Pause the Input, Spark the Output
(How to Consume Less and Create More!)
Want a clearer, more creative mind? Start by reducing your inputs.
Audiobooks, podcasts, TV, social media, the news, and Netflix flood your mind with noise and distractions, leaving little space for creativity.
Every hour spent taking in information muddles the mind and drains our energy.
You can think of all the media you consume as windows into the world, but when you consume it, you're not inside the house — you're outside.
You’re on the sidelines.
Thinking about writing… instead of writing.
Hearing people talk about making money or traveling… instead of being out there doing the things.
Fast-consumption media like TikTok or Instagram gives you quick hits of dopamine, creating an illusion of productivity or learning without any deeper thought or meaningful action attached.
And before you know it, you’re spending 22 hours in a single week on TikTok instead of writing the book you know you’re meant to write.
Driving and listening to an audiobook or podcast passively entertains or inspires you, but it’s fleeting. The “high” is temporary.
Your attention (energy) is directed outward instead of inward — toward other people's thoughts and ideas.
What about your thoughts and ideas? Have you given them the time and space they deserve?
We spend so much time absorbing others’ ideas that we forget to make room for our own.
When was the last time you sat with your own ideas, uninterrupted by someone else’s influence?
We can easily begin to idolize writers, podcasters, and content creators whose work we regularly consume. Constant consumption makes us forget that we’re not just observers of life; we’re here to bend it and shape it any way we want it — and bring something new into existence.
And before you tell me the tired old phrase, “But I’m just not a creative person!” … there is not a single person on this planet who isn’t imbued with creative power.
Creativity is part of who you are.
The key is becoming aware of everything standing in its way — blocking its path out of your soul and into the world.
Once we become aware of what’s zapping our energy — and distorting our perception of our innate creative ability — we gain the freedom to see everything differently.
Awareness is the first step. Without awareness, it’s too easy to convince yourself that “this is just the way it is” — even when it’s not.
For example, notice how you feel after consuming certain media or spending time with certain people. Are you energized or are you drained?
That’s awareness — and again, awareness is the first step to change.
Because you can’t get out of a prison you don’t know you’re in.
When we become aware of the prison, we are automatically free.
We’re no longer enslaved to our old, unconscious ways of thinking, being, and doing.
There's a new and better way to think — one that will create a more desirable result.
We are not “trapped.” We are not “stuck.” We are just making choices.
Those choices often revolve around what we believe about ourselves — beliefs that shape our reality.
Are you choosing to believe you aren’t capable of making more money? That you’re “not creative enough” or “not resourceful enough” to do so?
Is that true?
What would happen if you believed you were capable of making more? That you were creative enough and resourceful enough to do so?
Shift from being your own worst critic to your own best friend. Observe yourself in action. Question what you're thinking and believing about yourself and what's possible for you.
Don’t judge it; don’t beat yourself up. Just become aware.
It wasn’t always this way.
Somewhere along the path to Right Here, Right Now, you absorbed some false beliefs and started believing them. It really was that simple.
False beliefs are like clutter in your mind. Over time, they accumulate, forming barriers that keep you stuck. And just like clutter, these beliefs often go unnoticed until they block your path.
Our beliefs are like Legos. One by one, they stack up. A single Lego may not seem like much, but when you stack enough of them, they form a wall that blocks your way.
These beliefs — 'I’m not good at writing,' 'I’m not creative enough,' or 'I’ll never succeed' — can pile up and trap you in a mental cage.
But here’s the good news: just as you built the wall piece by piece, you can also take it apart — one belief at a time — and use those same pieces to build something new.
Instead of a wall, you can create a bridge to your next breakthrough.
You get to choose.
You can stay in your mind prison, believing “this is as good as it gets” for you… or you can choose to get up and find the exit.
There’s always an exit.
But before we stumble upon the inner work of personal growth — by choice or by force — most of us think that the exit is somewhere out there: in a book, a podcast, social media, a doctor's office, a product, or a pill.
I speak from experience as someone who spent years desperately looking everywhere out there for the exit. It felt like I was enclosed in a room with no exits at all — a room I had built and sealed shut.
The exit is always found within you.
All of the answers are within you.
This realization — that the answers are within us — is the biggest reason I became a certified professional coach instead of a therapist or counselor.
Unlike therapy — where we seek the therapist's answers, expertise, and outside guidance and often flounder when trying to apply their well-meaning (possibly counterintuitive) advice — coaching is centered on the belief that you are the expert on your life.
No one else can know what's best for you the way that you can.
But we’ve been conditioned to believe that our emotions are just byproducts of biology, and that external solutions — like pills — are the only way to manage “bad” thoughts and feelings.
We’ve been led to believe so much that isn’t true, and those beliefs often dictate our lives in ways we don’t realize.
We’ve been living our lives based on lies we’ve been taught to believe.
We’ve been falsely taught that the only thing that can be done about the “bad” thoughts (anxiety, depression, etc.) is to “manage” the symptoms.
We aren’t trained — and neither are our healthcare professionals — to look for a cause: a root to the tree.
Instead, the solutions we’re given focus on trimming the tree’s branches or forcing it to behave differently — rather than examining its roots and inputs.
What is the tree absorbing? Can it thrive in its current environment, or does it need new soil?
Like a tree, our inputs shape our growth, too — and we have all the power to change them.
If you want to change the symptoms, you've got to examine the cause — not ignore it.
That means if you’re not loving your output — your productivity, your earnings, your mood, your actions + reactions, your activity level — start with loving your input.
Even if you believe you are just a biological supercomputer, input creates output.
To take back control of your energy and creativity, start by reflecting on these key areas of your life:
Ask Yourself…
Media and Environment:
What media are you consuming, and how does it impact your mood or focus?
Look around your environment right now. Is it inspiring or distracting?
What’s one thing you can do today to make it more energizing?
People in Your Life:
Who uplifts and inspires you? How can you spend more time with them?
Who drains your energy, and how can you minimize their influence?
Health and Lifestyle:
What foods are you consuming, and how do they make you feel?
What drugs are you consuming, and what symptoms are they masking?
What toxins are you allowing in your environment, and how does this affect your mental clarity?
You get the idea. To shift our circumstances, we need to choose new input (or less input). This isn’t “woo-woo” whatsoever — it’s pure logic.
What you allow into your life creates your reality. Be intentional about what you allow in, and watch how it transforms what you create.
If you allow garbage (or too much clutter), you don’t feel so good. It can weigh you down. Overwhelm you. Stifle your creativity.
What you allow into your reality can bury you, manipulate you, and make you forget who you really are: a creator.
Capable.
Resourceful.
Powerful.
Knowing this is the truth, what will you create next?
What inputs will you choose to fuel your creativity — and how will you take that first step today?
The choice is yours, and the possibilities are infinite.
XO,
Cait