Jaemin Yi | Travel, Creativity, and the Pursuit of Awesomeness

Are any of you out there struggling with creativity? Is it not fun anymore? Maybe even frustrating as hell? Does it leave you wondering, “Maybe I was never meant to do this shit in the first place”?

Trust me, you’re not alone.

Here’s something most people don’t know about me: even though I’m a professional filmmaker, I’ve been struggling with creativity all my life.

Maybe “struggle” isn’t the right word. It’s been more like a “vicious, hair-pulling, bloody battle” with creativity.

But I’ve finally gotten past it. Thank the lord, finally. And just like my struggle with sticking to a workout routine, it wasn’t anything wrong with me. It was just a simple mindset change.

All my life, I’ve been one of those guys who could never stick to his workout plan.

I’d always start off with plenty of enthusiasm. I’d research the hell out of my workouts, set strict meal plans, have a specific goals of X pounds of muscles within X weeks…

But by week 3, I’d already get bored. Start slacking. And once I miss a workout or cheat on my meal, it was all downhill from there. And yes, this happened many, many times.

Was I just lazy? Did I just not have any self-discipline? At the time, I thought the answer was most definitely “Yes…you just suck at life.”

But let’s fast forward to now. I’ve been working out consistently for the past 2 years. I’ve been eating a healthy paleo/primal diet for the past 8 months. I feel better and look better than I ever have before.

I finally f#%*ng did it! But how? Did I miraculously become a self-disciplined, non-lazy, ass-kicking machine? Hell no.

The only difference is that I changed my reason for working out.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with reading. You know, up until 4am reading under the covers until my eyes hurt. You couldn’t stop me from reading

But as I got older, something changed.

Maybe the forced reading we had to do at school took the joy out of it. Or maybe girls and a social life started getting in the way. Whatever the reason was, all I know is that reading slowly became something “I used to do” but now never had time for.

Well, not anymore. I’m back to devouring books at an insatiable rate. I’ve cut down on mindless internet time to make more room for meaningful reading time. I’m officially, 100%, head over heels in love with reading again.

And I owe it all to a little thing called the Kindle.

Now how the hell did a frickin e-reader rekindle my love for reading? Good question. Especially since I used to be like a lot of you out there, moaning about how “the feel of paper can never be replaced”.

But the truth is, ever since I got my Kindle a year ago, my reading life has completely changed. And it’s stayed that way. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the Kindle pulled this off, and here’s what I’ve boiled it down to:

1) Less Wasted Time and More Reading Time

You know all that wasted time you have in a day? Standing in long lines. Waiting for a friend to show up. The breaks in-between your Pomodoro’s.

Now I turn all that wasted time into productive reading time. Since the Kindle is so small and compact, I almost always have it with me for all those wasted moments.

And get this – if I don’t feel like carrying the Kindle around, I still always have my book with me because of the Kindle iPhone app. The bookmark even automatically syncs so I can immediately pick up where I left off. Now I NEVER have an excuse not to be reading.

Guess where I’m at now? Yup, NYC. The concrete jungle where dreams are made of. Or at least according to Alicia Keys.

I’ve been here for a week now and I’m already in love with the place. Got a sublet in the beautiful East Village and will be calling this city my home for the next 2 months (until I head back to the west coast to prepare for Burning Man!).

So what’s my travel purpose while in New York? It’s going to be one thing and one thing only: music.

For the 2 months I’m here, I want to live, breathe, and eat music. I want to go to as many shows and events as possible. I want to make friends with musicians and other music lovers. I want to create more shitty music and hopefully get less shitty at it.

And I think this is the perfect city to do all that in.

I give my friend Taneen a lot of shit. I’m always making fun of her. Always laughing at the random and stupid things she says.

But honestly, she’s one of my favorite people to hang out with. I don’t tell her this much in person, but I think deep down she knows (or at least she does now – you better be reading my blog punk).

We got to kick it last week and it reminded me why I love this girl. Every time we hang out, two things happen: 1) we cut through the bullshit and, 2) randomness and spontaneity are the name of the game.

Let’s start with 1).

Most conversations, people just talk about inconsequential stuff. What movies they saw, how their vacation was, what’s going on at their job. Those convos are fine and all, but when I have them, I never feel like I really get to know a person. What makes them tick. Who they really are.

Taneen is a G at cutting through all that bullshit. I mean, there we are, just chillin in her kitchen, doing the whole catching-up-on-life thing, when without warning she just launches into it:

I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: deep down inside, I’m one lazy bastard. But there’s a lot I want to do with my life. So I’ve spent countless hours obsessed with becoming more productive and learning how to make the most of my time.

I’ve tried everything from GTD to fancy iPhone task managers. I’ve implemented Merlin Mann’s e-mail rules, hacked my Moleskine, even developed my own system with a stopwatch.

So I’ve managed to turn my lazy ass into a highly productive one, but I still always felt like something was missing.

Well, not anymore. I found that missing piece and now everything is finally clicking. It’s called The Pomodoro Technique and I think I’m in love. Let me introduce you.