How being more of a producer than a consumer helps you flourish
If there is one thing that Ayn Rand and Che Guevara would ever agree on is that we consume too much in relation to how much we produce.
I doubt that there are many of us that could accurately estimate how much media we truly consume. We could track our internet, television, and radio use to the minute but still not even scratch the surface of how much and what exactly we have consumed in a day. We can do our best to limit, manage, and filter what comes through our eyes and ears but it is inevitable that we are going to partake in information and art that was made and delivered by somebody else. So as I lay my case against consumerism I have to concede that we are all consumers and anything that we eventually do produce needs the consumers' support. I think that if and when consumers truly unite we would hold the power to make the ultimate difference in our world but uniting the consumer to do anything beyond spending their hard earned money on cheaply made clothes and food is apparently very difficult.
This brings me to my first argument advocating a more productive lifestyle.
1. Producing is the best way torevolt rage against the machine. Large corporations have significant control over what we wear, eat, listen to, etc. Sure there are options. There's Coke and then there's Pepsi (doesn't autonomy taste so good). By being actively involved in guerilla creativity we take back a portion of our will that we had previously traded to corporations in exchange for cheaper sneakers. As we apprehensively venture into the world of 'homemade' that is yet to be blessed by main stream marketers, we discover that even though no one on the screen has endorsed it, our products aren't that bad sometimes. I say that any chance you get to make something yourself, where feasible in terms of both time and money, is worthwhile just for the fact that it's one less product you have to buy from some multinational conglomerate. You ask what freedom truly tastes like? Come to my house for some hand rolled pasta and freshly squeezed lemonade.
2. Producing provides us with flow. Flow is the sensation of being so engrossed in an activity that time flies by and it is VERY good for our brains. What better to induce a daily dose of flow than some kind of a project in which you are developing your creative juices to meet a need? I challenge my kids at school to start flow projects at home. There are incredible learning outcomes that arise from being in flow but I'll talk about those later. Flow in and of itself is and end worth seeking. You can easily spend two hours scrolling on your phone with the result of feeling empty and maybe even ashamed of yourself. Two hours engaged in a flow project though? You will be refreshed, energized, and satisfied with your day. Flow is one of the reasons that it's worth engaging in the creative process even if you don't end up with a final product when you have finished. That's the beauty! Even if you failed miserably it's still worth trying because you will have fill your time with flow. You can't lose.
3. Producing increases confidence. Confidence often comes from feeling like your decisions matter and as previously mentioned, when you make things, you gain freedom. An even starker jump in confidence comes when other people consume and enjoy your product. I don't know if I have personal experience with any large scale success in this area but even when one of my blogposts gets a few hundred looky-loos I'm all the more motivated to continue writing. Sure your creations may look 'amateur' at first but I don't think we give 'amateur' enough credit. If we break it down morphologically the word 'amateur' really mean someone who loves what they do. The opposite, a 'professional' is just someone who gets paid to do it. But even if the quality of your output is lower than you would like at first remember that a) the process has enough payoff in and of itself so it's still worth pursuing and b) as you continue to work at it and seek advice and feedback from those who know more than you, you will inevitably gain a level of competence that will match or exceed what you had previously dreamed possible.
4. Producing helps us improve our social life. One of the easiest ways we can find common ground with a new acquaintance is by sharing with each other what it is you both consume. Whether it's a Netflix series or a favourite band, once you find that commonality you are fast tracked to friendship. When you are a part of the select few who are actually contributing a certain field you become a high sought after commodity amongst fellow fans. You find a friend who likes Survivor as much as you. Great! Then you find out that friend actually has a podcast in which she analyzes every episode. Jackpot! I believe that all of us have an inner desire to create that only a few of us are fulfilling. Once you're on the creative side you have so much more to talk about in casual conversation. People we will be more drawn to you as they can respect the vulnerability and hard work that is required to build something from the ground up. Being a creator makes your drift to the centre of your social group rather than the periphery.
5. Producing increases our grit. Sometimes I'm a fan of doing things the hard way just for the sake of doing some difficult. When you decide to put the effort and attention needed to write a screenplay or build your own shed you are purposefully selecting the road less travelled. It will cost you in effort and time at an age when we seem to be searching for every opportunity to cut as many corners as possible. Being a producer is gruelling at times. We subject ourselves to much more scrutiny and critique than we had as consumers. We are rarely content with our final product and are constantly looking for ways to tweak our creations. Why do we put ourselves through such torture when we could have easily bought our own carrots instead of trying to grown them? One reason is because doing things the hard way builds grit which translates into other areas of our lives. It increases our ability to withstand discomfort when it is for a purpose that is meaningful to us. Creativity leads to grit and grit leads to butt-kicking in general.
6. Producing helps us be more grateful. I garden. Kind of. My annual harvest reminds of the scene in Mickey and the Beanstalk when Mickey, Goofy, and Donald sit around the table and share a bean. The fact that I keep trying might be an indicator of my mental health but it also has helped me develop a more sincere gratitude for the food on my plate. I was just at a house in Barnwell, AB that had a garden you would expect deity would keep. I respect that. I have a healthy amount of envy for that. When you put in the hard work, even if your output is meagre, you now have a perspective that most consumers neglect. Gratitude is the lynchpin to positive emotions. It is empirically the most effective way to feel happier so if being a producer increases your gratitude than mathematically it makes your happier too.
7. Producing makes your learn more. Problem solving is a great skill to master but until you learn to find problems you will be subject to being a consumer of other people's problems. When you are able to discover the questions that need to be answered you're on your way to being a producer and most likely a very important one at that. Project based learning has already proven that in the right environment with the right resources we are able to learn at higher and more effective rate than in a traditional classroom setting. While you are generally required to have some kind of base knowledge on a subject before you can dive into creativity, it is the act of creating that highlights the gaps in your knowledge. This motivates you to learn that which you lack in order to continue your project. It's sort of a learning on the job phenomenon that accelerates and internalizes your learning in a far superior way than if you had seen it on a screen and memorized it for a test once. I'll refer you to previous post here that sort of touches on this topic.
8. Producing gives us a right to complain. It is so easy for us consumers to complain about what is or isn't on tv, or what is or isn't on the menu but until we step into the arena of creators and offer a legitimate solution I just don't think our complaints really mean that much. For instance, I consider myself to be a pacifist and I support ideas that will promote peace and diplomacy over conflict. That being said, I wasn't in the room with the Putins and the Ahmadinejads of the world so I while I am free to have an opinion about what should happen in the middle east I think my opinion should be worth the paper this post is written on. What do I truly know about diplomacy at the macro level? Education on the other hand is an area where I feel like I can comment. Having participated in and now worked for public education I see, what in my view are strengths and weaknesses and I think I have a few ideas that could make things run slightly better. What I chose to do was get involved with a provincial political party, volunteer for their education policy committee and advocate my ideas there. The odds of my policies being implemented are fairly slim but I think I've earned the right to complain about public education, primarily because I have alternatives. If you want to criticize something and you don't have an alternative and you're not willing to put the creative work into developing or promoting those alternatives then yours isn't an opinion I'm that interested in hearing.
9. Producing gives us wisdom. Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. Wisdom is about perspective. It's about the application of knowledge. When you create something you gain experience. You haven't just built a birdhouse you have gained perspective on what it takes to build a birdhouse. Once again, the process is greater than the product sometimes and it's in the process that you gain wisdom.
When it comes to diving into being a producer my general rule is to take whatever you are consuming and use that as your creative fodder. Here are some ideas off the top of my head (send me your ideas and I'll add to the list)
:
I doubt that there are many of us that could accurately estimate how much media we truly consume. We could track our internet, television, and radio use to the minute but still not even scratch the surface of how much and what exactly we have consumed in a day. We can do our best to limit, manage, and filter what comes through our eyes and ears but it is inevitable that we are going to partake in information and art that was made and delivered by somebody else. So as I lay my case against consumerism I have to concede that we are all consumers and anything that we eventually do produce needs the consumers' support. I think that if and when consumers truly unite we would hold the power to make the ultimate difference in our world but uniting the consumer to do anything beyond spending their hard earned money on cheaply made clothes and food is apparently very difficult.
This brings me to my first argument advocating a more productive lifestyle. 1. Producing is the best way to
2. Producing provides us with flow. Flow is the sensation of being so engrossed in an activity that time flies by and it is VERY good for our brains. What better to induce a daily dose of flow than some kind of a project in which you are developing your creative juices to meet a need? I challenge my kids at school to start flow projects at home. There are incredible learning outcomes that arise from being in flow but I'll talk about those later. Flow in and of itself is and end worth seeking. You can easily spend two hours scrolling on your phone with the result of feeling empty and maybe even ashamed of yourself. Two hours engaged in a flow project though? You will be refreshed, energized, and satisfied with your day. Flow is one of the reasons that it's worth engaging in the creative process even if you don't end up with a final product when you have finished. That's the beauty! Even if you failed miserably it's still worth trying because you will have fill your time with flow. You can't lose.
3. Producing increases confidence. Confidence often comes from feeling like your decisions matter and as previously mentioned, when you make things, you gain freedom. An even starker jump in confidence comes when other people consume and enjoy your product. I don't know if I have personal experience with any large scale success in this area but even when one of my blogposts gets a few hundred looky-loos I'm all the more motivated to continue writing. Sure your creations may look 'amateur' at first but I don't think we give 'amateur' enough credit. If we break it down morphologically the word 'amateur' really mean someone who loves what they do. The opposite, a 'professional' is just someone who gets paid to do it. But even if the quality of your output is lower than you would like at first remember that a) the process has enough payoff in and of itself so it's still worth pursuing and b) as you continue to work at it and seek advice and feedback from those who know more than you, you will inevitably gain a level of competence that will match or exceed what you had previously dreamed possible.
4. Producing helps us improve our social life. One of the easiest ways we can find common ground with a new acquaintance is by sharing with each other what it is you both consume. Whether it's a Netflix series or a favourite band, once you find that commonality you are fast tracked to friendship. When you are a part of the select few who are actually contributing a certain field you become a high sought after commodity amongst fellow fans. You find a friend who likes Survivor as much as you. Great! Then you find out that friend actually has a podcast in which she analyzes every episode. Jackpot! I believe that all of us have an inner desire to create that only a few of us are fulfilling. Once you're on the creative side you have so much more to talk about in casual conversation. People we will be more drawn to you as they can respect the vulnerability and hard work that is required to build something from the ground up. Being a creator makes your drift to the centre of your social group rather than the periphery.
5. Producing increases our grit. Sometimes I'm a fan of doing things the hard way just for the sake of doing some difficult. When you decide to put the effort and attention needed to write a screenplay or build your own shed you are purposefully selecting the road less travelled. It will cost you in effort and time at an age when we seem to be searching for every opportunity to cut as many corners as possible. Being a producer is gruelling at times. We subject ourselves to much more scrutiny and critique than we had as consumers. We are rarely content with our final product and are constantly looking for ways to tweak our creations. Why do we put ourselves through such torture when we could have easily bought our own carrots instead of trying to grown them? One reason is because doing things the hard way builds grit which translates into other areas of our lives. It increases our ability to withstand discomfort when it is for a purpose that is meaningful to us. Creativity leads to grit and grit leads to butt-kicking in general.
6. Producing helps us be more grateful. I garden. Kind of. My annual harvest reminds of the scene in Mickey and the Beanstalk when Mickey, Goofy, and Donald sit around the table and share a bean. The fact that I keep trying might be an indicator of my mental health but it also has helped me develop a more sincere gratitude for the food on my plate. I was just at a house in Barnwell, AB that had a garden you would expect deity would keep. I respect that. I have a healthy amount of envy for that. When you put in the hard work, even if your output is meagre, you now have a perspective that most consumers neglect. Gratitude is the lynchpin to positive emotions. It is empirically the most effective way to feel happier so if being a producer increases your gratitude than mathematically it makes your happier too.
7. Producing makes your learn more. Problem solving is a great skill to master but until you learn to find problems you will be subject to being a consumer of other people's problems. When you are able to discover the questions that need to be answered you're on your way to being a producer and most likely a very important one at that. Project based learning has already proven that in the right environment with the right resources we are able to learn at higher and more effective rate than in a traditional classroom setting. While you are generally required to have some kind of base knowledge on a subject before you can dive into creativity, it is the act of creating that highlights the gaps in your knowledge. This motivates you to learn that which you lack in order to continue your project. It's sort of a learning on the job phenomenon that accelerates and internalizes your learning in a far superior way than if you had seen it on a screen and memorized it for a test once. I'll refer you to previous post here that sort of touches on this topic.
8. Producing gives us a right to complain. It is so easy for us consumers to complain about what is or isn't on tv, or what is or isn't on the menu but until we step into the arena of creators and offer a legitimate solution I just don't think our complaints really mean that much. For instance, I consider myself to be a pacifist and I support ideas that will promote peace and diplomacy over conflict. That being said, I wasn't in the room with the Putins and the Ahmadinejads of the world so I while I am free to have an opinion about what should happen in the middle east I think my opinion should be worth the paper this post is written on. What do I truly know about diplomacy at the macro level? Education on the other hand is an area where I feel like I can comment. Having participated in and now worked for public education I see, what in my view are strengths and weaknesses and I think I have a few ideas that could make things run slightly better. What I chose to do was get involved with a provincial political party, volunteer for their education policy committee and advocate my ideas there. The odds of my policies being implemented are fairly slim but I think I've earned the right to complain about public education, primarily because I have alternatives. If you want to criticize something and you don't have an alternative and you're not willing to put the creative work into developing or promoting those alternatives then yours isn't an opinion I'm that interested in hearing.
9. Producing gives us wisdom. Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. Wisdom is about perspective. It's about the application of knowledge. When you create something you gain experience. You haven't just built a birdhouse you have gained perspective on what it takes to build a birdhouse. Once again, the process is greater than the product sometimes and it's in the process that you gain wisdom.
When it comes to diving into being a producer my general rule is to take whatever you are consuming and use that as your creative fodder. Here are some ideas off the top of my head (send me your ideas and I'll add to the list)
:
- blog about your favourite show
- start a podcast
- learn to cook your favourite dish from a restaurant
- learn a new sport that you like watching
- consult the how-to videos on YouTube
- write a journal
- garden
- landscape
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