"Create more than you consume"

Five words that haunt the feeds of mycelial self-help influencers. Scroll long enough on any social media platform and you're almost guaranteed to run into them.

On the surface, the meaning seems harmless: get off [insert social media platform], stop mindlessly scrolling and make something your own.

It's a message I agree with.

Creativity is one of the most fundamental parts of being human. Research across disciplines consistently links creative practice to improved wellbeing, deeper emotional processing, and heightened cognitive function. It can, and should be, argued that the act of creating is central to human identity.

Expressive writing offers a clear example of this. In 1997, psychologist James Pennebaker conducted a series of studies in which participants wrote for 15–20 minutes a day about emotionally significant experiences in their life. The results were measurable. Participants who wrote exhibited improved immune functions, reduced stress markers, and enhanced emotional regulation.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi later coined the term flow to describe states of deep creative immersion. Similarly to Pennebaker, his research showed that when fully absorbed in meaningful creative activity (flow), individuals experience heightened focus, intrinsic motivation, and an increased life satisfaction.

Across contexts — writing, researching, filming, drawing, painting and many more — creativity is not simply a means to an end. Rather, the process is developmental in itself. And, in an era oversaturated with endless stimuli, few would argue against creativity and its obvious benefits. But, returning to the quote, there is something most ten second clips conveniently miss: context.

Origins, Oligarchs and Overworking

As it turns out, that quote is attributed to the pedophilic billionaire, Jeff Bezos. Modern neoliberalism's golden boy and a poignant example of all that is wrong with 21st century thinking.

It first appeared in his 2020 letter to Amazon shareholders — not as a wellness philosophy, but as a business principle. Contextually, the quote isn't about reclaiming agency from digital overlords but finding a competitive advantage in the free market.

That is to say: produce more than you depend on, work more than you rest.

If you're tired, build. If you're overwhelmed, produce. If you're burnt out, the solution must be to create more. Turn like a cog in the machine that is post-modern capitalism.

Good boy.

Unsurprisingly to most, burnout is not an anomaly. In 2019, The World Health Organization formally recognised burnout as an 'occupational phenomenon'. Since then, reported rates of workplace stress and emotional exhaustion have continued to rise globally. However, it's not just our careers being affected.

Sociologist Byung-Chul Han describes contemporary society as an "achievement society." Unlike disciplinary societies (that impose control externally), achievement culture encourages internalised pressure: you are free to succeed, and therefore responsible if you do not.

Under this logic, creativity — a fundamental part of being human — becomes weaponised.

In a modern capitalist framework, the distinction between meaningful creation and productive output collapses entirely. Neoliberal thought reframes social and economic conditions as matters of individual responsibility. Broken, institutional systems become personal failures. If you are overwhelmed, you need better habits. If you are behind, you need better time management. If you are underpaid, you need to upskill.

The assumption that one must create rather than consume — particularly in a world where consumption is unavoidable — only reinforces this internalised compulsion towards productivity. It incorrectly frames rest as failure.

Rest is a necessity.

I'd like to think it's obvious why rest matters. A neuroscientist can't explain it to you any better than your couch can after sinking into it following a 40 hour work week. And yet, in a culture that glorifies the hustle, perhaps it does need to be said. Without rest, cognitive performance declines, emotional regulation weakens, and decision-making deteriorates.

The brain does not function optimally under continuous demand.

And, on top of all this, creativity thrives. Neuroscientific research on the brain's Default Mode Network shows that periods of rest are crucial for creative insight. Some of our best thinking occurs when we are not actively producing. Rest is not laziness, but rather a necessary condition for innovation.

It's ironic. Our entire ability to create depends on the very idleness that productivity culture dismisses.

The Point

Great. Seven paragraphs in, and you still don't know why this blog exists. Here it is.

Creativity is a need. It's not a productivity hack or a competitive strategy. It's a fundamental part of being human — and it's a need I often neglect.

There is a particular irony in feeling creatively disengaged while working within a creative field. While I am very fortunate to work on fulfilling projects, a lot of that output doesn't translate to my personal life. I spend a lot of my free time feeling as though I'm falling short — never producing enough, never producing well enough, resting when I could be making something. (Yes… I should be taking my own advice.)

This blog is an attempt to address that need in a healthy way.

It isn't about profit, followers or the construction of a brand. It is about reclaiming the act of making for myself and, more importantly, enjoying the process of exploring my own thoughts.

As E.M. Forster said: "How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"

Syncretic, as the name suggests, seeks to blend disciplines — media, film, writing, art, technology, philosophy — not because interdisciplinarity is trendy, but because my hyperfixations rarely respect neat categories.

Anyway, if that clicks with you — or if you're just interested in the contents of one of these articles — I'm glad you're here. If you're itching to close this tab and open TikTok, go ahead. Consumption isn't a moral failure.

But if I can leave you with one thing, it's this: create something for yourself. Not because you have to, or because it's 'productive', or because it builds your brand or your bank account. Do it simply because you want to.

Try it, it feels different.

— Zac

If you're asking what prompt was used to create this post, it was non-existent because I have a functioning brain ❤︎