Not to brag, but I'm one of the most creative people I've ever known.

Partially thanks to how my mind has developed over the years, shoutout to my genetics and my upbringing. My parents, teachers, friends, and everyone else I've crossed paths in real life, through music, films, books, in dreams… with helped me become who I am.

I've always had a hard time describing who I am at the deepest level in social interactions, because I know most people are looking for an answer about "what do you do?", "what's your job?". But saying "I'm a creative" is the most real answer I ended up saying. It doesn't need an explanation, a reaffirmation, or a comeback. It's simply the truth.

Now, finding my own way to use that to my advantage, to serve others, to support artists, to uplift startups and projects, has been, and continues to be, an interesting journey.

Where it started

It started way back: a kid playing pots as drums over the Grease soundtrack and the Beatles or dancing with my mom to Tchaikovsky or Rod Steward when she would wake me up at 7am as a kid preparing for school. Then winning drawing and writing competitions in Barcelona, and spending the prize money at a local stationery store. Winning tickets to take my family to El Tibidabo. Choreographing dances with my siblings as our go-to afternoon activity, performed for my parents. Then, later, studying electric guitar, a little piano, and over 14 years of drums (split between private teachers, Tallers de Músics, and my university: ESMUC). A master's in product management. Six-plus years self-taught in UX/UI and web design. I've worn many hats. And yes, I'd do it all again.

But here's the part I'd add to that story in order to connect the dots backwards on how I kept trusting my intuition and letting myself express in any creative way.

Hopefully these lessons can help others who are starting in the creative industries, who are artists, poets, who are also multi-faceted creatives, driven by a burning curiosity and sense of wonder. This is our time.

How I keep a constant flow of ideas.

Let's get into how I keep a constant flow of ideas.

One point first: having constant creative ideas doesn't mean they're all worth developing or paying attention to. But it is a signal that your creative muscle is flexing and working. So don't judge an idea the moment it pops into your head, let it flow. Ideas are the river. Don't treat them as things to catch and fixate on. Treat them as things to witness. That's how you keep the river clean and flowing.

If you have thousands of ideas, by a matter of probability, I would say that simple math would say that a few will be brilliant, the kind that could change the world in your lifetime. A few more will be worth paying attention to. And many more exist just to keep the river of ideas flowing.

So this piece isn't about chasing the next winning or viral idea. It's about learning how to have creative ideas all the time, every day, no matter what mood you're in.

Creativity is pattern recognition.

Creativity, at its core, is pattern recognition. It's connecting dots most people miss, making constant, seemingly random connections. You'll notice that if something struck your curiosity during the day, or you fixated on it without meaning to, it shows up again in your dreams or on a random occasion you weren't anticipating. Noticing it is what will differentiate you from majority of people!
The goal is to make brainstorming your default mode of thought, not a scheduled activity you switch on, but the water you swim in, and to play with it constantly.

For some, this is our default brain mode. It's effortless.

Feed it from everywhere.

And you have to feed it from everywhere, not just your own field. Read, and highlight what jumps out. Research what other creative teams are doing. Get curious about industries that seem boring on the surface, or that simply solve problems differently than yours does. Wonder about astronomy, philosophy, psychology, theology, design… anything. Having multiple skills and a constant hunger for knowledge will take you further as a creative strategist than staying narrow ever will.
Mixing skills, art forms, languages, and cultures… tapping into your own aliveness with curiosity and playfulness is what makes room for ideas to emerge in the first place.

Everyone is creative.

Here's what I've come to believe: people don't lack creative ideas. They have blocks around accessing them. Everyone is creative. Everyone (can) daydream, everyone (can) solve problems, but most people are rigid about how they let it happen. Learn to flow with it instead, and you'll have thousands of ideas, all the time, without it ever feeling overwhelming. Watching a river flow is calming, not exhausting. The same is true of watching ideas flow.

Capture first, organize later.

Which is why capture matters so much. Take a note. Record a voice memo. Every time an idea feels worth keeping, get it out of your head. Right then, not later. Even if it's 3am. If you don't want to miss it, take notes. And then, next day, separately, put order into all of it.

Because creation, in its first stage, is messy. The skill is knowing which stage you're in: when to let things be messy, unexpected, chaotic, and when to shift into order, organization, and logic. Those are two different jobs. Don't try to do them at the same time.

Stay loose, stay in flow.

Stay loose along the way. Learn to improvise. Keep your mind strong and young. Question your own thoughts, you are not your thoughts and we shouldn't feel entitled to them neither. That distance is what lets you catch and correct as you go.
Don't take ideas or your mistakes, too seriously. A mistake isn't a failure; it's an iteration toward the next idea. It's all part of the flow.

Taking action

You may have heard people say: "Having ideas is cheap. Everyone can have them, execution is what makes the difference."

And it's true. There's no better feeling than making visible what was once invisible.

(Mind > Matter)

An idea, and then the action to deliver it into the world. A song was once just an idea in someone's mind/heart. So was a book. So is every product. Think about how fortunate we all are to experience products that make our lives better, more comfortable, richer, more enjoyable… all because someone had an idea and took enough action to turn it into something real. That's what I call La Sort Acumulada. (In Catalan for "the accumulated luck.") But that's a story for another day.

To sum up, I love translating other people's ideas - or my own - into products, from digital ones to physical merch for artists and companies.
Going from A to Z. That's my contribution.

Thanks for reading!

P.S: I might update this blog in the future with any other lessons I have missed. If I do, I'll add a note to say exactly when I did it.