On Creativity

Ever since I got an iPhone, I fell in love. It works so much better for me compared to Android. I wondered why.

In my teen years, I liked Android better for its customization abilities. I could spend hours fiddling with the settings, trying new icon packs, changing themes, making it my own and showing it off to my friends. It was fun.

But as I grew up, I didn’t want to spend any more time on customization. Now I like a clean and consistent experience that I can trust. iPhone does just that. Its UI has remained mostly the same since its launch in 2007, features like copying an image to clipboard remain consistent throughout the operating system, and it rarely shows any bugs.

Some opinions may differ, but the beauty of iPhone lies in the fact that it’s well thought out. Apple thinks everything for you so you don’t have to. The OS may feel restrictive at first, but that is intentionally done to prevent you from getting lost or doing something wrong.

It’s easy to provide customization features for Apple, it’s such a big company. But they don’t do it because they know that it’s the thought that is of value, not code. Their products are valuable because of the creativity that went in, not the labor.

You are paid for your creativity, not for the hours you put in. Think of any profession. What differentiates a lawyer who charges 50K per case from the one who charges 500K per session? The law doesn’t change, and both of them know it. It’s the way one can interpret it, present it in court, and manipulate the judgement in your favor.

Same goes for engineers. Do we get paid to write code? Yeah, to some extent. But the real work is done before we even start typing. Our main job is to understand the problem and devise solutions. That involves imagination and thought and experimentation. Code is just the tool we use. The skill that engineers possess is actually problem solving.

More direct examples include film directors, CEOs, and investment bankers who get paid purely to think.

If most of the value is produced by our minds, it only makes sense to double down on it. Learn more to think better. And work mindfully. That gives you an immense leverage over someone putting in tons of mindless effort.

It’s a simple post. Were you able to resonate with this one? Let me know by replying to this email or commenting on the website.

Good night,
Aachman