Most us know the old adage junk in, junk out, when it comes to food. A while ago now, someone put it a different way, one that resonated more with me.
Your body is a 3D printout of the choices you made six months ago.
When I heard this, something clicked for me. I cut out bread and wheat almost entirely. I started drinking more water, eating more fresh veggies, and moving more.
Six months later, I was 20lb lighter. I had more energy, and felt better than I had in years.
What’s more, I’ve stayed that way.
I’m not totally abstemious. I love good wine, or an indulgent dinner with friends. I just don’t make those choices every day, because I know how I want the printout to feel, six months down the line.
I learned this lesson, but I still didn’t take in the bigger one.
Your mind is also a reflection of the choices you made six months ago.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve developed an unhealthy addiction to the news. Perhaps I’ve just replaced the junk food I used to eat with junk information.
I found myself toggling endlessly between two words on Google: Brexit, and Trump. I’d read the feed obsessively. And get annoyed at the latest twists and turns.
The result? I felt anxious and angry. Depressed, and powerless. I wasn’t sleeping well. And I was becoming a Brexit bore, because there’s only so much anyone wants to know about trade tariffs, fishing policy, or arcane Parliamentary procedures. Including me.
So I’ve changed my mental diet.
The Democrats will have to impeach President Trump without me carefully monitoring their every move – or his reactions, tweet by furious tweet.
Brexit will have consequences, or it won’t. How much I read about it in the meantime won’t make any real difference to anyone but me, and my family.
Instead, I’m following Greta Thunberg, and other leaders and creatives that inspire me. I’m booking tickets to comedy shows that make me laugh, and talks by artists and authors who make me think. At lunchtime, I’m playing new music instead of watching the 1pm news bulletins.
I’ve just read Ali Smith’s lyrical novels Autumn, Winter and Spring, in which she transforms her anger about the current political situation into inspiring and uplifting prose.
Instead of news feeds, I’ve watched Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates on Netflix, and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s uplifting directorial debut, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. Both of which talk about problems, but also solutions.
In case this sounds too serious and worthy, we also made a family trip to the cinema to see Zombieland: Double Tap the day it came out. (It’s just as funny as the first Zombieland film in 2009, in case you’re wondering.) And I’ve deliberately been spending more time with friends who are positive, creative and doing interesting things.
It’s only been a few weeks, so it’s a bit early to judge what the long-term effects will be. I’m still feeling angry. But less anxious, more optimistic. And I’m sleeping better.
Junk in, junk out
This is even more relevant for creatives, and those of us who need to come up with a steady stream of ideas in our work.
If you’re feeling uninspired, first make sure you’re taking time to replenish your energy. No one is at their best when they are tired. Then check the quality of the ideas you’re putting into your ever-changing mind.
I’ve recently been working with a client who is one of the most innovative people in her creative field. She is full of quirky, exciting and original ideas, and endlessly inspiring.
What I’ve noticed is how careful she is with the culture she consumes.
Here’s how to have more ideas.
She’ll go and see The Joker at a multiplex, but also check out an afternoon screening of Hitchcock’s Spellbound in an arthouse cinema, and watch a classic French film at home.
She reads widely, listens to everything from Nick Cave to Philip Glass, and rarely goes more than a few days without visiting an art exhibition, seeing some live music, or arranging a dinner with friends – all of whom also seem to be working on innovative and interesting projects or involved in cutting-edge culture.
She doesn’t have more time than the rest of us. She works long hours, in fact. She just watches less TV, and doesn’t follow the news or social media. She’s also curious and hungry for new inspiration. She asks great questions, and shares what she knows with anyone who asks, which makes people more open to sharing with her.
She makes a conscious choice to put inspiring, interesting stimuli in. And as a result, she gets great ideas out.
If you want to have more ideas, to be more creative and inspired, it’s worth checking what culture you are consuming, and how to improve it.
Some things to consider:
Who are you spending your time with?
There’s a theory that you are the average of the five people you spend most time with. So make a decision to seek out stimulating people. Rich Litvin, one of the world’s top life coaches, has a saying: if you’re the most interesting person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
If you want to thin k more creatively, make sure you deliberately meet someone inspiring or stimulating, every week. This could be as simple as joining a book group, or inviting some interesting friends over to dinner.
But you can also do it far more deliberately.
Arrange to meet up with a friend or colleague, and decide to focus your conversation on the things that have really caught your attention that month.
See this as an exchange of information, with both of you agreeing to prepare at least a few things in advance.
What have you been watching/reading/listening to? What has piqued your interest? What trends have you noticed, what challenges are you facing, what have you learned?
What are you reading, watching, listening to?
Be deliberate in what you watch on TV. I find it helps to have a list of films, documentaries and dramas in my task manager (I use Things on my iPhone and Mac).
I add things as I hear about them, along with where to find them (Netflix, Amazon, cable channels, or specialist film streaming services). Then, when I’m tired, I don’t just sink onto the sofa and mindlessly watch whatever happens to be on that night.
I bookmark interesting articles as I find them online, so there’s always something to read on my phone or iPad.
Carve out extra time to deliberately input stimulating information whenever you can. Perhaps you could get up a little earlier, so you can spend 15 minutes reading something inspiring. Or listen to audiobooks and podcasts while you’re commuting, making dinner or working out.
What experiences are you having?
We all have our comfort zones. But it’s important to make a conscious choice to do something different every now and then. A regular Artist’s Date is a great tool for this: deliberately taking at least an hour out of your week to go and do something new, or interesting, or exciting.
In his book The Accidental Creative – How To Be Brilliant at A Moment’s Notice, Todd Henry suggests putting aside time each week to go do something stimulating, whether that’s going to a talk, an art show, a museum or a bookshop.
Go to a service in a religion that is not your own. Or a talk on something that’s way out of your usual interests. Or even an exercise class that’s completely different to your normal workout.
Try to seek out perspectives you wouldn’t normally be exposed to. Pick up a random magazine on a subject you wouldn’t normally read about. Choose a newspaper or news channel that takes a different perspective to the ones you normally read or watch.
Remember that fun is important too, so allow yourself a certain amount of time watching Love Island, scrolling through social media, reading crime thrillers or listening to cheesy pop on the radio. Just don’t make it your whole mental diet.
Try this, and see what comes out in six months’ time. Don’t be surprised if you’re making new connections, moving in new directions, and ideas are flowing effortlessly. Better quality fuel in means better quality results out.
What do you think?