This isn't a normal letter, I'm starting this section off mad and ending it (hopefully) with some harsh truths I've seen about how people think about creativity and why most people will forever be stuck! Maybe you'll learn something, maybe you'll just enjoy me being mad and going on a small rant.

Learning

If there's a thing I DESPISE it's stubbornness and being close-minded (being a hypocrite is there too but that's for another day). Recently I had a conversation with someone who poked all the wrong buttons and it's a wonder I kept my composure, maybe I'm growing up. I was having a conversation with someone about creativity and the part in question went something like this:

"If you're not creative you should just stay in your lane, not everyone can do these things", they said with a smile waiting to turn into laughter.
"What do you mean", I asked with a smile of utter WTF and a plastic smile, "everyone's creative. Even when you're a kid you play make-believe with your friends and use your imagination".
"Oh please", they break into laughter, "that doesn't count! If you don't get it then you don't get it and something just doesn't!"

So I punched them in the mouth. Okay, I didn't but I thought that could be an appropriate rebuttal. I was vexed for two reasons. First of which is the fact that I know they're not the only ones who think that way and it's crazy. There are so many people who want to act like creativity is this thing for the elites or the chosen few. That it's this super special thing that doesn't belong to the common man. Don't get me wrong, creativity is special and there are varying degrees of creativity in different people but at the end of the day, we're all creative.

Creative acts are not just the fancy and the flashy. Anything that needs you to come up with ideas, a solution a new approach - that's creative. Yes, that includes the dude selling used phones trying to spin you a story to get you to buy it for double the price it's worth. Of course, it includes the mother trying to figure out how to make the food stretch when she's heard last minute that her picky in-laws are on their way for lunch. I most definitely also include your little cousin using the spatula as the hammer of Thor to smite the unworthy.

The second reason is that close-mindedness is the complete opposite of what you need for creativity. Openness to experience is a facet of personality that describes your tendency to actively explore the new, unfamiliar, abstract and contradictory. People who are high in openness have the perfect ingredients to be highly creative. The funny thing is most websites will take a politically correct stance and say "Being high in openness isn't better than being low in openness. There are just personality types and everything is valid". Then they'll go on to say "How To Increase Your Openness". Funny they don't teach you how to decrease it, wonder why?

What's my point here? If you have a rigid view of what constitutes creativity or if you find yourself relatively closed off to new ideas and approaches you're shooting yourself in the foot. That's not to say, however, that you're doomed to die an unimaginative hack. There's plenty you can do to improve this so you can increase your ability to come up with brilliant ideas by making connections between ideas an elements that are (seemingly) unrelated. The hallmark of high creativity. Here are some articles you can check out.

Watching

Two faith-based bangers back-to-back for you but both are tough as nails and touching to the core. Also both based off true stories.

The Pope's Exorcist

We're following Gabrielle, the wise-cracking exorcist with a pinch of cocky, as he takes on his toughest case yet. The evil that calls for his attention is more than he bargained for and forces him to fight his own demons while... fighting demons.

It's not cheesy I swear, it's an R-Rated movie. I won't say much cause I need you to watch it and tell me what you think. But look forward to watching a classic redemption arch with our gritty hero.

Reading

In Contagious - Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger he runs through how certain ideas and content catch on and how you can use some of the principles in his book to maximise the virality of what you're putting out. Obviously, this is great for content creators but if you're an entrepreneur trying to get the word out on your hustle this works great too.

The 6 key S.T.E.P.P.S. to creating shareable, spreadable or contagious content.

Principle 1: Social Currency
Play on people's desire to look cool, funny or exciting by them being the ones sharing something cool, funny or exciting. Ask how sharing the content gives the sharer some sort of status. Relationship TikTok accounts grow because people see their content and share it with their partner to show them I'm romantic and I'm thinking about them. Meme accounts have people share with their friends to get their friends to laugh. "Eric is so funny, he has the best memes". What does your sharing your content do for the sharer?

Principle 2: Triggers
How do you remind people to talk about our content? How do we link things in the world to our or product that trigger them to think about or talk about you? Netflix and Chill is infamous for getting people lucky. Now when people think about home dates watching movies they don't say Amazon Prime and Recline, or HBO Max and Relax. This happy smooch-filled accident positioned having a Netflix account as a perfect addition if you want to do an at-home date.

Principle 3: Emotion
How can we craft messages that make people feel something? This could be positive like surprise or negative like being infuriated. When celebrity rappers say some not-so-nice things about a certain group of people it spreads like wildfire. It's infuriating to the people who hear it and they vent by showing others that would feel their pain.

Principle 4: Public
Make the things as observable and visible as possible. FOMO (fear of missing out) is real and strong. Show that other people are using your product, watching your show or reading your work.

Principle 5: Practical Value
What practical value does our content or idea have? How does it save time, money or effort? What makes it so useful or practical is that the person who sees it just has to show it to someone else.

Principle 6: Stories
Humans are wired for stories. We love a compelling narrative (yes even a short one, have you ever heard of a short story?) that captures our attention, tickles our minds and takes us on a journey. How can we wrap our product or idea inside the story (like a Greek army hidden in a Trojan horse or an STD hidden in a one-night stand)? If done right you'll make it impossible for your audience to share the incredible story without also spreading your idea.