Recently, I re-read Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain. A nice methodology to adopt if you are a fan of digital note-taking. I loved the concept of organizing notes by actionability. What impressed me even more during the second read was the part about the creative process. All creative processes can always be broken down into Divergence and Convergence.

Divergence is where you start with an idea, research it, take notes, and let ideas clash to build even better ones. Soon, you have a vast breadth of knowledge and experience on the original topic.

Convergence is where you begin the actual creation process. You filter out some branches; some features may be put on a future roadmap, while others are dropped altogether for various reasons. You start working towards the output and create it.

This process of Divergence and Convergence is applicable to just about any field of creativity: designing a home, building a fancy new product, or even planning a wedding. Still not believing it? Read through the callouts for Divergence and Convergence again.

Now, it may seem more and more obvious, but it is still an important topic for all creators to learn and understand. Why? Learning about them helps us understand which part of the process we are in at any given time. An important line to remember: if you are spending too much time on Divergence, then you may be procrastinating on Convergence, or the creation of the output. If your outputs are not meeting appropriate quality standards, then you may be spending too little time on Divergence. Both should be used in balance.