The Little Voice

“We don’t know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptops”

– John Cleese

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The internet is amazing at a lot of things, but it is definitely not the place where we come up with our best ideas. Being connected to millions of people 24 hours a day is not healthy for the human brain, and it is especially not a conducive environment for our creativity to thrive.

To be creative, one must disconnect (in every sense of the word) and look within. We all have a little voice that whispers in the back of our heads. It’s a kind of childlike voice, one of innocence and curiosity. It is this voice that helps us find our best ideas and links together novel insights.

But most of the time, we never get to hear this little voice. The online world especially makes it almost impossible for us to hear it. All the other voices online are shouting over each other, each trying to shove their own voices down each other’s throats. Among the chaos, we never get the chance to listen to our own.

The best way to listen to this voice is to reduce your inputs. Take a break from the internet and just relax. In due time, your subconscious mind will start to see the connections between ideas that seemed completely unrelated before, but are obvious now. This is where you will find your best ideas.

Reduce your inputs, and listen to your little voice.

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