"The human mind is capable of creating endless possibilities, provided we give it the freedom to explore." – Carl Jung (Pioneer of analytical psychology)
Jung’s emphasis on the unconscious mind highlights the necessity of creativity to connect with deeper parts of ourselves.
It’s all coming back again, the feelings of nostalgia and bittersweetness of being a child. When I was 6 years old, I remember sitting on the floor, drawing anything from the books I’ve read, to the cartoons I’ve watched, to the dreams I’ve had. This one particular drawing comes to mind, me holding hands with my parents, outside of a single home surrounded by a tree on each side, a red car parked in front. Imagination, creativity, fun, and excitement all flowed through my mind as the time also flew by. Everyday was a new adventure that played like a movie as I drew whatever came to mind onto my school notes and homework. As children, we have boundless amounts of creativity—naturally flowing, without judgement or fear. This is the True Freedom many of us long for and it comes from the joys of creative exploration.
But now, we’re adults. 20 years, 1 parent divorce, 1 college degree and 6 jobs later, I discover why everywhere I look I see the dull, robotic, and gray lives reflected upon the faces of my neighbors, friends, and city workers. It’s because they all live the same life—wakeup, 9 to 5, go home, shower, sleep, repeat until death.
Somewhere along the way, our creative instincts were quashed by external pressures. School made us prioritize memorization over exploration. Work rewards conformity over innovation. Society tells us that play is for children. Our creativity is now buried under layers of fear and responsibility.
Knowing this, tell me, when was the last time you used creativity in the way you wanted.
I’m not just talking about painting, drawing or writing. Creativity is in how we think, solve problems, and find meaning in our lives. It is the antithesis to the meaninglessness that many of us suffer from, including myself. Creativity is the key to rediscovering what it truly means to live.
To truly understand the forgotten importance of creativity, we need to cover the following:
- The Psychological Foundation of Children & Creativity
- The Creativity Crisis
- Why Flow and Creativity matter in your 20s
- How to unlock Flow and Self-Actualization
The Psychological Foundation of Children & Creativity
"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization.”
– Abraham Maslow (Creator of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs)
Self-actualization is the inner potential, our life’s purpose, and meaning that many of us are searching for. Authenticity, Creativity, Purpose, and Continuous Growth are all part of this.
To better understand where we are, we’ll go over what Maslow created—The Hierarchy of Needs, a theory that explains how our behavior is driven by 5 levels of order.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Physiological Needs: Basic survival such as food, water, shelter, and sleep
- Safety: Security, Stability, and Freedom from fear (financial stability, health, safe environment)
- Love & Belonging: Emotional needs from relationships, friendships, family and community
- Esteem: The need for respect, recognition, and self worth such as status, achievements, confidence
- Self-Actualization: Fulfillment of one’s potential and personal growth through purpose, creativity and becoming the best version of oneself
Whether it be consciously or unconsciously, we’re all striving to reach the top level of self-actualization—discovering our purpose and reaching our true potential. We all have different versions of it.
Yours might be trying to end world hunger through spreading awareness in the form of paintings. Others might be trying to end poverty through world tours of music concerts. Mine is something that I’ve discovered about a few years ago. I want to make the world a better, brighter, and safer place by educating my generation on how to become their best selves through the development of the mind and self. My idea of creativity that I enjoy comes in the form of writing, journaling, and teaching what I study about Psychology through videos, newsletters, courses, coaching, and webinars.
Speaking of self-actualization, we were all the closest to that point as children. We had the first 3 levels covered: our parents made sure we had the basic necessities and gave us the love we needed. This enabled us to reach self-actualization, even if temporarily. We lived in the present moment whether it be through us playing pretend, drawing, painting, playing music, and using our imagination.
It seemed as though time would fly by during our creative activities, almost as if we were in a state of flow.
“Flow is the optimal state of consciousness where we feel and perform our best.”
– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
As children, we were often in a flow state—a mental zone of optimal performance and deep engagement. We weren’t focused on outcomes, destinations, or any certain purpose. We were happy painting, drawing, and playing. We were fulfilled just by doing. Self-actualization is actually just a state of doing through creativity.
As adults, it’s a little different and a bit more difficult because we’ve forgotten how to be creative since society has ingrained this mindset of survival. We are in an act of “doing” in our day jobs.
I want you to think for a second. When we work our day jobs, and the time flies or we have those busy days. We enter a flow state, but we are exhausted and unhappy with the work we’ve done. When we were children, we enter a flow state and we were happy regardless of what results took place. Self-actualization is more about the process, not a destination.
For us to recreate a life of purpose, we need to intentionally create the right environment for us to rediscover flow. After doing so, we need to find activities that challenge us without it being overwhelming and engage our passions.
And now I ask you, why do you think we lose this state of creativity as adults? What changed between now and then during childhood?
The Creativity Crisis
When I was in high school, there used to be this popular mobile game I played called Brave Frontier. I remember drawing all these characters during class and even at home. It got to a point where I would forget to hand in projects and homework, but it was worth it for me because I drew over hundreds of pictures for my friends—they were all happy and constantly asking for new drawings. But I didn’t care. I loved what I did. This was my creativity. This was my flow state. This was my mini version of self actualization at the time.
My Unfinished drawing of a Brave Frontier Character
Then, I graduated high school and all I could think about was what I needed to be doing after I graduated college. I was afraid of what my parents would think of me if I told them that I didn’t care what I did for work, so long as it was a simple desk job. Being in a mainly Chinese household, having a prestigious career such as a lawyer or a doctor was expected of me.
When I was 19, I drew my last picture. My best friend got it tattooed on his shoulder. And then I quit. I quit because in college I didn’t have the time. The way I understood reality was that my drawings would not take care of me in the future. This was my turning point where I conformed to what society wanted of me. I became another boring piece as an addition to the dull and gray population.
My final picture, a tattoo for my best friend who joined the US Marine Corp.
Our 20s is when we build the foundation of who we’ll be for the rest our lives. How we think, feel, and act is dependent on our freedom to create and express. Unfortunately, it’s also the time when society has killed our creativity. This is the Creativity Crisis.
In 1968, researchers George Land and Beth Jarman conducted a study to assess creativity across different age groups. This test was developed for NASA to find innovative engineers and scientists. These were the results:
- 1,600 children aged 3 to 5, 98% scored at the “creative genius level”
- Same 1,600 children aged 10, 30% scored at the “creative genius level”
- Same 1,600 children aged 15, 12% scored at the “creative genius level”
- Subsequent test of 280,000 adults, only 2% scored at the “creative genius level”
Creativity peaks during childhood and declines as we age largely due to societal and educational constraints but most people don’t realize it until it’s too late.
And overtime, a lack of creativity isn’t just about living a monotonous life. Our sense of purpose starts to erode. We feel like cogs in a machine, stuck in an endless cycle of work and responsibilities. This leads to burnout, depression and this sense that ‘something’ is missing.
When we stop being creative, we lose our sense of self and define our identity as a job title, an income level, a society role instead of our talents, dreams, and passions.
Decades from now when you look back, will you be proud of the things you’ve created or will the thought of “what if” become your new best friend?
Why Flow and Creativity Matter in your 20s
I’m only 27 so I can only speak from personal experience. During our 20s, we’re at a unique crossroads—a time when our minds are primed for growth and curiosity reaches its peak. It’s also the phase of life where we make decisions that define the trajectory of our future. Creativity and Flow (which I’ll get into in a bit) are essential tools for unlocking our full potential and creating a life of fulfillment.
The Power of Creativity in Big Decisions
I want you to think about this for a second. How do we decide what degree or career to pursue or even what business to start? I know for me, I did my research—asked friends, family, alumni and other people with more experience than me for advice. I googled potential outcomes and just gathered data from other sources. Just kidding, I didn’t. I literally chose to major in Psychology because my mom graduated with a Psychology Degree.
When it comes to decision-making, especially for lifechanging events, it lies in our creativity—our ability to connect the dots, think unconventionally, and imagine possibilities beyond what’s already obvious. At the moment I know I made the right decision majoring in Psychology because I see how it’s present in many different careers and even businesses.
School only taught me that Psychology only leads me to working in a job like being a therapist, counselor or human resources. My exploration and curiosity that came from my creative brain allowed me to view the world in a different perspective. I now know that Psychology is so much more than a desk job. It’s present in sales, marketing, and client success which are major parts in starting a successful business.
Creativity allows us to come up with different solutions that lead us to creating a life we want to live. For me that isn’t working a 9 to 5 but rather creating a business that includes my passions, interests and is created around my life. Without it, we’ll rely on basic information that society provides us, which obviously we know is never going to get us to a fulfilling life.
Why Your 20s Are The BEST Time for Creativity
Here’s the science behind it and I’ll try to make it as interesting as possible.
In our 20s, our brains are operating at peak performance, more specifically peak Fluid Intelligence—the ability to think abstractly, solve new problems, and adapt to the unfamiliar. This means that we’re naturally equipped to take in info, process it, and create new ideas faster than we ever will again in our lives. The catch is that if we don’t actively use it, we lose it.
When we grow older, fluid intelligence naturally declines and it makes it harder to learn new skills and adapt to change. You can see this happen with our parents’ and grandparents’ generation. Whenever I try to teach my mom or grandma how to use their iPhones and MacBooks, it takes them a while to catch on. It’s literally a nightmare to teach my grandma specifically how to access her list of contacts. Their fluid intelligence has pretty much peaked already and it’s harder for them to learn new ideas. I won’t even get into the specifics of teaching them about Artificial Intelligence.
Anyway, fluid intelligence gets replaced by Crystallized Intelligence—the knowledge, habits, and skills we accumulate over time through experience. Crystallized intelligence is super powerful but it’s limited by the foundation we’ve built in our younger years that come as a result of our creativity and engaging in flow.
If we spend our 20s strictly consuming content, whether it be through social media, YouTube, Netflix, or even going to school, and following orders, we’ll lack the creative framework that builds our crystallized intelligence.
To take it even further, let’s talk about what happens if we don’t engage in creativity during this powerful time of fluid intelligence because the consequences are so much more than missed opportunities:
- Rigid Thinking: By neglecting creativity now, you condition yourself to default to the same patterns of thought. This makes it harder to adapt to change or innovate in the future.
- Stagnation in Career and Life: Creativity isn’t just about art; it’s about problem-solving, decision-making, and building fulfilling relationships. Without it, you risk becoming stagnant, both personally and professionally.
- Erosion of Purpose: Creativity is deeply tied to self-expression and fulfillment. Without it, life can feel repetitive and uninspiring, leading to a sense of emptiness or "going through the motions."
- Difficulty Competing in the Modern World: Today’s world demands innovation. Industries and careers are evolving rapidly, and those who can’t think creatively or adapt are left behind.
- Loss of Flow States: Without creativity, you lose access to flow—the state of deep engagement that brings joy, mastery, and productivity. Over time, life without flow feels monotonous and unfulfilling.
I know you’ve probably seen these all play out in the older generations—the resistance of change to new ideas, the inability to adapt to constantly changing technologies, and the frustration of modern challenges. The mindset of “Get a degree, get a job, and save up” isn’t going to make us financially stable anymore. These people didn’t build the habit of creativity and adaptability when they had the chance. They followed what they knew best from society, the safe route.
The Role of Flow in Creativity
We’ve spoken about the long-term consequences of not being creative, but now I need you to understand how flow goes hand in hand with creativity. You’ve definitely experienced some idea of the Flow State—the state where time disappears, focus becomes razor-sharp, and ideas come easily. Everything just seems to click.
In our 20s, we’re naturally more curious and more willing to take risks—two key factors that make it easier to enter flow. When we’re in flow, we’re not just creating; we’re building mental resiliency, enhancing problem-solving abilities, and further unlocking our potential. The more time we spend in flow, the stronger our creative muscle.
For all my TPS and FPS gamers, you’ll understand this next portion. I used to play PUBGM during quarantine days of covid-19. 24 hours would literally fly by easily, as I played from sunrise to sunrise again. In 1 month, I built a team with an online friend where we became Top 100 globally and joined a 2-million dollar tournament. We didn’t win, but I know my team and I were top .01% globally in terms of skill. My team got there by experimenting and strategizing different gameplay styles, from playing aggressively, playing passively or mixing things up. Being unconventional is what separated us from the normal team and placed us within the Top 100.
I could only imagine the possibilities had I used this time on my career or business instead.
This was my eSports team for PUBGM during Covid-19, Assix Esports
If we ignore flow and creativity, it gets harder to access it later. I’m 27 now, and I can definitely notice it being slightly harder to think creatively or it could just the placebo effect as I’m writing this. I know for sure that I’ll keep doing my best to remain creative and to avoid ending up like those stubborn boomers that swear by the 9 to 5 and saving to success. Without regular use, our ability to innovate and adapt leads to rigid thinking, refusal to learn new tech, resistance to change and insisting to outdated methods.
I know creativity often relates to art and its valid to express it through that form. But don’t limit yourself in that box. Creativity is in how we solve relationship conflicts, approach fitness goals, design a better morning routine, or creating a unique business. It’s how we adapt to the everchanging world around us, find new perspectives and ultimately create a life that feels unique to us.
This is the best time for us to experiment without fear, to think beyond the “safe” methods, and discover what truly makes us excited and come alive. The decisions we make now, fueled by creativity and flow will shape our future.
My question for you is, what can you do now to engage in it? For me, it was creating a project. That project was studying Psychology, my way and incorporating it into my daily life and sharing it with people like you to improve your lives. This is what excites me. Go find your project and build on it. This is how we start to self-actualize.
How to Unlock Flow and Self-Actualization
I think it’s fair to say that we’re all working on creating a life of fulfillment and excitement whether it be traveling the world, retiring our parents, or living lavish. And in that life, there’s a different version of us living it. That future version of ourselves didn’t get there by following the societal norms, they most likely did something different from the average person—through creativity and flow.
These are the tools that serve as the bridge between where we are now and our self-actualized future.
But how do we purposely unlock flow to achieve self-actualization?
I want you to think back to a time where you were in the flow state whether it be through playing video games, playing sports, drawing, writing, or even in your business. What factors were present that allowed you to access the flow state other than simply loving the process?
A few things should come to mind such as:
- Clear Goals: Flow thrives on purpose. Know what you’re working toward, whether it’s a small task or a big project.
- A Challenge: Tasks that are too easy cause boredom, while tasks that are too hard create frustration. Find the sweet spot between the two.
- NoDistractions: Create a focused space where you can dive into an activity without interruptions.
Every time we enter the flow state, we’re aligning our actions with our potential and that brings us a step closer to self-actualization. This state isn’t a destination but more so of a journey where we take creativity, focus and effort to reveal a new version of us that is present in ourselves.
Back in the Summer of 2023, I’d experienced one of the most intense yet fulfilling periods of flow in my life. It felt purposeful. I was invited to work with my mentor in person on his sales agency. Til this day, I don’t know anyone that has mastered the pinnacle of peak performance and self-actualization in life except for him and I’ll explain what I mean.
Video Editor and Myself getting ready for a Team Marketing review
To keep it brief, his purpose was to help change the lives of a million men to become the best versions of themselves by helping them achieve financial success. His vehicle of choice was through his sales agency which helped men land a 6-figure remote sales positions.
Now, we only had 3 months together in which I can work with him in person but it went extremely well because we had Clear Goals, A Challenge, and 0 distractions. But there’s one more thing I didn’t mention, and its strategic delusion—an unwavering belief in achieving what seems impossible. It’s not about being reckless; it’s about setting audacious goals and believing in your potential to figure out the ‘how’ along the way.”
I go deeper into this in my other newsletter “How to Become the Top 1% in 3 Months” but I’ll also briefly cover it through examples here.
- Clear Goal: To make $1milliion in cash collected in 90 days
- A Challenge: The most cash ever collected in 90 days was $300,000. The challenge was $1million.
- Strategic Delusion: My mentor and I have never made $1million in cash in 90 days. Doing this as a 2-man team was unheard of for us but he firmly believed it.
- No Distractions: Thanks to the maids we hired, food, laundry, and dishes were all taken care of. Digital environments were primed—social media was all deleted, ad blockers installed. Physical environments were taken care of, I’ll deeper into this.
We were able to spend 3 months, working 16-hours per day, without feeling burnt out only focusing on the business itself. I was given the opportunity to use my creativity through creating a new business from scratch.
Now before we get deeper, I want to remind you that every time we enter a flow state, we take a step closer to discovering our potential. Self-actualization isn’t a destination; it’s a continuous process of becoming.
And the person I became at the end of those 3 months was a new version of myself that I would’ve never discovered had I not gone through such an intensive period of work.
For comparison, you could think of this period of time as a 3-month military bootcamp. You usually see those new recruits undergo a disciplined transformation and come out as almost an entirely different person afterwards. This is what’s happened to me and I’d like to show you how to do the same.
Now I know that not everyone has access to a mentor or the resources that I had but you could still create your own environment for flow and self-actualization by setting the 3 factors: Clear goal, A Challenge, and No Distractions. These factors are universal and can be tied back to your own endeavors.
Starting with a clear goal, you need to set something tangible and with a timeframe. Simply stating that you want to become the best version of yourself within 1 month or that you want to make as much money as possible within 3 months, is not going to work. This is the equivalent of shooting an arrow at a target you can’t even clearly see.
We can do better. Goals such as saying:
- I want to make $10,000 per month within 30 days
- I want to lose 20 lbs within 90 days
- I want to get a girlfriend within 60 days
These are clear goals. If you want to take it step further, do what I call a Vision Creation—looking at the whole picture, the byproduct of life that comes as a result of accomplishing that 1 lifechanging goal. Our vision becomes our compass guiding our focus and energy while flow and creativity becomes our engine driving us forward, transforming our efforts into meaningful progress.
Creating a Vision solves the issue of confusion, and not knowing what you’re chasing after and why you’re pursuing your goal. If you need help with setting a goal, creating a vision and a step-by-step plan of getting you there, consider checking out Breaking the Box, my book on Identity Shifting where I go even deeper. If not check out my other newsletter “How to Become the Top 1% in 3 months” where I go deeper into vision creation.
Besides creating a vision, I had mentioned strategic delusion—the illogical belief in ourselves that we have the potential to accomplish goals that might seem impossible to the others around us.
When my mentor and I set the goal of a million dollars in 90 days, I remember initially laughing at his face stating that this was impossible. And to me it was, and even now saying it out loud sounds so ballsy and even idiotic to me. When I turned around and looked at his face, that’s when I saw that he was dead serious about this goal.
I saw him as delusional because what he was trying to achieve seemed impossible, especially because we were a 2-man team and we were building a business from scratch. But I understood why he had set what might seem to be an impossible goal to achieve.
To make real progress in anything, we need to set the bar higher than what we believe we can achieve. As humans, we often fall short of the goals we set. If you’d be happy losing 10 lbs in 30 days, set the goal of losing 30 lbs instead. If you’d be satisfied making $5k per month, set the goal of making $10k per month.
When you close your eyes and visualize reaching that potentially life changing goal, what feelings do you feel rushing through? Excitement? Motivation? Happiness? Fulfillment? Which is it? This is a part of the power of Strategic Delusion.
The 2nd part is the actual doing. The actual plan of getting there. You’ve clearly never achieve this goal before. Time to be creative. The regular way of doing everything you’ve learned from your parents, friends, teachers, and school isn’t going to get you to that 10k per month. It’s not going to make you lose 30 lbs in 30 days. It’s not going to get you to finding that perfect girlfriend.
As you start to use your creativity to find the right path to your goal, you start coming up with unconventional methods. Perhaps you start an extremely niche business focusing on doing lead generation for plumbers. Or perhaps you’re doing a combination of the keto diet and intermittent fasting with meditation to rapidly lose weight. Who knows?
It’s meant to sound crazy. At times you may need to use what may sound like “delusional” methods to achieve “delusional” results. At other times, it’s not crazy because there is always someone out there that has already accomplished that seemingly impossible goal of yours.
Before I completely veer off topic, let’s tie this back into flow and self-actualization. These unconventional methods of yours come as a result of your creativity. And because it’s unknown territory and it’s something you chose, it becomes much easier to enter the flow state. As we said earlier, flow thrives in the creative realm, on purpose, and on risk. This state of flow is where time flies, we work flawlessly, and seemingly have almost infinite energy as we start touching the boundaries of self-actualization like we did as children.
For the sake of making flow easier, we still need to talk about No Distractions. My mentor and I hired a chef and a cleaner to take care of basic necessities such as cooking food, shopping for groceries, laundry and washing dishes. This saved us time to put into our work. Besides that, we deleted our social media. If we needed to be contacted, our families and friends can reach us by phone. Our smartphones had all apps deleted or reorganized. Our main prioritization was the work ahead and ultimately the goal we were trying to achieve.
You don’t have to hire a chef and a cleaner but you could do something similar such as just daily maintenance. Opt for food deliveries instead of cooking or live with your parents and have them cook for you. It also saves you time on doing dishes. Delete all social media, unless it’s truly necessary for work. Everything in this world is designed to take away our attention from what truly matters to us.
So now it’s your turn. What tangible goal are you going after? How can you create an environment free of distractions? We’re trying to reach our goals through the power of creativity, flow and ultimately reach self-actualization through projects we care about. This is how we avoid the boring, gray, and dull lives imposed on us by society.
We’ve covered the Creativity Crisis, why creativity is important in our 20s, and how to unlock flow and hit self-actualization. I hope you understand now that being creative and entering flow isn’t a luxury, these are necessary tools to build a meaningful life, break free from societal norms, connect with our deeper selves, and design a future that excites us. I now encourage you to consider choosing a project that excites you, gives you purpose, and allows you to be creative and ultimately make your life better.
Go set that life-changing and motivational goal, embrace the challenges, and create something meaningful for yourself. It’s time to change that dull, gray life into a reality filled with purpose, creativity, flow and fulfillment.
I’ll see you on the next one.
— Allan L.
