I often think about the ratio between creation and consumption in my life. My moods can be fleeting and sometimes I'm not sure what causes me to have a productive week and then a week where I feel like I'm working at half power. The closest I've come to cracking that code in terms of my own self-knowledge has to deal with how much time I spend brining new things into the world versus how much time I spend consuming things other people have brought into the world.

When I feel like crap it seems that my create/consume ratio is skewed completely toward consume. When I'm on top of my game then I'm in creation mode. The scientist in me won't let me confuse correlation with causation -- but I think there's definitely a chance that my creation spurs good moods and is not simply the result of one.

Rands seems to agree:

"When I am in a foul mood, I have a surefire way to improve my outlook – I build something. A foul mood is a stubborn beast and it does not give ground easily. It is an effort to simply get past the foulness in order to start building, but once the building has begun, the foul beast loses ground."

I can get behind his rallying cry:

"Turn off those notifications, turn your phone over, turn on your favorite music, stare at your blank slate and consider what you might build. In that moment of consideration, you’re making an important decision: create or consume? The things we’re giving to the future are feeling increasingly unintentional and irrelevant. They are half-considered thoughts of others. When you choose to create, you’re bucking the trend because you’re choosing to take the time to build."