Austin Kleon is a writer who draws. His books, Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work, have sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

Austin talks about creativity and art in publications like The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. Austin's approach to talking about art, creativity, and writing is very sincere and authentic. Without further ado, he builds his thoughts and reflections in a very didactic and captivating way!

Reflecting on the importance of keeping ideas and creativity flowing, Austin dedicates a chapter of Steal Like an Artist to leading the reader to conclude how necessary it is to step away from screens and put a foot in the analog world.

Austin makes us think about how being in front of screens all the time can affect our relationship with creative work.

Even though Austin directs his speech to artists, with a great focus on writers, seeking a creative routine can benefit all kinds of people, regardless of their field of work.

What does he mean by this analog world? Most of us do a large part of our work sitting and looking at some screen.

The problem is that we are forgetting that it is possible to do things without looking at a shiny glass panel.

Austin says in Steal Like an Artist that computers are alienating because they put us at a certain distance from our work and what we are producing at the moment.

Our bodies stay still while our heads spin around multiple galaxies, searching for information, inspiration, and ideas. Finding a balance for this dynamic, between head and body, allows ideas to flow more consistently.

Austin describes the positive impacts generated by keeping ourselves partly in the analog world.

The digital world is constantly trying to take our attention. Everything is designed to impair our concentration and make our brains lazy and sleepy.

Kleon states that computers stimulate our perfectionism because we are led to edit our ideas even before we have them. For those who work closely with writing and creativity, it is well known that the creation part must be very separate from the editing part.

What Austin leads us to think is that analog tools can make our creative processes much more fun, easy, and effective!

Through the analog world, we are led to pay more attention to what is happening. When you brainstorm a project, for example, if instead of doing it on the computer, you use paper and pen, notifications will not interrupt you constantly. You drown out some of the external noise to listen more attentively to what is going on in your head!

Doing things in the real world opens more doors to inspiration.

Getting your hands dirty and being aware of ideas forming is what the analog world provides us! Austin invites us to enter a kind of loop between the digital and analog worlds.

There are several ways. For example, if you need to prepare a presentation, write an important email, prepare a class or lecture, and you feel stuck staring at the computer screen and feeling like you will never finish your work, that's when we need to change stations.

Try to set aside a space in your workplace, no matter how simple it is, where you will set up your "analog world". You can have notebooks, pens of various colors, stickers, notebooks, everything that helps you "see" your ideas.

Using paper and pen is more powerful than you think. If you need to visualize your presentation, how about using post-its to write the topics and spread them across your desk, floor, or if you have a board, even better. This way, you can visualize the order of topics and decide the steps you need to follow to get where you want.

Regardless of the tools you use, the most important thing is to feel like you are using both your head and body.

Walk while you are thinking about something. Instead of typing on your computer or phone, use a pencil, scissors, and touch paper.

Another example. When you need to think about the editorial line for Instagram, try starting your ideas briefing by writing everything that comes to mind on a large sheet of paper, like the poster boards. They don't just have to be used in school to do a history project about World War II.

There are many options. After you visualize your ideas, it's time to go to your computer to edit and prepare them to be shared with the world!

Step out of the rabbit hole of distractions in the digital world so your routine can be a little lighter and much more creative!