When you can brainstorm seventy ideas, life feels different. For those of you who are new, I have had a pretty high creative output ever since I implemented my tips. My outlets were writing, creating videos, taking photos, and my now-failed apps. By now, I also had multiple creative peaks. On average, I tripled my output by implementing my principles. I unleashed my competitive edge.
This is not your average guide. I will not teach some cute tips like solving puzzles. I will teach you how to live in order to maximize your creative output. Please understand that being slightly more creative can change your life trajectory forever. Creativity gives you a competitive edge. Life is war; one of your most important weapons is your mind.
This guide is structured so that the later tips require more attention and time, while the earlier ones can be implemented immediately.
This text is dry. It’s not meant to entertain. It’s intended to bring you forward in life. Not everything can be fun and cute. Are you ready?
Definitions.
1.1. Never restrict your thinking.
This is the most important principle, so it's the first one. Write down your silly ideas and the ideas you don’t want to write down. Expressing them will make space for new thoughts, or maybe they will become useful later. Give every idea a try.
Here are a few examples of crazy ideas that worked out.
Not restricting your thoughts starts by not censoring your speech. If you constantly practice telling what others want to hear, you forget your own thoughts. Please let your mind go wherever it wants.
Yes, most ideas are dangerous, counterproductive, or pointless. The problem is they could also be the breakthrough. Most ideas fail after five seconds, so you may as well give them a try.
1.2. Connect and combine
Before I started writing this text, I brainstormed around twenty-five different principles, which took around two minutes. Grouping and sorting them made another idea appear here and there. This paragraph is short, but that’s where over half of your ideas will come from. Never underestimate the power of new connections.
1.3. Rule of Twenty Ideas
Force yourself to write down at least twenty ideas, even if those ideas seem repetitive, ambiguous, and silly. If you write them all down, you clear your mind and make a place for a potentially revolutionary idea.
1.4. Don't be scared of exhausting your creativity
Frequently, I wrote down seventy ideas while brainstorming. However, I often constrained myself because I wanted to ‘save some creativity for later,’ which, of course, didn’t work. Currently, I'm not at an extreme creative peak where I can generate seventy ideas at will, and that’s okay. I made the most of the creative periods and didn’t put any potential to waste.
1.5. Use paper
I don't know of a great innovation from the notes app on the phone. Maybe I'm ignorant, or perhaps they don’t exist.
Screens lower memory and comprehension, making you less likely to remember your ideas. As a result, you won't be able to find as many follow-up ideas. One would only use some software to feel like a cutting-edge tech guy or hide one’s monumental laziness. We both know that that’s true. You may think that digital notes are better because they can be searched. However, because you can’t ‘search’ paper, you generate more ideas. Not all of life is about comfort.
Every time I write such a text, I print it out. I don’t see missing words and awkward sentences when I read it on a screen. Comprehension is a magnitude better on paper.
1.6. Often, it takes just two minutes
Just start. Don’t worry about running out of ideas before you begin to brainstorm.
1.7. Be alone to avoid crowd stupidity
An experiment was conducted in which people were asked to estimate the amount of something in a jar. Their combined answers were very close to the actual number. That’s crow wisdom.
Yet, there’s a misconception about creativity. While connecting ideas yields new ones, putting many people in a room significantly reduces creativity. That’s because of group stupidity, where one’s brain turns off because others surround one. Also, groupthink makes outstanding ideas disappear, and usually, the loudest gain the most attention – not the ones with the best ideas.
This experiment only worked after everyone gave their answers independently, and then the results were combined. So, to use crowd wisdom, let everyone find ideas separately and compare them afterward.
1.8. Try to think about everything
I used to program. While programming, you must think of everything, which is incredibly difficult. How can you practice thinking about everything? I don’t know, but I do believe that writing and programming are good ways to do that.
Generally, asking a few questions can help. Those are the questions I ask myself when I write my texts:
Thinking about everything also means asking questions such as:
I try to view things from multiple times and places, characters and people, and also from the legal and technical points of view.
2.1. Input, knowledge and learning
I don't know anything about ice cream; hence, I couldn’t brainstorm ideas on how to make the ice cream factory more efficient. If you know nothing, where are ideas supposed to come from? You need to know things to generate ideas. If you read a book on how to make an app more addictive, you will start to find ideas. – So, watch educational videos, listen to podcasts, and learn from books. If you have nothing else to do, reading and sports should be your default activities. However, videos can decrease creativity if they fry your attention span.
2.2. Give
I’m sharing my wisdom to make sense of the world, which allows me to gain unparalleled clarity. Here’s a fun fact: I’ve written so much that my inner voice is equal to the texts I write, and having high-quality thoughts is a beautiful experience. Sharing knowledge has another benefit: by sharing, others will give back!
2.3. Silence, boredom, and stillness
Right before a brainstorming session, you should clear your mind. Don’t eat, listen to music, or watch anything for at least 15 minutes. Stare at your wall, get bored, and see a spike in creativity.
This text was written after two days of lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. Writing six thousand words in one sitting is only possible if you give your mind time to rest. It’s okay to be bored; boredom is necessary to sort things out.
On January 12, 2023, my sister and I attended a university’s open-door day. I didn’t want to go because, rightfully, I had better things to do. Because my mother forced me to, I had to go. I signed up for a quantum physics lecture. It just so happened that I don’t care about physics at all. I care about hot blondes, self-improvement, business, and philosophy. So, I sat there and was bored as I’d never been. I contemplated my life and thought I didn’t want to end up as a nerd under any circumstance. After a while of letting my mind wander, I started to think about my apps again, my business at that time. I generated so many ideas that it would take until September 2023 to try them all out. One of these ideas was a new app based on the first one; other ideas included features and marketing concepts.
How do you summon boredom, silence, and stillness? Mediation.
Meditation is simple. You start to focus on something, preferably your breath, and try to think about nothing else. Eventually, you will notice your mind wandering again, and then you refocus. Refocusing is like doing mental pushups. You don’t need to be angry about losing focus because that’s progress! Do this for fifteen minutes daily for the rest of your life, and your quality of life will improve immensely.
2.4. Remove anything that's bothering you
A messy room can enhance creativity, but we both know that it’s often a sign of losing one's zest for life. There’s a difference between trash and dust lying around and documents being unsorted because one works on them.
Why can you focus at night so flawlessly? It’s simple. Because there’s silence and darkness. There are no distractions at night.
By organizing your room, you can remove optical noise. Bringing order to your environment mirrors the creative process. For instance, writing involves transforming chaotic thoughts into a coherent and impressive text, much like tidying up a messy room. Both activities include creating order out of disorder.
‘Removing anything that bothers you’ has a powerful side to it. As you might know, I used to create apps. My apps stood out with their design; that’s the first thing everyone complimented me on. How was I able to do it? Well, whenever I looked at a screen and didn’t like something about it, I would scrap it and start anew until nothing bothered me anymore. That’s how perfection is reached. - I didn’t clean my desk. I reinvented what desk meant by removing everything. Sometimes you need to be radical.
By the way, a clean environment also enhances mental health, invites to work, and optimizes the workflow, which is good for creativity. I used to have a messy room for years. Then, I learned what perfection meant.
2.5. Stress, pressure and credibility
Generally, stress is good for creativity. However, most people think that stress is bad for creativity. The devil lies in the details. For example, while chronic stress is bad, some people view it as good and have none of the health problems one would expect. I fall into that category, too. I need stress to feel alive and purposeful; without stress, I'm a shell of a man.
One of my first videos [before the deletions from June 2024] on my self-improvement channel is a video in which I take out the camera, a notebook, and a pencil and brainstorm thirty-five video ideas in seven minutes. This video was titled ‘Short Creativity Guide.’ Turning on the camera meant I had to perform. I had no choice.
Deadlines accelerate.
2.6. Write down an idea as soon as you have it
When I'm sitting in school and can’t work on my laptop because we’re writing a test, I often think of the girls I find hot. But sometimes, I get a new idea randomly, and I take a piece of paper to write it down. Taking notes is just part of life. By the way, if you carry an expensive notebook with you, you can look sexy to some girls.
2.7. Take a break
If I could count how many times looking away from a problem made the solution obvious, I would be a millionaire. Taking a break does wonders, especially in non-straightforward tasks such as programming, crafting, or writing poems. A perspective shift boosts creativity.
In October 2022, I decided to stop being physically weak. I could do exactly zero pull-ups and only five push-ups. So, whenever I ran into an error message while programming that I couldn’t find the solution to, I ran outside to do some pull-ups. I would do 50 pullups and 150 pushups a day. Physical training and taking a short break did wonders for my creativity.
3.1. Diet
Sugar and carbohydrates constrain mental performance. You don’t realize how much your diet impacts your performance until you optimize it. When I eat noodles and then try to write, my texts are unreadable, and I often find contradictions in the same sentences. Even if I push and try to focus, the quality is still handicapped.
If you eat carbs, at least do it in the evening, after your work is done.
You should cut out all ultra-processed foods, such as protein powder, modern bread, sweets, or chips. The definition of ultra-processed foods is that they include “non-food substances,” which means ultra-processed foods aren’t even food.
In Germany, people start their day by eating bread. That puzzles me. Why do they kill their prime mental clarity with bread? Bread isn’t even tasty! I can name a thousand more delectable dishes.
Most people – including you and me - are a lot stupider than they are supposed to be. As I stopped eating unhealthily, cut out the internet, and started to meditate, read, journal, shower cold, work hard, and do sports, I could elevate my IQ by thirty points in one year, which massively elevated my creativity. Because I improved my life, I now qualified as a ‘genius.’ Let me share a secret. If I'm a ‘genius’ because I don’t eat bread in the morning, then … I need to calm down…
Diet is input. If input sucks, output sucks too.
3.2. Sports
Archery isn’t a sport. I used to do that for years when I was an insentient child. Sports come down to motion, exhaustion, sweat, and an elevated pulse. That means a light run for ten minutes isn’t a sport, either. Just go out there and exhaust yourself—lean into it!
I have done many sports in my life: aikido, soccer, swimming, archery, riding horses like a rich girl, and judo. But I didn’t really like those sports. For example, while riding, you just sit there like an idiot, hoping you don’t fall down, which isn’t exhausting. So now, I'm going to the gym where I can give it my all. Today, I'm lying sick in bed, so I have time to write, but previously, I could run 600 m in 1:30 and leg press 250 kg. Having a capable body helps with creativity.
3.3. Sleep
I don’t know anything about sleep, and I won’t pretend I do.
What I do know is that time in bed doesn’t equal time asleep, and being in bed, which means being in bed for eight hours a day, is too little for most people. I also know that sleep is crucial to repair the brain and if creativity is what you want, please prioritize sleep.
Undeniable is the importance of the time you get up. I perform best when I get up around three or four. I go to bed accordingly early.
Your health is your greatest asset; protect it and make it blossom.
3.4. Intermittent fasting
You’re supposed to be hungry.
You need to be a tiger, not a cow. A cow is slow, fat, and eats all day long.
Hunger doesn’t mean that you’re going to collapse in a minute. Hunger means you’re ready for new food; you’re ready for the hunt. Being a bit hungry makes you work harder.
Furthermore, your mind is very focused and calm if you are hungry. You need every drop of clarity.
I recommend delaying eating for as long as it takes for your important work to be done, which is two to four hours.
3.5. Get a special place
Many artists have a separate location to write, perhaps because women and children are annoying and also because some places awaken the soul. When I turn on my computer, listen to some music, put on my lamp, and drink a glass of water, my mind and body prepare for writing. Opening the notebook where I typically brainstorm brings me into the brainstorming flow.
3.6. Get your attention span to five minutes
I want you to try something. Go and stare at a clock.
If you can’t look at it for five minutes without feeling stressed, you have a problem and should reassess your whole life. I genuinely mean what I say. Life is not cool if you can’t focus on anything because of your phone addiction.
People used to read newspapers. They would dedicate an hour a day to staring at a piece of paper. Being able to feel presence is a wonderful experience. That’s what technology is taking away from you. A love letter can be written on paper. You don’t need to send text messages. Overstimulation is running your life.
How do you fix that short attention span?
You meditate and cut out technology.
What are you lacking for your success? Is it knowledge, money, time, or connections? Most likely, it's focus. If you cannot sit down to find ideas because you keep grabbing your phone, you’ve got a problem.
Here is an extra tip to focus better; refuse to look away physically.
I respect your outstanding attention span for still reading.
4.1. Visualizations
When you go to the gym to lift weights, it’s easy to reach a point where the weights don’t move a single inch. When I then put myself in a lotus position and meditate for a few breaths, I'm suddenly able to do it. I visualize how I conquer weights and how my muscles follow.
Likewise, believing that you are able to generate outstanding ideas, creative and innovative, will do wonders. You have to put in the faith.
Never underestimate the power of the mind.
4.2. Purpose
The purpose is the center of one’s life – at least if you follow it. If, of course, you decide to suppress it, you will get weak, and it can go as far as getting sick. However, your creativity will blossom if you dare to align your life with what you feel you are meant to do.
When my purpose was apps, I could brainstorm up to seventy improvement ideas at a time. The opposite is also true; ever since apps stopped being my purpose, I have been getting ideas at random about them. Writing is my purpose, and I constantly get new insights on which texts to write.
Your subconscious is wired to look for problems and their solutions. You can utilize this mechanism using affirmations. For example, I used to constantly ask myself, ‘How do I get rich, how do I get rich, how do I get rich?’ – and I had a stream of ideas, some of which were indeed outstanding.
4.3. Free your mind
Freeing your mind can be simple. Make that call or write down your to-do list. However, we can get a lot deeper… My by far most creative period, April and May 2023, took place right after I had managed to move on from my traumas. Traumas, crushes, and purpose are similar in the sense that they own real estate in your mind, both trying to find solutions. When my traumas moved out, my purpose got more real estate, thus I grew more creative. Thus, prioritizing one’s mental health is vital for creativity. - Of course, sometimes, one has the greatest insights while in the deepest pain.
5.1. Live an interesting life
There is a general rule that reads beautifully. You get what you deserve. The extraordinary doesn't hide in the ordinary. Doing things as everyone else creates according to results. - If I had an intact family, a part-time job at a café, three hours of screen time, and bread for breakfast, and if I got up at six and played in the soccer club, I would be writing boring texts. An average life yields average creativity.
5.2. Novelty
Creativity is always induced; it's based on change. If something is changing, new perspectives and thinking patterns emerge. A trip, workshop, new room layout, or dynamic routine induces creativity.
For months, I’ve walked the same two-hour route at the same time each day. It served me well, providing a space to generate ideas and process my otherwise laborious days. However, this routine has become monotonous, and the well of inspiration has run dry. Creativity thrives on novelty, and mine has declined with repetition.* It’s clear that this path no longer inspires me. Now it's time for something new.
Discipline boosts creativity. Refusing unhealthy food and having the discipline to sit down and do the work help—but only for so long. In the long term, you need novelty to remain creative.
Now, you may think that hobbies add balance and remove the rigidity of too much discipline. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. There’s no novelty in going to the volleyball game for three hours a week. “Novelty” means “new” – the fact that something is a hobby proves it can’t be new. True novelty means trying new things, tasting new food, learning something new, and traveling to new sights.
Novelty develops character and boosts health, memory, and consciousness. Novelty elevates life satisfaction.
Novelty keeps you young.
5.3. Bonus. How I summon novelty
Sometimes, everything gets too much, and I need to rest. So, I lie in bed for a day or two and return to full performance instantly. I did that a few days ago, in late October 2023, and I’ve written ten thousand words in less than a week.
*****
I fear my creativity will run dry; however, so far, it has always returned. I’ve learned to trust. Embracing this ebb and flow is part of the process. Creativity is full of surprises.
Each creative peak allows me to explore new ideas and push my boundaries. When I'm in a highly productive period, I feel immense gratitude. I’ve come to cherish these moments, knowing they may not last forever. That’s the beauty of creativity – it’s fleeting, making it all the more precious.
Today, I woke up at four and have been writing for over six hours without a break. Despite lying in bed, I found my focus and poured my thoughts onto the page. Now that I've expressed myself, I feel a sense of peace and accomplishment; my demons are quiet for now. It feels like I’m at a creative peak, and it’s a wonderful feeling.
Thank you for being part of this journey with me.
*There’s another reason I stopped going for walks which is not included in the original October 2023 version. At the time, I saw the girl I wanted multiple times on my daily walks. These weren’t coincidences either, especially from what I know as of July 2024 and what my texts used to reveal back then. Seeing her became a problem because now my walks essentially became searches for her, which made me suffer, so I stopped. There were a few other reasons. For example, the weather was ugly, and I got sick.