A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
🖍️ Are you a "Reluctant Creative?"
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my story and who it is that I can help. And as I reflected on my journey, I realized my entire online existence can be summarized with a single term:
Reluctant creative.
A reluctant creative is someone who feels the need to create but has trouble starting because they don’t think they are any good.
I am a reluctant creative.
This may come as a surprise, but I actually never thought of myself as the creative type. In fact, I used to confess:
“I’m just not creative.”
It started with writing music. I used to love writing songs on my guitar, and I would get discouraged when I realized that the chord progression of melody line I came up with actually came from another song. Over time, I eventually believed that I was incapable of coming up with anything original on my own - all I could do was copy what other people had already done.
Then I read the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon, and it gave me hope. Austin described creativity as the collection and synthesis of the dots you collect. True artists simply connect pre-existing dots in ways that haven’t been done before.
I realized that creativity is a formula.
Austin gave me permission to accept what I created because it was the natural culmination of the dots I’d collected.
I still wasn’t thrilled that my work resembled some of my influences so closely, but I continued to collect and connect the dots. And over time, my work became more and more original. I was a reluctant creative who had discovered my art.
But what about you?
Have you been telling yourself a story about how you just don’t have what it takes to create?
Maybe you once knew how, but you forgot. And you’re not sure how to find your way back.
Hugh MacLeod once said that everyone is born creative. We’re all given a box of crayons in kindergarten, but we lose them as we get older. Being hit with the “creative bug” later in life is simply a small voice inside of you saying, “I’d like my crayons back.”
If you have the desire to create but feel nervous about starting, you are a reluctant creative! My parting advice to you is to just start. Don’t judge your work or compare it to something someone else has done.
Just create. Make something.
You don’t have to share it with anyone else. You don’t have to worry about people judging it. The value isn’t in the responses you get - it’s in the act of making your art.
Until next time - keep going, keep growing, and keep creating!
— Mike
Sketchnote Summary of Building a Second Brain
I recently read Building a Second brain by Tiago Forte, and summarized the book in this sketchnote file:
June 16th 2022
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Here's a link to download the PDF version if you'd like 🙂
Recent podcast episodes
Focused Episode #154: Building Second Brain, with Tiago Forte
Tiago Forte joins us to talk about his new book, building knowledge assets, and flipping the switch from consumer to creator.
Bookworm Episode #147: Heron on a Mission by Donald Miller
Joe & I embark on a journey to live more meaningful lives.
The Intentional Family Episode #59: Revisiting Routines
Rachel & I revisit the routines that help us live out our values and build our ideal future.
This Week's Sermon Sketchnote Video
(Almost) every Sunday, I take sketchnotes of my Pastor's sermon and post them to my website. Here's my sketchnote from June 26th, 2022
Practical PKM
by Mike Schmitz
A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
In this edition of Practical PKM: 💡 The Big Idea: You need a direction, but not a completed plan 😎 Something Cool: Note Toolbar plugin 📖 Book Notes: Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt I’m a planner. I like to have everything figured out. No surprises please 😂 But when it comes to sensemaking (an important PKM skill), the path isn’t straightforward. Life often takes twists and turns you don’t expect or see coming. When that happens, you need to be able to reorient quickly. Which is why it’s...
Cartography (the study and practice of making and using maps) is somewhat of a lost art. On one hand, the rise and fall of cartography makes perfect sense as the exquisite handmade maps of ancient times have been replaced by readily available satellite imagery. The word cartography itself is antiquated, combining two Ancient Greek words that mean “write” and “sheet of papyrus.” It’s a bit difficult to translate that to modern times. A collection of map-making tools. But while you may not see...
In this edition of Practical PKM: How to use the 4 Levels of Reading to get more out of books you read An example of how I use MOCs to connect ideas Details on my upcoming Reading Masterclass A cool Obsidian plugin to streamline creating book notes My book notes from How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler “How to Read a Book has to be the stupidest book title I’ve seen!” That was my first impression when my friend Joe originally picked this Mortimer Adler classic for Bookworm. Turns out, it’s...