Rational Creatives #005
Distractions, creativity and decision-making; mindful content consumption; creating for an audience of one; don't say what you are, explain what you do.
Hello friends,
Greetings from Louisiana! This post-vacation week has been crazy. I feel like I spent the whole week just doing laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning. Yet, my house and my room are still messy. These are the kind of things I hate about adulthood.
In this his week’s edition, I’m gonna cover:
Attention, creativity and decision-making
Mindful consumption on the internet
Creating for an audience of one
Leonardo Da Vinci’s résumé
Let’s dive right into it 🤿
Attention, creativity and decision-making
I used to worry about AI displacing humans from their jobs. Now, I worry about humans not being able to perform the jobs that AI can’t do (yet). Those jobs that require a lot creativity and critical thinking. What Cal Newport calls "deep work".
Thanks to some forms of tech, especially social networks, our attention spans have become dramatically shorter and we have lost our ability to focus. And as more people get access to smartphones and to the internet, this issue becomes more common and widespread.
To be clear, though, I don’t think technology is to blame. In fact, I think technology might be the only thing that can save us. The problem is incentives.
I won’t talk about incentives here. I might do that later in another piece. But I do want to share with you some questions this whole issue got me pondering:
How do excessive inputs (information overload) impact our creativity and our decision making?
How does our inability to focus affect our abilities to be creative and think critically?
How can we restore our focus? And how can we leverage tech for that purpose?
If you’re interested in becoming more rational and/or more creative, this is a situation you should pay a lot of attention to (pun intended). And the questions above might help you to start thinking about it.
Mindful content consumption
I’d feel guilty if I didn’t share some resources to help you address the attention problem I brought up. So my reading recommendation for today is Reading with Intention by Brandon Zhang.
In this essay, Brandon makes the case for being picky with the books you read and ruthlessly getting rid of the ones you don’t enjoy or find valuable. In order to help you get to that to point, he shares some useful principles and tips to change your mindset and the way you approach book picking.
The piece is concise, simple and profound. In fact, ever since I read it in July, I’ve been thinking a lot about mindful consumption. And how this idea not only applies to reading, but to all the content we consume. The people we follow on social media, the podcasts and the music we listen to, the blogs and the books we read. Whether we are aware or not, all these inputs influence us and shape our behaviors. By being intentional about the things that we allow into our minds, we can make sure we’re helping ourselves reach our goals.
Creating for an audience of one
Yesterday, I started doing 75 HARD, a mental toughness program created by Andy Frisella. Among other things, the program requires you to read at least 10 pages of non-fiction every day. So I began reading An Audience of One by Srinivas Rao.
In this book, the author advocates for creating for the sake of creativity itself. One of the first things he touches on in the introduction is the dangers of trying to please others with your creative work, and quotes David Bowie saying:
Never play to the gallery. Never work for other people in what you do. Always remember that the reason you initially started working was there was something inside yourself that, if you could manifest it, you felt you would understand more about yourself. I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations.
As a writer, I struggle a lot with this. I see myself as both a marketer and an artist, which is sort of a contradiction. Marketers try to please people. Artists try to please themselves. I want to create value for others, but I also want to indulge in my curiosities.
However, I’ve begun to understand that being an artist instead of a marketer might be a better bet in the long run.
First, it's more rewarding to please yourself than to please others. When a behavior is rewarded, we're incentivized to do it. Therefore, it’s easier to be consistent at pleasing yourself.
Second, we’re not as special and unique as we tend to think. There are a lot of people out there who share our interests, our struggles and our hopes. And thanks to the internet, it's relatively easy to find them. So, instead of creating based on a guess of what people desire or need, create to scratch your own itches and then leverage the internet to find people like you.
Of course, all these things are easier than done. Evolution designed our brains to crave validation and imitate other. It’s so freaking hard to hack our brains and rewrite our mental code. But I think it’s worth trying.
Don’t say what you are. Explain what you do
One of my favorite tweets ever goes: No one cares what you can do. Everybody cares what you can do for them.
Turns out, Leonardo Da Vinci understood this principle very well. Thanks to Daniel Vassallo, this week I discovered how the polymath used this approach in a letter he wrote to the Duke of Milan in 1482:
Most Illustrious Lord: Having now sufficiently seen and considered the proofs of all those who count themselves masters and inventors in the instruments of war, and finding that their invention and use does not differ in any respect from those in common practice, I am emboldened... to put myself in communication with your Excellency, in order to acquaint you with my secrets. I can construct bridges which are very light and strong and very portable with which to pursue and defeat an enemy... I can also make a kind of cannon, which is light and easy of transport, with which to hurl small stones like hail... I can noiselessly construct to any prescribed point subterranean passages — either straight or winding — passing if necessary under trenches or a river... I can make armored wagons carrying artillery, which can break through the most serried ranks of the enemy. In time of peace, I believe I can give you as complete satisfaction as anyone else in the construction of buildings, both public and private, and in conducting water from one place to another. I can execute sculpture in bronze, marble or clay. Also, in painting, I can do as much as anyone, whoever he may be. If any of the aforesaid things should seem impossible or impractical to anyone, I offer myself as ready to make a trial of them in your park or in whatever place shall please your Excellency, to whom I commend myself with all possible humility
This letter is both a marketing and a job-hunting masterclass. Let's break it down:
First, Leonardo addresses the job title issue. He studied the way the "masters and inventors in the instruments of war" worked and realized that, in principle, they used the same techniques as other craftsmen like him. They were just applying that knowledge to a different domain. So he found ways he could use his skills in another industry, in his case, the war industry.
Later, when he mentions the things he can do, Leonardo points out the features of the things he can build. But he does it concisely and immediately translates those features into benefits. He finishes each sentence explaining how the things he can build would benefit the Duke.
Also, note that he only expands on his war-related skills. He mentions his artistic skills, but he doesn't elaborate on them because they weren't very relevant to the "job" he was applying for. He knew what the Duke needed. Even though his art skills were a nice-to-have, they were not essential to winning a war.
Although he had explained the benefits of his offer in a very convincing way, Leonardo knew that actions are 1000x more convincing than words. So he finishes the letter offering the Duke a free trial of his services. Giving him the chance to make a decision based on Leonardo's actual abilities and not just his powerful copy.
Whether you're looking for a new job or trying to sell a product/service, you can use these timeless principles to accomplish your goal. Believe me, it worked for Leonardo.
As always, I hope you had found value in this edition of Rational Creatives. If you did and know someone who could also find this interesting or useful, please share this email with them.
If you have any feedback, suggestion or just feel like getting in touch, shoot me a DM on Twitter. I’d love to hear from you.
I wish you a productive week full of insights and learnings.
Until next time,
Daniel ♟🎨