Creativity as Connectivity

Stepping Back Again To Reflect

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"The Tree of Life" by Gustav Klimt (1909)

Whenever I meet someone who has read my writing, the main compliment they give is "I'm really impressed with the consistency." And my response is always the same. "Well, they're not all gems."

This is the 167th week in a row I've written a piece. Honestly, I think maybe 5% of the times I've written have been high quality. But there are pieces that I feel quite proud of.

• The Puritans of Venture Capital

• The Blackstone of Innovation

• Institutionalized Belief In The Greater Fool

• Playing Different (Stupider) Games

I've also written over and over and over again, reflecting on my own writing process. One of the things that stopped me from writing in the past was the feeling of shouting into the void. On top of that, I had a feeling of perfectionism. If it didn't feel like a truly good piece, it wasn't worth publishing. But if I had let that feeling drive me, I would have published maybe 9 pieces in the last 3.5 years.

There's a specific reason I'm reflecting on my writing today. It's not that I have nothing to say, but that I have too much to say, and lack the skill, confidence, time, or attention to say it well.

Reflecting over my notes of topics, there's a plethora:

• Unpacking how Y Combinator is one of many institutions that have shifted to build their offering around the value chain of capital. Transitioning from "build something people want" to "build something seed investors want."

• How being a contrarian is a luxury when whatever you're building or investing on is dependent on other people. Being contrarian and right requires a market willing to be rational -- and it usually isn't.

• Reflecting on Dostoevsky's exploration of "what does it mean to be an extraordinary man?" And how does that relate to the ongoing trial of American Exceptionalism.

• Figuring out the methodology for determining and qualifying what constitutes a good quest based on who you are and what your values are.

Each of these are big meaty topics I've been thinking about more and more, trying to unpack. But I've also got two boys who have started waking up early on Saturday morning, wanting to watch Avengers movies with me. And who am I to say no?

Instead, I decided to take a step back and think about my writing again. I started looking back through my notes on other things I've saved in regards to writing, thinking, and creativity, and I found an email I got from a reader in November 2023 that stuck with me:

"I'm not involved in the venture space at all, but I enjoy your newsletter for your analytic, perceptive, and compassionate voice. When I read the way you link ideas and topics, week to week, it always makes me think of Eugene Schwartz's 'A better word for 'creativity' is 'connectivity.''"

And I realized that one of the aspects of writing I enjoy so much is connectivity. The thing that lights up for me is when I realize that two ideas connect is intoxicating. And writing is just the way that I can release that feeling. I think that's why I, so often, return to the Flannery O'Connor quote:

"I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say."

The ideas connect and then I use writing to make sure I understand just how powerful the connection is.

A few years ago I got turned onto an essay by Henrik Karlsson entitled Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born. I immediately connected it to this idea from Schwartz about connectivity. Building creative connections is a skill that needs to be honed and developed. In it, Karlsson makes an observation:

"I’ve been reading the working notes of several highly creative individuals. These notes, written not for publication but as an aid in the process of discovery, are, in a way, partial windows into minds who inhabit the solitary creative space which the quotes above point to. In particular, I’ve found the notes of the mathematician Alexander Grothendieck and the film director Ingmar Bergman revealing. They both kept detailed track of their thoughts as they attempted to reach out toward new ideas. Or rather, invited them in. In the notes, they also repeatedly turned their probing thoughts onto themselves, trying to uncover the process that brings the new into the world."

That's where I am. Knowing that ideas surround me on the fringes, but always trying to find better paths to bringing them into the world.

So this week is one of reflection on the process than execution of the process itself.

Onwards.

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