The Power of an Information Diet: Transforming Your Creative Process

My Twitter timeline was looking like a camaieu of the same topic. Slight variations of words sending a monochrome message to my brain.

Same thing in my mailbox.

I would receive newsletters with almost the same subject lines.

I decided that this needed to change.

My brain was feeling like in a small box where my ideas suffocated.

So I started to clean up.

My timeline, my mailbox.

That\’s when I realized I need to change my information diet.

This expression came from a tweet by Darren Matthew:

And it stuck.

Why are we conscious that the food we eat affects our body (and mind apparently), and not that the information we consume or expose ourselves to will affect our thoughts, thus what we write and create?

Probably because of the intangible nature of information.

The signals from our bodies are stronger than those from our brains when exposed to a bad diet.

I mean, how do you weigh your brain to discover that it is too fat?

Self-awareness is the answer (as often).

But let\’s discuss a bit further the impact of a bad diet and what having a good information diet can do for you.

The negative impact of a bad information diet

As for the body, a bad diet influences our thought and behaviour in many ways, from loss of creativity to being stuck in the infinite scrolling hell.

Limiting creativity

My little story told us that you can feel stuck in a box of similarity.

But this is worse than that.

Since you are exposed to the same ideas over and over, what will happen when you sit down to write, make a video, or build a new business, or a piece of art?

You will likely create something not far from what you\’ve seen repeatedly. Your brain is filled with this limited set of ideas and it will pick from that to produce something.

It is not always obvious.

our brain is sneaky.

That\’s why I was writing about thinking frameworks in a previous issue. In particular critical thinking.

If you make it a habit to analyze your production as an outside observer, you will see more easily when you are adding more noise instead of being original.

Meditation helps a lot with learning how to take a step back from your own thoughts (ask Joe Lurie for help, I learned how to do it the right way after many failed attempts).

But critical thinking can be trained by simply asking questions.

For example, you could add a question to your editing checklist: is this content too similar to what you have been seeing online?

(if you don\’t have an editing checklist, you should create one, so helpful!)

Overstimulation

This is particularly happening on social media.

And that\’s why I recommend having a day off each week where you don\’t even open any social media app. I try to do this each Saturday or Sunday. Saturday is better I think.

This will create more space for your own thoughts, nourishing your mind with alternative sources of information: a book, a movie, a walk, or a discussion with friends or family.

You will enjoy this break and your creativity will thank you.

Exposure to negative content

Also typical of social media.

It is not only the obvious mean comments you will easily spot and discard.

I am thinking also about rants or even more dangerous, misperceptions that are spread like poison through the web.

An example I spotted recently is the idea that walking helps to be more creative.

I thought that and I have seen many people writing it.

Until I took 5 minutes to research the topic and found out that:

1. all the content talking about that originated from a single source. This is bad.

2. a systematic review of this famous study and a bunch of others showed that they were likely prone to methodological flaws.

The conclusion is that there is no scientific grounds for this statement, contrary to what was claimed even by big publications.

Establishing facts is tough. Being a scientist, I usually spend years working full-time (and more) to half-prove a hypothesis.

I get why not everyone does this. It is just impossible.

But everyone can be more critical and avoid propagating this type of negative content.

Confusion

Related to this, consuming too much content can lead to some confusion by cognitive overload.

Your brain won\’t be able to focus and get the clarity required for meaningful creativity.

Too many emails, too many social media, and even too many readings from various sources and on different topics.

I experienced that with YouTube.

I am a heavy user (less now, but still) and I tend to consume video after video.

Since I mostly watch educational content, I am exposing myself to many information on a variety of topics. No way I can get all the benefits from doing this.

Instead, I should be more intentional to learn about a specific topic and stop after 3-5 videos.

Even better, I should take notes to make it active and bring some distance between the content and my thoughts, exerting critical thinking as we discussed.

I am starting to do this and I see the benefits.

Addiction

It can be difficult to get out of social media.

They are designed to keep us scrolling and consuming more by taking advantage of primary neuron networks hypersensitive to pleasure (via a neurotransmitter called dopamine).

They appeal to our survival brain which thinks that scrolling a bit more on Twitter, Instagram or TikTok is good for us.

Wrong.

It sucks for us.

There have been experiences with rats using a similar strategy. If I remember well (don\’t trust me blindly), the rat was getting a shot of dopamine triggered by a lever it was free to push whenever it wanted via electrodes. What happened is that the rat stopped eating. Too busy getting the pleasure from actioning the lever.

It feels like that sometimes when I scroll on TikTok for example.

One more. One more. Even if I am hungry or want to go to the bathroom.

Addiction is bad.

But it can be cured!

How?

Start by uninstalling the apps from your phone. It should break the infinite scrolling loop of hell.

OK, I think it is clear now how having a bad diet can impact negatively your brain and your creativity.

But being aware of the negative side is not always enough to change behaviour.

Let\’s see a few positives to motivate further you to improve your diet.

The positive impact of a good information diet

It is often more subtle to see benefits.

As for the Force in Star Wars: the dark side is more obviously powerful. Until you see how Jedis who commit to the bright side of the Force get more benefits in the long term.

Inspiration

Getting out of the common streams of information will expose you to new sources of inspiration.

For example, if you are a writer (highly probable), consuming intentionally movies can give you ideas for a story you will include in your next piece. Or even an idea of an article.

Listening to songs can work as well.

They come from human experiences. Thus they are a great source of inspiration, and lessons you can include to your content.

For example, if you consume a lot of fiction, you may be inspired to write or create videos in a similar style and genre, incorporating elements of fiction into your work.

On the other hand, if you consume a lot of action-packed movies or TV shows, you may be more inclined to create content that is also fast-paced and action-oriented.

Build your style

If you immerse yourself in the style of your favourite creators or authors, you will integrate what makes them unique.

It will become a part of how you create yourself.

With time, you will naturally fuse those different styles with your own personality and interests. A new unique style will emerge. Your style.

For example, I am a guitar player. I have listened for countless hours to a few of my favourite guitar players. I spent time imitating their style. I learned pieces from them.

My own style is emerging after years of doing this, but I can recognize the influences.

As do people listening to me. I got a comment on Instagram comparing my playing to a famous guitarist. It is flattering but more interestingly, it made me realize how the obsessional consumption of the music of this artist influenced me.

Increase your knowledge

Special diets can help you build more muscles (that is if you train them).

Likewise, you can shift purposely your consumption to get more knowledge.

Not only factual knowledge but also learning about the personal experience of people using this knowledge. Getting a bit of their wisdom.

This happens only when you spend enough time on a topic. Not when you don\’t choose to change your information diet consciously and consume whatever comes to you.

Cultivate taste

As you are exposed to different styles, genres, and formats, you can develop a more refined sense of what you enjoy and what you do not.

You will quickly find the best creators on each topic and cultivate a taste for great content.

This can shape the type of content you choose to create, and the way in which you create it.

Develop a more satisfying lifestyle

If you consume content about productivity, creativity, or self-improvement (like what you are reading now!), you will naturally tend to apply at least of part of that to your life.

Therefore, you will build a lifestyle that is more satisfying and fulfilling.

Our environment influences our behaviours.

In short, creating an information diet composed of healthy elements will bring positive changes to your life.

Conclusion

We have seen how your information diet can impact negatively or positively your production and more generally your life.

Developing self-awareness and critical thinking will help you to create a diet suitable for YOU.

My mission is to help you build your freedom.

Hacking your environment is a part of the equation.

So what to do next?

• Use a platform you never or barely used. Maybe Reddit or quora or TikTok?

• Curate your feed, and your timeline. Block, and unfollow what doesn\’t help you.

• Learn from the best. Expose yourself to great content.

• Make a weekly break from information streams

• Experience more. First-hand experiences make your life bigger. And give you original data to create better.

• Transform even the little even of your daily life into stories. You are the source.

This will help you develop your unique style and stand out from the ocean of mediocre content.

Don\’t forget: garbage in, garbage out.

Take care of your information diet for a healthy creative mind!

Be unique, be great,

Frank