How Getting A Kindle Helped Me Take Action On Curiosity
How Getting A Kindle Helped Me Take Action On Curiosity
Speed, stringing together unique influences and creating
3 months ago I bought a Kindle Paperwhite on Amazon.
Since then, my reading has skyrocketed and I’ve devoured 14 books.
It’s an enormous increase from my historical reading frequency, consistency and speed.
But the benefit I’m feeling is far more significant than just reading more books.
I’m getting better at listening to (and acting on) my curiosity
I’m increasing my knowledge and expanding my unique combination of influences
And it’s all helping me produce more creative work.
Here’s how:
Speed Is Everything
There is 1 key reason why getting a Kindle has helped me read more:
I can take instant action on curiosity.
I can start reading a book within seconds of stumbling across it.
Even 2 day shipping or physically going to a bookstore is enough time for me to deceive myself on what I “should” read.
The more I read books that organically catch my interest, the more reading “clicks” for me. It becomes exciting.
I fall into a flow of learning, building on my ideas and gathering enough momentum to create things with them.
Here’s an example from this past week.
Help From The 50th Law
Last weekend, I got an idea to write about the fears I’ve overcome becoming a creator and building a business online.
I brain dumped everything that was top of mind and turned it into this Substack, 30 Things It Took For Me To Become A Creator On The Internet.
But I had a lot more to say.
I wanted to expand on the idea and develop a foundational piece for my writing archive on a topic that’s important to me.
But I was stalled on how to write it and overwhelmed by the magnitude of what I wanted it to be.
Then I saw a video on Instagram of 50 Cent talking about learning from Robert Greene.
I knew they had written a book together called The 50th Law, but had no idea what it was about.
Curiosity told me to go check it out.
In that moment, I looked it up on my Kindle and saw it was available for free.
I downloaded it and started reading it right away.
I discovered the book is on fearlessness (!!!) and was hooked on the first page.
I flew through it, used it’s ideas to build on my own and wrote one of my most meaningful (and publicly well received) Substacks to date.
Conquering The Fears Of My Creator Journey
I also used it to inspire another Substack this week, A Self-Education Lesson From 50 Cent and Teddy Roosevelt.
Neither of those two writing pieces come to be without me immediately acting on curiosity.
Speed, Strings and Remixes
We all feel sparks of curiosity; ideas that are just begging for us to follow them.
But we’re usually too slow to act. Then they escape us.
We miss out on that momentary magical feeling that we’ve just stumbled on an idea that can change our entire lives.
We return to normal patterns of thinking and never make any traction building on our ideas.
We need to move quickly, build on our unique combination of ideas and start stringing together our unique combination of influences.
The 4 Step Process To “Being Creative”
Acting on curiosity
Learning and acquiring new knowledge
Allowing new knowledge to lead to new curiosity
Repeat
Act. Learn. Allow. Repeat.
This is the process for all unique and meaningful growth in life.
And the secret ingredient is speed.
Slow Causes Self-Deception
If I’m not quick to act, my mind deceives me and I start looking for reassurance of what to do.
I start looking around at everyone else for answers.
When it comes to reading, this is usually me defaulting to looking up the most popular books.
This gets me even further away from my own curiosity.
It makes it even harder for me to enjoy learning and expand my string of unique influences.
My Kindle has unlocked my ability to take immediate action.
I can start reading a book within seconds of feeling an intuitive urge to.
You Need To Read
Some people poo-poo reading lots of books.
I don’t listen to them.
All the smartest people in history devoured books.
I want to be like them.
Books help me understand the lessons that are subconsciously helping me along the way.
They strengthen my knowledge and help me turn ideas into produced work.