[ENG] My Creativity Inputs
Intro
I spent the last two months cleaning up my huge content management archive.
Honestly, without inspiration I’d be really nothing — yeah it sounds bad, I know — but often my way of seeing things changes if someone I respect follows a certain trend. Of course, this doesn’t happen with life stuff or serious problems, but with real things like a product or a new tech.
Over the years I kinda built myself in a weird but organized way. I went from Russian literature to personal finance blogs and passive investing, from paper to e‑ink, from consumerism to minimalism, and from being a “do-nothing” guy to a hardcore productivity fan.
I can say now I feel like the best version of myself, or at least the one with the clearest goals and ideas.
All of this is powered every day by certain factors, people or things around me, and I’ll talk about that below…
My inputs
I like talking about inputs cause they are like little electric shocks I give myself during the day or week, like my engine has a starting problem and every time it needs a spark to turn on. But the real question is: “where do I get these sparks from?”
The tools
Blogs: First I wanna talk about blogs I follow and that give me a lot of inspiration and benefits during the week. They are part of my morning routine: I wake up, get ready, and while I have breakfast I scroll my Feedly for articles I like, I put the long ones in “read later” and read daily bites from my favorite writers like James Clear, Cal Newport, Karl Voit, and Leo Babauta with his Zen Habits.
Each blog helps me manage my thoughts and get new ones every time I learn something new about the world or people.YouTube: YouTube is super important for my creativity and helps me, like writing, to find ideas for new content, stay up to date, and sometimes solve technical problems with tutorials. My main channels are:
- James Scholz: for focus life
- Mr.Rip: for personal finance
- Marcello Ascani: for interviews with successful people
- Tyson Liberto: for life monologues
- GianniGipi: for his amazing art and painting videos
- Nicoló Balini: for his amazing travels
- Francesco Puppi: for trail running and sport education
- Salvatore Sanfilippo (aka Antirez): for his daily and weekly tech tips
Music: Music is also a big part of my creative process and some genres really help my mind generate ideas through mood and stuff like that.
How I use them
Feedly: Feedly lets me follow blogs or news sites I like and automatically shows me their latest posts or snippets, super useful to keep track of everything. Great for “Read later”, sorting into custom folders, and even adding YouTube channels to the feed; otherwise I’d spend hours scrolling YouTube for dopamine every time my favorite channels post something new.
Retro Music setup: My current setup for music:
- High-quality IEM headphones: 7Hz × Crinacle 2 Zeno, with Tripowin cable (Linsoul Purple) and Tangzu ear tips
- MP3 Player that works as DAC too: FiiO Echo mini, small, powerful, solid
Classic Music setup: A more modern setup for lighter sessions
- Headphones: Nothing Ear (a), awesome quality and design
- Tracks: Spotify Premium in “Lossless” mode, eats data but sound quality is way higher than normal audio
ONYX BOOX Go 10.3: I use it every day for reading blogs and books about finance, productivity, minimalism, and novels. Never get tired of it, it’s a crazy good investment (BOOX link).
Conclusions
Right now I’m fully into this world of positive and frequent sparks that let me keep creating content and go straight on my path, even if it’s a bit twisted. Over time I’ll improve my feed, meet new people, and maybe move to new horizons; for now I stay here, stronger than ever.
I invite you to sign up for the newsletter with your email to get a nice message every time I post something new (sometimes I also give tips or previews during the month).
Thanks again everyone 🫶🏻