Create Before You Consume

There’s a quiet moment each morning that decides who you’ll be for the rest of the day.

It’s that space between waking up and reaching for something.
The phone.
The inbox.
The scroll.
The input.

Most people reach for consumption first.
They check before they think.
They react before they create.
They absorb everyone else’s priorities before remembering their own.

We did this for years.

Until we made a new rule:

Consumption isn’t bad.

It’s just powerful.

It shapes your thoughts.
Colors your emotions.
Steers your attention.

And when you consume before you create, your creativity becomes a reaction—not an expression.

You’re writing through someone else’s lens.
Parenting through someone else’s story.
Building based on what’s trending, not what’s true.

Nomadic life amplified this for us

On the road, we have limited bandwidth—literally and metaphorically.

Limited signal.
Limited time.
Limited energy.

We had to protect our creative bandwidth like a scarce resource.

That meant choosing to create first.

To write before checking texts.
To record before consuming content.
To design our day before letting the world design it for us.

And it changed everything.

You don’t need to be an artist to create

We’re all creators:

• Parents crafting experiences
• Entrepreneurs building solutions
• Teachers shaping ideas
• Writers, makers, organizers, designers
• Anyone who builds something that didn’t exist before

And every one of us has something meaningful inside—
but it gets drowned out by the noise if we don’t give it space to speak.

That’s why we create first.
To start with our own signal, not someone else’s static.

What “create before you consume” looks like for us

1. Protected Mornings

No inputs for the first hour.
Not even “just checking.”

We write, sketch, think, reflect, plan—first.

2. Offline Start

Even 20 minutes offline gives our minds a chance to boot up on our own terms.

3. Private before public

Before we share anything, we create privately.
No likes. No audience. Just expression.

4. Output-focused habits

We don’t consume anything related to what we’re building until we’ve made progress on our own version.

If we’re writing, we write before we read.
If we’re designing, we sketch before we scroll.

This isn’t rigid—it’s protective.

We guard the space where our voice speaks the loudest.

The risk of consuming too early

Early consumption leads to:

• Comparison
• Anxiety
• Distraction
• Performance pressure
• Decision fatigue
• A loss of original thought

None of those things help you create.
They help you conform.

You don’t need hours. Just space.

Even 10 minutes of creation before consumption builds:

• Clarity
• Confidence
• Momentum
• Presence
• Direction

It’s not about what you make.
It’s about who you become by honoring the signal within you before letting the world speak over it.

This Week’s Shift:

Don’t touch your phone (or any inputs) for the first 20 minutes of the day.

Instead:

• Write
• Sketch
• Plan
• Meditate
• Walk
• Think

Make space for your own mind before stepping into everyone else’s.

Start with creation.
Not reaction.
That’s where your power lives.

—Indy & Kitty
​Nomadists