“There’s no such thing as a bad creation. Sometimes the seemingly bad ones need to happen for a good one to come.” – Rick Rubin
If you’re an entrepreneur, creator, knowledge worker, or artist…
Or, you’re trying to answer a big question, make a big decision, or clarify a big idea…
Here’s a framework for the creative process that has been invaluable to me.
I call it:
”I-D-D-E-A”
Input
Digestion
Disconnection
Emergence
Action
(and yes, it’s an original — so don’t even think about ripping it off. Looking at you, Liam Barney…)
Here’s how it works:
- Input: Gather raw material (brain dump ideas, research, collect).
Don’t try to organize it yet, just dump it straight into your preferred note-taking system (ideally, your Second Brain).
- Digestion: Organize raw material (piece it together, try to turn it into a cohesive first draft).
Don’t expect it to come together perfectly, here.
It rarely will.
Instead, continue “digesting” until the infamous hopelessness stage is reached:
When the mind is scrambled, overwhelmed, and too lost in the trees to see the forest.
- Disconnection: Unplug your mind from the project and do something else.
What to do: Sleep, go for walks in nature, exercise, journal, eat healthy food, consume art that inspires you (movies, books, documentaries, etc that are unrelated to your project).
What not to do: Doom scroll, content binge, eat garbage that dulls your senses, keep impulsively working on your project.
The goal: Turn the project over to your unconscious mind, and wait for…
- Emergence: Of inspiration, clarity, and direction.
Often, it will come from out of nowhere or from somewhere unexpected:
In the shower, while on a walk, watching a movie, during an unrelated conversation, etc.
The goal here is not to make it happen.
The goal here is to get out of the way and allow it to happen.
(without filling yourself with junk — social media, fast food, etc — that blocks it from happening)
- Action: Return to the project and bring it to completion.
Of course, not all projects will follow this formula exactly.
Some pop up from out of nowhere, fully formed.
Others run through all five stages in a few hours, or a few days…
While some take weeks, months, or even years, and you’ll go through several IDDEA cycles before the final product emerges.
So as always, take what’s useful, when it’s useful to you.
I look forward to seeing what you create.
- T
P.S. Funny enough:
I found this idea buried in my Evernote, from back in the DeepGame days.
I had (literally) hundreds of ideas for content unrelated to basketball, but it wasn’t practical to produce at the time.
Which means I have hundreds of ideas for original talks, videos, podcasts, etc that have never been shared or published…
…Sitting in my Second Brain, waiting to resurface.
And I have a feeling they’re going to begin resurfacing, very soon.
Stay tuned 🙂
Also:
No email on Monday, possibly Tuesday.
I’m running a four-day retreat this weekend, and will be back early next week.
“Do not fight this process. Do not struggle against it. Do not resent it. Do not view it as an interruption or an impediment. Your brain is your friend. It is trying to help you. Every time it rejects an idea in midstream for not being good enough, it is making your story stronger and your voice more clear.” – Devon Eriksen
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