I wrote this while in the air on the way back from a holiday. I had a few hours of sleep but woke up with a need to jot down a few ideas, which led to this writing. I share this to also confess that I struggle to turn off my work brain, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’ve always concealed this side of me, mostly due to the reactions I get when I say I’d rather stay home and work on my individual projects instead of socialising. It’s not that I hate going out or doing activities, but I enjoy what I do and its ever-evolving nature.
I’m far from a machine; I don’t work continuously. It’s a mixture of deep work, learning something new, doom scrolling and going down a rabbit hole with something sport-related. Most of what I do revolves around sharing my perspective, so I like to think that the time spent on social media is me keeping my ear to the ground. It’s not all wasted (well, that’s what I tell myself anyway).
I want to introduce you to a model I call the Creative Hyper Loop. It’s something that I’ve developed and refined over the last year to help me with my creative output. To break down the Creative Hyper Loop, there are four phases, and each has a vantage point.
The first phase is Consume. In this phase, you actively seek out information and experiences from various sources. This could involve activities such as reading books, watching videos, travelling, or engaging in conversations. The goal is to absorb new ideas and perspectives that will fuel your creativity. Given that I’m travelling at the moment, being able to experience different activities and interact with others has given me ideas and thoughts for this and future projects. The vantage point here, if you hadn’t already guessed, is to find Inspiration.
The next phase is Produce. This phase is all about creating and executing. You take the inspiration gathered during the Consume phase and translate them into tangible outputs. This could involve writing, designing, building, basically any form of creation relevant to your field. The aim is to reach a vantage point where you’re Immobile, meaning you have completed what you set out to do or you’re stuck. I’ve learnt that getting stuck is part of the process. There is a difference between getting stuck on something that requires a little more time and effort compared to losing inspiration where you are mentally stuck. The latter is more a sign that it’s best to move on to the next phase.
After consuming and producing, it’s important to step back and Reflect. This involves analysing what you have created, considering what worked well and what didn’t. The aim is to gain deeper insights into your current creative pursuit, helping you to identify an Interest. I believe this is where you start if your not someone who regularly creates. If you think of the Creative Hyper Loop like a skipping rope game, an Interest is like recognising the perfect opening to jump in. This can come from reflecting on what you’ve just produced or even reflecting on life.
In the final phase, you take the insights gained from reflection and use them to Formulate clear Intentions for your next cycle. By knowing your Intention, you ensure that you have a purposeful direction for your next creative pursuit. It can be easy as identifying a question to help you investigate in the Consume phase.
I believe the Creative Hyper Loop can be extremely complimentary to anyone who wants to continuously grow and identify if they are alignment with the evolving creative interests and goals. By moving through these phases, you can maintain a dynamic balance between learning, creating, reflecting, and planning.
This method has helped me produce a lot. I actually have a substantial amount of output vaulted. I have a whole process that accompanies this to help me systematically create and execute ideas. Now, the challenge I face is publishing and distributing because I can be an over-thinker which is a conversation for another day. I wanted to share how you can produce a lot by going through these phases and knowing what point you need to get to. Over time, it gets easier to recognise where you are and what you need to do to get to the next point.
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