Create or Consume

Are you spending more of your life watching other people create, or creating something yourself?

I began thinking about this while noticing how much a friend consumed.

He watched sports, followed other people's lives, researched products, and looked at what others earned and achieved.

There was nothing unusual about those activities. We all consume.

But I wanted to examine the balance—and invite you to do the same.

Consumption is more than buying things

Consuming means taking something in.

Food, information, content, products, and other people's experiences can all be part of it.

You may not be spending money. Researching something to buy, watching a game, or scrolling through social media can fill hours of your day.

We need to consume to survive, and consumption is part of enjoying life.

The question is whether it has become so dominant that you rarely create.

Are you giving your brain time to develop your own ideas, or is it continually taking in someone else's?

We have had a lot of practice being consumers

I think many of us have been trained to consume much more than to create.

In my education, I had relatively few opportunities to make something new from my own brain rather than repeat information I had learned.

Radio, television, the internet, and social media give us more and more to take in.

It is easy to remain a bystander to other people's activity.

That does not mean you have done something wrong. It means you can begin noticing the pattern and deciding whether you want a different balance.

You do not need a business to be a creator

If you are not an entrepreneur, you may think creation does not apply to you.

It does.

You can create your life on purpose rather than only follow a life prescribed by others.

You can consciously create a home, relationships, experiences with your children, or a contribution in your job.

You can decide what you want your life to be instead of simply consume the options placed in front of you.

That takes looking inward at your own desire, experience, and brain.

Notice the difference between watching and offering

One way I describe the difference on social media is to look at whether you mostly comment on other people's creations or offer something others can engage with.

Are you witnessing their lives, or are you creating something from your own?

Not everyone has to become a public content creator.

But I want you to have a framework for recognizing that being a creator is an option.

For me, creating businesses, content, ideas, classes, and events has also given me more opportunity to consume things I enjoy.

The two can support each other when they are conscious choices.

Creation asks more of you

It is easier to sit in an audience than to stand on a stage.

It is easier to comment on a book or business than to create one and put it into the world.

Creating requires working with self-doubt, discomfort, and the possibility of other people commenting on you.

But it also gives you a different experience of your own ingenuity.

At the end of your life, do you want to have only consumed, or do you also want to know what you created?

You can begin with something small rather than wait for an enormous idea.

Do not use consumption as your only way to handle emotion

Many products are offered with the promise that you will feel better if you buy, eat, or experience them.

That can be very tempting. It was for me.

If we do not know how to feel our emotions, we can keep seeking something outside us to change the way we feel.

Consumption can become a way to avoid discomfort.

Creating asks us to be willing to have that discomfort while offering something from ourselves.

Notice when you feel stuck, bored, envious, or unsatisfied and respond by taking in more rather than making something.

Question one: how much are you creating?

Look honestly at a twenty-four-hour day.

How much is spent consuming? How much is spent creating something new or valuable?

Think broadly. Creation can happen with your children, home, friends, work, or ideas.

How much do you consciously plan to contribute?

I experience accomplishment from creation as energizing. It encourages me to create more.

Consumption can instead lead me to want more consumption.

Pay attention to the difference in your own experience.

Question two: are you actively creating your life?

Creating a vision is a beginning. You also need actions that live into it.

A client told me she froze when considering her future because she did not know which available life to choose.

She listed familiar options such as marriage, children, moving, or staying where she was.

I suggested she imagine five different lives she could create and picture all five as wonderful.

That asked more of her creativity than only choosing from a generic list.

It meant beginning with a blank page and exploring what she could bring to life.

Not knowing in advance is part of why you need the creative process.

Question three: what do you want for your life?

Notice what comes to mind first.

Is it a list of things you want to buy or consume—a car, watch, home, or vacation?

Or do you think about what you want to create: a beautiful home for your children, a safe relationship, experiences with loved ones, or something valuable for clients?

Neither question requires you to tell anyone your answer.

I want you to ask what you want to create, not only what you want to acquire.

That may take more effort from your brain. It can also be deeply rewarding.

Balance the two deliberately

I enjoy participating in an economic system where I can own what I create and earn a profit.

I also see problems with passive overconsumption and corrupt business practices.

My invitation here is personal: look at your own balance rather than stay only in a debate about everyone else's.

You can create value while working within someone else's business. You can make your own contribution wherever you are.

For the next week, try creating as much as you consume.

Create visions, ideas, and possibilities for your life. Give yourself room to make something instead of continually take more in.

Once you begin, you may find more ideas available.

Do not let being too busy consuming keep you from discovering what you want to create.