Friday Creative Boost: Make an Appointment with your Creative Self

If you've spent any time in the realm of startups, you've heard the axiom that ideas are cheap, but execution is what really matters. Yet even the best execution is meaningless if it's built on an uninspired, or worse, a flawed idea. So, it makes sense to invest in idea-generation—what we often label as "creativity"—as systematically as we invest in execution. What I'm proposing is radical, yet simple: make an appointment with your creative self, as you would with a co-founder or an investor.

1. Investing in Your Intellectual Portfolio

Just like you wouldn't randomly pick a stock and pour all your money into it, you shouldn't treat your creative time as an afterthought. Consider it as a form of intellectual investment. Schedule it, prepare for it, and reflect upon it. Essentially, turn it into a routine, akin to agile development cycles or quarterly planning.

2. Protecting Time: The Currency of Life

Start by blocking off a chunk of time—let's call this a "creativity sprint"—in your calendar. This isn't "free time" or "me time"; this is a business meeting between you and your inner innovator. Guard this time as zealously as you would guard a one-on-one with a key investor. In the busy calculus of life, especially in the startup ecosystem, time is the only non-renewable resource. Treat it accordingly.

3. The Right Setting: Your Intellectual Workshop

Just as an artisan requires a workshop, your creativity needs its own space. It can be physical—like a secluded corner of your home—or mental, like a specific mental state induced through meditation or music. The point is to craft an environment that's conducive to the type of thinking you want to indulge in. Would Einstein have conceived the theory of relativity in the middle of a bustling market? Probably not.

4. The Loose Agenda: Cultivating Directed Serendipity

I can hear the cries of sacrilege already: "An agenda for creativity? That's counterintuitive!" But hear me out. Just as the best startups find their genesis in a controlled form of chaos—what we might term "directed serendipity"—your creativity also benefits from a semblance of structure. Jot down areas you want to explore or problems you want to solve. Then allow your mind the latitude to wander within that intellectual framework.

5. Techniques: The Creative Toolbox

You wouldn't build a product without a set of tools, and you shouldn't approach your creativity any differently. Mind-mapping can help you expand on an idea, while techniques like the SWOT analysis or Design Thinking can serve as mechanisms to vet or evolve those ideas. The objective is to have a selection of cognitive approaches you can toggle between, depending on the type of problem you're tackling.

6. Iteration and Reflection: The Aftermath

Once your creativity sprint is over, document your insights, however nebulous or crystallized they may be. This is the equivalent of iterating on a product based on user feedback. Your future self will thank you for the breadcrumbs you leave behind.

Why This Matters: The Long Bet

I've often said that startups are like a multi-year marathon, punctuated by sprints. Consider these scheduled appointments with your creative self as interval training for that marathon. Over time, this routine will compound, forming a reservoir of creativity and insight that you can tap into as you navigate the world of startups, innovation, and life itself.

You don't need permission to be creative, just as you don't need permission to start a startup. Both are acts of rebellion against the status quo, and both require you to be your most authentic self. So go ahead, put that meeting on your calendar. Your future innovations are waiting.