But how do you optimize for creating?

Cease input – turn your cellphone off, stop reading every stupid blog post about productivity, just stop.

Get off the popular train – teach yourself not to judge based on anything other than your own view. Stop listening to the mainstream radio or to popular music channels. Try college radio. Browse an actual bookstore for books rather than the Suggested for You or Popular sections of some website. Stop only reading popular blogs.

Have a system for capturing ideas - no matter where you are – a paper notebook, your phone, whatever. You think it you capture it. When you have an idea, any type, any quality, record it without judgment. Separate idea generation and filtering into two phases.

Put some structure around making things – give yourself some time to write, to record, to photograph, to think. Schedule a lunch break to just sit and think.

Change your mind about your mind – overcome common mental barriers to making things.

If you quiet your mind and allow yourself to stop judging everything you will find that you have more potential for innovation (at work, in the kitchen, in the garage, in the bathroom [this just got weird - bringing it back], with your hobbies, with your thoughts) than you thought before. You were using the same brutal quality filter on yourself that you used on viral videos, talk radio, and blog posts. You deserve better.