Switch off to be more creative

Hey passionate creator,

Our default mode, especially as creators, is to be switched on. We pull out our phones and reply to comments from our audience whilst we're waiting in a queue. We watch TV as we send out our latest tweet. We get inspired by our favourite podcast whilst we’re in the shower.

But we’re missing out on something pretty special: boredom.

Most of us dread boredom. A study found that people prefer giving themselves electric shocks every 15 minutes over being bored. But boredom is a concoction full of magical ingredients for creators.

🎨 Creativity

J.K. Rowling was taking a delayed train back to London when she conjured the image of wizard with a lightening scar. If she had TikTok to scroll through as she passed her time, I wonder if the wizarding world would have opened up to us muggles.

Busy people don’t have great epiphanies. They’re too busy. Those eureka moments happen when our minds are free to wander - when we’re staring out of the window, having a shower, doing the dishes, or going for a walk.

💡 Focus

Have you ever picked your phone up to check Instagram and Twitter, put it down for a few moments, just to pick it up and check the same apps all over again? It’s pretty difficult to focus when you get addicted to the little dopamine hits that get released every time your phone lights up. Boredom starts off the detox process, strengthening our ability to focus.

🛣️ Fulfilment

In the book Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom, the authors suggest boredom is a signal that we're not doing what we want to be doing. Instead of trying to ignore those feelings, what if we leaned into them and figured out what they meant? What if we got away from the noise of social media to listen to ourselves? When you see what other creators are doing, you might feel a pull to do the same. But if you get bored, you might realise that path isn't for you.

🚨 Novelty

When we’re bored with what we’re doing, it encourages us to find new ways of doing things. That's how we can find novel ideas with a huge impact.

🍃 A break

We’re overloaded with information on a daily basis: articles, emails, tweets, Instagram stories, advertisements, images, and words. It’s no wonder we feel overwhelmed and burnt out. It's easy to think that a holiday escape is the solution, but maybe doing nothing is the break we really need.

I know it's difficult to do nothing when there's constantly more to do. But sometimes you need to change your default mode. Sometimes you need to switch off.

This is the most in-depth revenue breakdown I've ever seen from a creator. Ali shares all 12 of his income streams in 2022 and how they've changed since 2018. He also shares why he saw profits drop for the first time last year.

Here's another revenue breakdown because I find these super motivating and eye-opening. What I find most interesting is that nearly half of Jay's revenue came from his membership community which launched in March 2022.

I've always understood the importance of creating for my audience. But this video visualises that concept with such clarity that it makes the mysterious algorithm seem much less mysterious.

I've never been a fan of repurposed content, both from a consumer and creator point of view. That's why I really like Ev's strategy for leveraging content which focuses on the idea instead of the individual content piece. As she says, the idea "is not to push people back to the original content".

On the topic of boredom, here's another argument for doing less. I know doing less is difficult when there's so much to do but there's power in subtraction.

Synthesize your way to financial freedom with Andrew Kirby

Andrew Kirby became a millionaire at the age 22 by playing the Great Online Game. In this episode of Creators on Air, I spoke to him about:

• the mindset shift from consumer to creator

• the framework he used to build a business

• how creators can monetize in a way that values their audience

How to land sponsors in 2023

We've partnered up with Justin Moore for our first community event: an AMA on January 30th at 5pm GMT!

Justin is a sponsorship coach helping hundreds of creators land their deals brand deals for more money than they ever thought possible. I spoke to Justin about sponsorships on our podcast and I felt so confident afterwards. During this free 1 hour session, you'll be able to ask Justin all your questions on sponsorships, negotiating, and pricing. This is perfect if:

• you're getting started with sponsors

• you want to know how much you can charge sponsors

• you want to earn more and get sponsored consistently

You can sign up to the event here.

A quick survey for creators

We'd love to know more about you! If you have 10 seconds to spare, we'd really appreciate it if you could fill out this survey. It's probably the shortest survey you'll ever take.

I hope you've been having a great week!

Stay passionate,

Akta