How to Automatically Be More Creative

Creativity becomes “inevitable” when it’s treated as a way of being—supported by a system that constantly turns everyday noticing into connected ideas. Rick Rubin’s framing, echoed through Robert Enrí’s idea that the goal isn’t making art but entering a state that makes art unavoidable, lands on a practical question: how does someone stop waiting for inspiration and start producing creative work that flows?

The answer centers on a note-taking and knowledge-management approach built around three linked habits: noticing things in the world, making notes about them, and—most importantly—connecting those notes. Notes stored in isolation (random notebooks, napkin scribbles, scattered documents) make it harder to retrieve ideas in a way that sparks new thinking. A bidirectionally linked system keeps everything in one place so ideas can be cross-referenced instantly. That structure shifts the creative burden away from “collecting notes” and toward “finding relationships,” which is where novelty emerges.

Rubin’s broader claim is that creativity isn’t tied to a specific product or talent. Living creatively is practiced attention: refining sensitivity to what draws someone in or pushes them away. The transcript uses a conveyor-belt metaphor—small packages of experience constantly pass by. At first, there’s no perfect way to choose which packages to pick up; the instruction is to capture whatever stands out, even if it seems trivial: a line from a song, a striking detail in a conversation, a quick sketch of a dog with the same haircut as its owner. The key is that each note must be self-contained and given a unique name so it can be referenced later.

The system’s “connection” requirement is what prevents the work from becoming overwhelming. Notes are likened to puzzle pieces: dumping pieces onto a table creates chaos, but connections provide structure. When a new piece arrives, the existing connected landscape tells you where it belongs. Over time, the system trains recall and association—every new note forces the question, “What does this connect to that’s already here?” That repeated act of linking helps ideas stick and makes future connections easier.

A concrete example demonstrates how the workflow works in practice using scle (a knowledge management system with cards and boards). A new card is created for Rubin’s idea that the real work of an artist is a mode of existence, then linked to existing notes such as The creative act. Additional thematic links are added by searching for related ideas like creativity and inspiration, including a note attributed to Jenny Odell and a Steve Jobs quote. Once links accumulate, boards visualize the relationships, enabling the user to assemble an outline for a larger project—like writing a blog post about leading a creative life—without waiting for inspiration to strike.

The takeaway is less about finishing one project and more about continuously growing the system. Writing down becomes meaningful because it feeds a feedback loop of attention, retrieval, and novel association. With enough notes and connections, creative output stops feeling like a rare event and starts resembling a default outcome.