It’s an event whenever I notice two people write about the same idea at the same time. In the big world of the internet, seeing anything serendipitous happen make me stop and look. make me stop and look. When I notice two articles and see overlap in their ideas, I take it as a sign that it’s an idea that I should pay particular attention to.

When the topic is something I know that I’m not doing a good enough job doing, that’s when the message rings twice as clear.

It happened recently when two people I follow both wrote blog posts on the idea of putting consumption aside for the sake of creating stuff instead. It was about taking in less, reading less, consuming less, and instead deciding to create.

The first person I noticed write about it was Seth Godin. I always pay particular attention to what he says in his blog posts.

…There used to be a significant limit on available intake. Once you read all the books in the college library on your topic, it was time to start writing.

Now that the availability of opinions, expertise and email is infinite, I think the last part of that sentence is the most important:

Time to start writing.

Seth Godin – In and out

The second person to write about it was Adam King. In his blog he wrote about the new tablet called the NoteSlate and talked about how he hopes it lives up to its appeal as a great device for creating that’s as simple as paper.

…You see, the last thing that I need in my life right now is even less friction when it comes to media consumption. My life is full of opportunities for consumption. I need no encouragement when it comes to that. Instead, what I need is tools that act more as blank canvases than content channels — tools that can be part of a lifestyle that tilts me away from habits of passivity, and toward habits of creativity.

Adam King

These two quotes overlap, and they also each touch on something different.

It’s easier than ever to consume content, and there’s limitless content out there to be consumed. It’s a trap that now exists and will never change. Thanks to great tools for consumption it’s is incredibly easy to fall into this trap, and because of how much stuff exists, it’s very difficult to get out of.

Meanwhile, the challenge of putting everything aside and focusing completely on doing work that matters is, and will continue to be a challenge.

It’s time that we put everything else down and work.

NoteSlate