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My relationship with creativity has changed a lot. Mostly for the better.

Early in my career, mid-20s, creativity was a resource, like energy. I had more than I knew what to do with. Ideas flowed constantly, and my task was to point my imagination in the right direction, then get the hell out of the way. 

The hardest part was picking the one idea I thought had the most potential. I chased "thinker's high" constantly. I thought, "This is how it'll always be!"

I built a successful marketing career as a result.

Now 36, creativity isn’t a resource. It's a skill. I have less energy now, sure, but more creativity. I've learned I'm not just creative. I have a creative process — I know how to summon big ideas and what keeps them from taking shape.

I know the “trapped” feeling when I'm stuck on an idea, exactly what to do to get unstuck, and when I need to close the lid and walk away. I know how sleep, food, and even the room I’m working in affect my mood and, therefore, my creative output. I’ve learned that mad writing is bad writing, yet I’ve written some of my best work through tears.

Before, I would drink a Celsius and "power through." Today, I rely on my process. I can set my own pace and trust my body and brain to get where I need to go. It's a level of self-trust I never imagined.

A few weeks ago, I shared on LinkedIn that I hired a full-time Chief of Staff, Kristin Haas. One of our first long conversations was about creativity. Specifically, how to keep and grow your creativity over a long career. 

If you also want to be more creative, or are struggling to be creative right now, here's how I think about it — Q&A style, straight from the conversation.

Her questions = bold italics
My answers = everything else.

Ready? Let's ride 🌊

What does creativity mean to you?

Creativity to me is: can you make something out of nothing? Or something more out of pieces? 

It's just the act of putting something together. It doesn't have to be for you, it doesn't have to be for others, it doesn't have to be art or business related or outcome focused. 

Could you take something that was either in your hands or in your head — or both — and just make something new? That's it. That is creative.

Do you have any practices that help you creatively? If you're in a rut, what do you do?

I've learned the hard way that creativity is a finite resource, and it's fickle. I can't always immediately turn it on when I need it.

The first thing is figuring out why I'm not feeling creative. Sometimes it's blockage — I'm overwhelmed in other parts of my life, so there's no room for flow. Sometimes it's a lack of vision — like when a brand wants a thought-leadership video from me about their new product, but I don't have a point of view yet. I have to figure out what I actually believe. Forming that is an act of creativity.

For blockage, going for a walk is still the best thing. It lets my brain do whatever it needs to do — rifle through my to-do list, reflect on relationships, reminders to prep — so it has room to make connections. 

For lack of vision, a high-intensity workout works for me. Going for a run at a pretty high pace. It's just you and your breath and your muscles and your body, and you're pushing yourself. Like really pushing your limits. When you're done, you get that little high — and the vision starts to form. Often without even trying.

How do you cultivate your self-trust?

It's a bit of an emotional topic, because it started with having very little self-trust. 

I was actually bullied quite a bit in junior high and high school. I had taste, I had style — no one dressed like me — but at the same time I was deeply insecure. Eventually I got to this mindset: someone's going to hate me anyway, no matter what I choose. So I might as well be who I want to be. 

My confidence came from trying my hardest all the time, so even if I failed, I was proud of my effort. Eventually that effort paid off, and I started succeeding. I earned creative freedom at Gong, and when my team reached our goals again and again — people noticed. I got more budget, a raise, a reputation that preceded me. Now I’m like, maybe I actually do have something worth listening to.

Someone very smart told me: compounding interest is the eighth wonder of the world. I believe in that so much, because successful people have just made good decisions over and over again. If I can keep making good decisions, keep showing up, outwork people, make decisions that help future Devin — this should work out.

As a business owner, how do you drown out the AI noise and focus on what matters?

I've done self-awareness work and coaching for going on a decade now. You have to be aware enough to notice when you're being distracted or swayed by an idea someone just handed you.

I think about this on LinkedIn all the time. Someone says something, and it's so easy to think, 'oh yeah, that must be true.' Why? Because they posted it?

Or on Instagram, there’s gold advice everywhere. But I don't even know who that dude is. That's just some guy in a golf cart — why are you taking swing advice from him?

At a conference this year, an exec at G2 shared a stat: 69% of respondents said they had a vendor in mind, did AI research, and changed who they bought from. That's almost terrifying. I don't think a hundred people who’ve followed me for years would do what I said 69% of the time — that sounds more like a cult!

I think part of it is we just trust AI way too much. People don't have that discernment filter. Before you buy the idea, think about who benefits from you buying it. 

You said "taste" matters more than an AI-first marketing strategy. How do you know when something is tasteful?

I'll never do an AI-first marketing strategy. You don't sell to AI, you sell to people. The greatest marketing makes you feel something. It changes the way you think. It changes the way you act.

Taste is: can you tell what's fly? Can you tell what's dope? I saw a guy the other day wearing what looked like a silk Ascot with a t-shirt, and I thought — how did he blend streetwear with this really bougie look, and it works?

Taste is: even if you're not a trendsetter — can you notice it? Can you dissect it? 

And the next level is: can you be the person who put that outfit together? Can you sense flavor, and figure out what makes it flavorful? Can you make a dish that's original, even if it's pulling from multiple parts?

What's something you've been thinking about but haven't articulated out loud yet?

I'm changing my mind on gated content, and that drives me crazy. I used to be: gate, gate, gate and get your list up. Then I had a Playmakers guest share how he ungated all his content and got more leads. That opened up my perspective — there's more nuance to that conversation now.

I've always respected Post Malone and Snoop Dogg, because they reinvented themselves multiple times to stay relevant. I knew while in my 20s that you're only going to be cool and young for so long. When you work at big companies, you're relevant when the brand is relevant. 

What worked then isn't going to work forever, and what I built my career on may be shifting. To stay at the top of my craft, I have to change and evolve. The LinkedIn algorithm's changed, consumption patterns have changed, and I'm learning YouTube, which has a totally different expectation and style. I'm hoping that if I stay dedicated to the craft, this effort compounds and my career will keep growing.

When a client can't think of topics or stories to write about, how do you help them dig deeper?

When we're confused and unsure, what do we do? We look left, we look right, we look for someone else to see how they're doing it. Your peers want to know what you're seeing, thinking, and doing. What are you seeing in the market? What are you thinking about? What are you doing as a result?

The better questions get specific: What did you see on LinkedIn this week that pissed you off? What's the coolest thing someone did lately, and why was that cool to you? What's the biggest decision you made this month? What's a metric you Slacked your CEO that made you proud? All of those spark a better story than “what are you seeing in the market?”

When coaching people on content that earns attention, what do you find yourself saying over and over?

Tell a story, don't just give me information. In B2B, we skated by for years thinking the best information wins. But now, think of the best opener to a story that gets someone to say 'tell me more.'

One tactic is the curiosity gap: 'I've been in marketing for 10 years, and I saw something the other day that completely changed how I work with my CEO.' 

But it can't be about a topic the person doesn't care about — it has to be topically relevant. Tell a first-person story, or even a secondhand story — something I saw, I didn't do it, but I saw it.
Topical relevance plus a curiosity gap. Those are pretty safe bets.

If you've got your own creativity rituals or tips for getting out of a rut, hit reply. I read all of them.

Holler at you next Saturday,
Devin

P.S. — If this one hit different, forward it to someone who needs a creativity reset.

Pen by Devin Reed​
​Founder, The Reeder​

Follow me on LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | TikTok

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