highlights of your past learning.
6/ It’s amazing what you can produce when you aren’t drawing on only the best thinking you can muster in present moment.
7/ A myth about genius is there is always a completely novel idea in the back pocket. A moment of genius is more often the product of drawing on the accumulated wisdom of a large span of time.
8/ Borrowed creativity is taking existing ideas and shifting them and recombining them in new ways to produce something magical.
9/ Why is this so hard for people?
Cheating in school is defined as using someone else’s work or drawing on an external resource.
The problem is this is exactly the best way to be successful at anything—to learn from and borrow from the best.
Cheating in school is defined as using someone else’s work or drawing on an external resource.
The problem is this is exactly the best way to be successful at anything—to learn from and borrow from the best.
10/ Creatively producing with a second brain feels like skipping ahead to step 8 or 9 of a 10-step process.
You are able to quickly produce high quality outputs that would otherwise take much longer.
You are able to quickly produce high quality outputs that would otherwise take much longer.
11/ My summary of episode 1 “Borrowed Creativity” of The Building a Second Brain Podcast from @fortelabs and @david_perell https://open.spotify.com/show/40O0Lbp5ockSt0qSogo6q1?si=8kVX-e1bSOee5AgPKPXoHw
