“Produce more than you consume”

Years ago when my children were a lot smaller and technology was a lot less pervasive, our school hosted a talk on finding wisdom and balance when raising digitally-native families.

The one thing that stuck with me was that we should encourage our children to produce more than they consume online.

This doesn’t mean we should not be rabid readers and insatiably curious. But it‘s a simple forcing function to learn through trying, tinkering, experimenting, failing, persevering….

The same goes for us adults.

It’s easy to scroll endlessly.

If you can’t meaningfully add to the conversation because there’s nothing to say in the comments, maybe you’re scrolling through content that doesn’t incite contribution and you should consider scrolling somewhere else.

If you don’t think you can draw or write or create music or videos or code or build a website or online store, how do you know for sure?

Have you tried?

If it didn’t go well, did you try again? And again?

What did you learn?

Creating and learning is an endless loop.

More than ever in an online world, finding joy in creative expression is more about developing a cadence and rhythm—developing a habit, if you will—than hoping you’ll produce something “viral” on the first go.

Starting small and failing and starting again is better than not starting at all.

Persevere. Keep exploring. Don’t give up because it’s hard.

If it’s mediocre or even terrible, who cares. Keep going. Tinker with abandon until you find a creative outlet that feels natural.

Don’t chase the dream of creating or producing the “next big thing” but do it for the joy first.

You might be surprised what you are capable of.