Create more, consume less

This is how I started my online business instead of doomscrolling for hours

I think we’ve all been there, scrolling in bed for hours on end, trying to spend our time on hobbies but we still end up scrolling. This was the case for me for years, I wasted so much time on my phone, consuming media, reels and not creating anything.

somewhere along the way, consuming became the default. we scroll, we watch, we buy, we stream

What motivated me to start my reading business?

When I first started social media, specifically my Instagram book account, I wanted to share my hobby and love of books with others, without anything else in mind, I wanted to create designs and graphics in Canva, to learn how to film and edit. I wanted to be a content creator.

And now I am.

Do I spend less time on my phone?

Absolutely. My hours decreased because I usually create my carousels on my laptop rather than my phone, but either way, instead of scrolling on Instagram, I comment on other people’s bookish posts, I get inspiration for my next posts on the explore page and overall, I consume more long form media and I am more creative than before.

creating doesn't happen in isolation. walks, silence, journaling, reading things you're genuinely curious about, these aren't distractions from creativity, they're the inputs. the goal is purposeful consumption, not zero consumption.

Do you need to show your face?

Absolutely not, I know big creators who quit their job to pursue full time content creation, and they never showed their face, I barely show mine as well, I have like 5 selfies that I rotate through throughout the month, I make my reels with voiceovers (and I do this lately, I initially grew my account to 40k followers without ever talking)

How to get motivation to create more than consume?

You don’t need to create an Instagram, or any social media to be more creative. You can paint, draw, color adult books, sing, anything really. This is just what worked for me, what motivates me to be more present, and to also pay my bills.

I know you’ve heard these people “but what happened to having a hobby just for fun"?” and that’s totally valid, but I feel like people who say this and they are against of monetizing your passions, are the ones who live a comfortable life already, they earn enough to pay their bills, have some savings, buy supplies for their hobbies, travel, or they are just content as is.

I am none of those.

I was raised in the balkans, we never had enough for anything, not even buying a pack of orange juice. I was raised to be content with less, that there is no way for us to earn more, be more. Being less was normal, struggling to pay your bills, never going in vacations, was normal. The first time I flew with an airplane was when I was 24 years old, to go to a different city in my country. At 25 I went to a different country.

I am not going to be apologetic for wanting to be more, in the beginning I would try to find excuses for monetizing my Bookstagram, I was afraid that I was seen as ingenuine, that I should enjoy creating content for free, giving free advice, free tutorials, but I stopped feeling sorry and feeling bad for wanting to be paid for doing what I love.

This is your sign to never let others dictate how you live your life.

How to create more than consume:

• start with ten minutes a day of making something, a caption draft, a sketch, a journal entry, a reel hook, is more sustainable than ambitious goals that quietly get abandoned after a week.

• create what you consume, this one is quietly radical. making your own things, even simple things. there’s something satisfying about closing the loop between consuming and producing. I created a reading planner (you can check it out here) that I use to this day, and also sell, the satisfaction you get when what you create starts producing you something in return, is unimaginable.

• set one real creative goal, not a vague aspiration, something with a shape: a product to launch, a series to finish, a skill to develop, external deadlines help more than internal ones.

• The two-minute rule but make it creative. Before you open Instagram to scroll, open your notes and write one sentence about anything. One. It doesn't connect to anything. It doesn't have to go anywhere. It just keeps the muscle from going completely dormant on days when life is genuinely a lot.

• Finish the ugly draft. The thing you started and abandoned because it wasn't going the way you imagined? Go finish it badly. Completion is a skill separate from quality and most people never practice it because they quit when it stops feeling good. The ugly finished thing teaches you more than the perfect unfinished one.

• Give your ideas somewhere to land. If you're not capturing ideas when they show up, in the shower, mid-chapter, at 11pm, they evaporate and you forget you even had them. One note, one voice memo folder, one corner of your journal. Ideas are slippery and they don't wait for you to be ready.