Writer and actuary obsessed with the creative process. Author of MEGA CREATIVITY🪁. Sharing new ideas on Substack every Monday. links at MEGA-creativity.com
Cape Town, South Africa
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MEGA Newsletter #140
(published every Monday since 2023)
- the mastery mindset h/t @farnamstreet
- on gardening
- a new book in the works
- creativity, progress, and improvement
megacreativity.substack.com/…
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The discourse about AI and creativity is alive and furious right now.
I bring some ideas from my new book - MEGA Creativity - to the debate:
open.substack.com/pub/megacr…
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The new camera makes a difference!
I'm about to start my own youtube journey of cringe, wish me luck
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I quote John Cleese in my mega-creativity.com book.
His speech on getting into the creative mode, the open mode as he calls it, is genius.
Since I read John Cleese's advice to "keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way," that phrase has popped into my head on average several times a day. It so perfectly describes that m.o. brainpickings.org/2012/04/12…
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This week: East of Eden
Most Mondays a new book will be mentioned in the newsletter :)
megacreativity.substack.com/…
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I talk about four kinds of protocols in my mega-creativity.com book to unblock and to sustain creative work:
- switch the kind of work you're doing. Example if you can't write, read something instead. Switch from generating to exploring rather. Maybe you're trying to make something from a state of emptiness and need to fill up on inspiration and ideas.
- embrace constraints: of craft, of materials, or self. You can even create artificial constraints with a deadline. See Parkinsons Law.
- shift perspective. Find novelty. Do something different. Get a new view, a new work spot, a new set of eyes on the problem.
- keep momentum, once you have creative energy let the snowball expand down the hill, ride it over and smash through blocks.
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Once you see constraints as something positive, your creative process benefits:
In mega-creativity.com I talk about starting constraint, constraints of craft, constraints of self
+ Your limited materials guide your design choices
+ The rules of your domain narrow down the moves you can make
+ Your current ideas dictate what you can create in this moment
Embrace these lightcone limits, they illuminate a path forward.
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The MEGA Creativity book has been out for a month on Amazon.
It's a new look at the creative process, and people are already saying it's changed the way they look at problem-solving and art-making
(mega-creativity.com)
The MEGA Framework for the creative process - four parts, endless possibility:
Motivation -- Exploration -- Generation -- Amelioration
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The MEGA Framework for the creative process - four parts, endless possibility:
Motivation -- Exploration -- Generation -- Amelioration
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You need a creative practice that helps you do the kind of work you want to do.
Zadie Smith: “Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.” #writing
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My new book, MEGA Creativity, has been out on Amazon for one month already! It's been great to see the MEGA framework out in the wild.
It's sitting at 4.9/5 score on Amazon - here are some generous reviews that capture the book well:
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From my new book:
Jeff Bezos spent 3 hours on a physics problem with his roommate.
They got nowhere.
So they went to the smartest guy at Princeton.
He looked at the problem and said one word: "Cosine."
That was the exact moment Bezos decided not to become a physicist.
Here's the full story:
Bezos wanted to be a theoretical physicist. That was the plan.
He went to Princeton. He was a really good student. A+ on almost everything.
He was in the honors physics track. Started with 100 students. By quantum mechanics, it was down to 30.
Junior year. Quantum mechanics. He's also taking computer science and electrical engineering classes on the side.
Then he hits a partial differential equation he can't solve.
"It's really, really hard."
He studies with his roommate Joe. Also really good at math.
Three hours. Got nowhere.
They look up at each other across the table at the same moment and say the same name: "Yosanta."
Yosanta was the smartest guy at Princeton.
He was Sri Lankan. His name was three lines long in the facebook (which was an actual paper book at that time).
"I guess in Sri Lanka when you do something good for the King they give you an extra syllable on your name. So he had a super long last name. The most humble, wonderful guy."
They go to Yosanta's room. Show him the problem.
He stares at it for a while.
Then he says: "Cosine."
Bezos: "What do you mean?"
"That's the answer."
"That's the answer?"
"Yeah. Let me show you."
He brings them into his room. Sits them down. Writes out three pages of detailed algebra. Everything crosses out.
The answer is cosine.
Bezos asks: "Yosanta, did you just do that in your head?"
"No. That would be impossible."
"Three years ago I solved a very similar problem. I was able to map this problem onto that problem. And then it was immediately obvious that the answer was cosine."
Bezos on that moment:
"That was an important moment for me. Because that was the very moment when I realized I was never going to be a great theoretical physicist."
He didn't quit because he was bad. He was in the top 30 at Princeton.
He quit because he saw what great actually looked like.
Great wasn't grinding for 3 hours. Great was pattern-matching to a problem you solved 3 years ago and seeing the answer instantly.
He couldn't do that. Yosanta could.
So he pivoted. Computer science. Business. Amazon.
Built a $2.5+ trillion company instead.
The rest is history.
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Great points on development. Steal this list!
I love that for a book title/concept. "Make it hard". How to get better at anything.
After 20 years studying human development, one pattern stands out.
The people who grow the most don’t follow a straight path. They experiment, reflect, quit strategically, and stay open to change.
Progress isn’t about doing more. It’s about learning how to adapt.
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For the last two and a half years, 126 Mondays in a row, I have sent out a weekly email with ideas, art, quotes, stories, and links to interesting things. All relating to creativity and the MEGA process.
It's a short update with 4 ideas - one for each of the MEGA phases.
This week's links and ideas:
- An interview with a senator dying of cancer
- Books I'm reading: Disgrace by JM Coetzee
- A new feature piece: The 5 Biggest Myths of Creativity
- Some Amazon reviews of my new book
Follow along at: megacreativity.substack.com
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I spent years writing a book on creativity. In this post I share some of the most prevalent myths and misconceptions...
"Creativity is for Artists"
"I'm not Creative"
Creativity requires Struggle"
"It's all about connecting the dots"
...and many more!
a bonus: the myth of the group brainstorm (why this never works)
open.substack.com/pub/megacr…
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For the last two and a half years, I have shared a weekly Monday email with ideas, art, quotes, stories, and links to interesting things. All relating to creativity and the MEGA process.
It's a short email with 4 ideas - one for each of the MEGA phases.
This week:
- I learnt a new word: Apricity
- Books I'm reading: Theo of Golden & Dominion
- On Creativity & Entropy
- Cream vs White pages for nonfiction??
megacreativity.substack.com/
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MEGA Creativity is live on Amazon!
Thanks to everyone who showed interest in the book :)
After extensive research, using examples from Darwin to Djokovic to Bob Dylan, this is the most comprehensive view of creativity I could muster. I wrote the book I wanted to read: wide-ranging, practical, and (hopefully) inspiring. I'm very glad it's out in the world and the ideas are connecting with people.
Amazon link: amazon.com/MEGA-Creativity-S…
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Indifference is the default setting.
(From mega-creativity.com)
Nobody is rooting for you to fail.
Maybe you’ll succeed. Maybe you’ll fail. For the most part, nobody cares one way or the other.
This is a good thing! The world is big and you are small, and that means you can chase your dreams with little worry for what people think.
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This week, I made a landing page website for my new book in one hour. One hour!
(check it out at mega-creativity.com)
How? With a little help from AI.
I've been asking the wrong questions. Stop worrying about AI replacing your creativity, stealing your job, or taking over the world; rather ask: How can AI help you?
This post shares how AI walked me through self-publishing, website building, and book launching; and I reflect on the greatest opportunity of our lifetimes:
open.substack.com/pub/megacr…
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@tylercowen in Cape Town! Quite surreal..
Great discussion with @JohanFourieZA on South Africa, AI, liberalism, and more
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1hr with Claude and $10 for a domain, and I have a new site!
Learn more about the MEGA model of creativity or pre-order the book, launching 31 March🚀
MEGA-Creativity.com
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This bit is very funny, but I also found it unsettling. We don't do the 'pop in' any more - phones and internet communication broke something in physical communities.
youtu.be/5CznoAW2k1I?si=DBqA…
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Every Friday I write a feature piece on ideas around creativity.
This week, inspired by @michaelpollan, the topic is consciousness.
I explore consciousness as feeling, and creativity as thinking; and the ways these ideas intersect:
open.substack.com/pub/megacr…
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From my upcoming book, a guide to choosing new problems to work on:
Two conversations this weekend make me think that there's a vibe shift afoot in Silicon Valley around what one should work on and what is worthwhile.
Culturally, it feels like the moment is ripe for new frameworks:
• Davos expert morality is stale and discredited.
• It's also apparent that the "just be super based" Counter-Enlightenment is not really an answer. (Yes, woke went too far, but simply inverting it doesn't work.)
• EA is no longer the automatic default for smart people.
• There's increasing skepticism of slot and slop machine dynamics.
Overall, "what is worthy and valuable?" feels like it's becoming more central.
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From Chp1, MEGA Creativity:
Based on everything I’ve seen, a simple recipe can work: focus on what’s in front of you, design great days to create a great life, and try not to make the same mistake twice. That’s it. If you really want extra credit, try not to be a dick, and you’ll be a Voltron-level superstar.
The secret to winning any game lies in not trying too hard.
Feeling as though you are trying too hard indicates that your priorities, technique, focus, or mindfulness is off. Take it as a cue to reset, not to double down. And take comfort in the fact that, whenever in doubt, the answer is probably hidden in plain sight.
What would this look like if it were easy?
In a world where nobody really knows anything, you have the incredible freedom to continually reinvent yourself and forge new paths, no matter how strange.
Embrace your weird self.
There is no one right answer . . . only better questions.
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New Cover! Book launch date is 31/03/2026 🚀
(Happy to send out advanced copies to those interested in giving feedback)
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In my upcoming book, I have a chapter called 'Be Weird'. Cultivating authentic selves and unique work is the best response to AI slop. Ironically, AI can be a great tool to help you do this!
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There is a tension in motivation. Is your creativity for yourself or society? I believe we need people to thrive as individuals to be optimally creative. But is this doctrine of individual flourishing making people selfish?
Selfish deeds can form the world. Be wary of intent and the myth of the objective.
Yet creative work always has a compass. To what ends do you devote your time and energy?
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The importance of keeping your creative life varied:
Ed Sheeran: "if a stadium gig is like the best steak, after enough of those you just feel like a dirty burger"
youtu.be/Q-OKIynosaI?si=vksx…
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AI models do not have a full range of creative abilities, they are very sophisticated token auto-completers. Demis Hassabis well-placed to assess:
What do humans have that AIs do not:
"DH: I would call it “true invention”. Humans have analogical reasoning — it’s like, oh, I’ve got all this knowledge, and then I found some underlying pattern in this other area that this could map to. Our AI systems are still not capable of that. But one day they might be. Lots of people are researching these things: can you codify curiosity? I think that kind of out-of-the-box invention requires a few extra skills beyond just pattern matching. It requires good judgment, good taste. That’s what separates good scientists from great scientists, and I’m pretty sure good artists from great artists. If you’re lucky in science, which I know a lot about, they always say, I can smell this idea is a good one. And we don’t have that yet in these AI systems."
And he corrects the 'creatives' framing in the piece
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