The professor of creativity Juan Munoz published his newsletter for 162 consecutive weeks. This is how his research paid off. |

What happens if schools learn incorrectly? Find out how University Creativity Professor Juan Munoz is making more an impact in his work as a creator through first becoming a better student.

In the beginning of class, creativity and innovation instructor Juan Munoz told his students they could submit their assignments in any manner they liked.

"It can be written down, it can be written by hand and it could be written using a computer, it can be a video, it can be a podcast-you can do whatever you want to do. If you want to send a messenger take a dive with your assignments, that's fine. You don't have to be constrained by a paper as well as Google Doc," he instructed.

But even with this freedom, his university students still produced identical PDFs that had the same formatting every single time.

"I was so angry," Juan remembers. "I considered this to be an easy task to complete in the world. How are they going to learn creativity if they can't even get this done?"

As the pattern continued, Juan wondered if there was a bigger issue at play.

"Students are taught to be a certain way of thinking for ten, fifteen years in the school. The school has taught them that no matter how great or good, you'll be given lower marks if you deviate from whatever guidelines your teacher has given them to follow. The fear is inherent to breaking away from the norm."

Juan could see that this internalized programming affected creativity and he wanted to change things.

Juan loved teaching, but he felt constricted by regulations at the university. While at home and reading TechCrunch as well as other publications for entrepreneurs that gave him an idea for the business.

At the time, there was no thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in his home country, Costa Rica, so Juan determined to get things moving.

"I hold a civil engineering degree, and I knew people would think, 'What is this person's knowledge of business?' Therefore, the first step I took was to put all my thoughts down in a blog and shared them with. I began my career as a creator by putting my thoughts on the internet and sharing the things I'm able to do."

Today, Juan teaches creativity, goal-setting, entrepreneurship, and business via his online education platform called Epico Academia . It offers online courses as well as a collection of no-cost classes, as well as a monthly email newsletter that helps individuals live more imaginative and exciting lives.

This is how trying new things, exploring unexpected paths, and continually studying has helped Juan create a successful online business, and also unlock an entrepreneurial approach that is holistic that's fulfilling and fun.

How to provide content in a way that doesn't look like a school

Through his years of experience as a course creator in his position as an university professor making content wasn't a challenge for Juan. It was just a matter of figuring out the most impactful approach to delivering that information.

"The most difficult thing is getting the public to engage with our content," Juan shares.

"People are likely to purchase a class and only a handful of them will take it. It feels like the school experience. Although nobody's forcing me to perform the task and I'm attracted, my mind goes to the school environment. There's a teacher, there are courses, classes are offered."

Then Juan started experimenting with other ways he could get his messages to his followers.

"What if I try the email-based course where you'll receive an awesome emails every week throughout the year ? or TikTok-style content, only 30 second videos. Can I create course using a ton of 30 second videos? Perhaps. Let me try it out and see if this works."

"I am awestruck by the ability to create content that is basically what I'd like in any arrangement I'd like. I could create a course that's just 100, 30-second videos that let students go through the course."

One test that was successful was a Monday-focused email newsletter

When it comes to experimenting, Juan experimented with something which was different from the norm and found himself creating one of his most-loved resources: The Monday newsletter .

At the beginning of his business online, Juan noticed a trend.

"Every Sunday night, and on early on Monday, everyone would share memes on how they dread Mondays." Juan says. "I realized that there is always going to be one Monday. You can't escape it. So why are you still stuck on this?"

"I began to realize that these are exactly the people who call me to say"I'm not happy with my life, I don't like my job and want to improve, There was an underlying regularity. I'm a fan of marketing and branding I also thought that this would be an interesting branding idea since it's so easy to be a grumpy Monday. There's already an organization specifically for this, and it's an enormous club. But how do you do reverse that?"

Juan started a newsletter all about his love for Mondays, and he would share a tip, concept, or concept that could assist his readers in getting the most of their days.

"It attracted lots of people because people were unhappy with something that was going on in their lives and I talked about methods to make their lives better. It made people question"Why do I get so annoyed on Mondays?'"

Today, this experiment-turned-newsletter continues to grow through word-of-mouth referrals, and Juan still loves writing it every week.

In order to become a better writer be sure to get as much knowledge as you can about the topics you're interested in

It's not every thought that comes together as easily like the Monday newspaper, and Juan realized that the best way to clarify product and content ideas was to be a student again.

"I'm always mind blown about the fact that we get to live in a world in which we be taught by anyone, and everyone is able to learn from us. It's amazing. If I'm interested in marbles I'll be able to find someone that's so much in love with marbles, they'll show me something new. They could be from Singapore or even in Singapore. I may have no idea who they are, but I can benefit from their writings."

In order to be a successful writer now, you must learn as much as you can on subjects you are interested in.

"I urge people to consume whatever they're curious about," Juan recommends. "Often you can even find free content on social media. If you do consume the content, you realize, this really isn't that difficult. He's talking about marbles. There is no requirement to be the Ph.D. in a subject."

"There was a time when there were expert," Juan explains. "There were experts who could know every aspect of a particular subject, but there was only a limited quantity of data available. The information available was not as vast as the information we get today. the information was kept in a place. It was clear that there was one person who was knowledgeable about everything, and they were the experts. But that's not an issue anymore."

"There are a lot of people that know a lot, and there are a lot of people that are a bit knowledgeable and there's always someone that knows less than you. Therefore, you could create the content they need and still have a big impact."

The greater the opportunities you have to go out and gain knowledge, the more wisdom you'll give to those in your life. If you're stuck on what or how to teach take a break and try taking on the role of a student to reignite your inspiration.

What if you created things to enjoy creating them?

One of the biggest lessons Juan discovered during his entrepreneurial adventure was that there are a variety of routes people can take to share their passions.

Creating also shouldn't be all about reaching a particular outcome such as financial goals, milestones, or followers count. Find a way to strike a balance between Telic goals and the Atelic.

"Telic goals" are those with a certain outcome that you can measure. These goals are great to do for the sake of accomplishing these. The way to create with both kinds of objectives in mind." Juan shares.

"If you're actually helping other people out, then it doesn't matter if it's one person or a million."

Furthermore, you can gain value from working in the world.

"If you send out Tweet, Instagram posting  or video, and nobody is able to see it, it's there. Someone can find it eventually. In addition, gaining likes on a post and helping people with your blog post are two distinct items. I like a variety of items that I never double-tap. Even if no one duplicate-tapped or shared your tweet, does not mean that it isn't valuable."

"Creating is a very visceral experience. It's a feeling, it's extremely vulnerable and honest," Juan relates. "It's an image of your personality and how you feel, and putting that on the internet and not having person take notice is horrible."

"But regardless of whether nobody purchases the book, it's still interesting. It still taught you a lot. The knowledge you gained can be applied in consulting or your next job, or in any other. No one can ever take it from you. This is soul-bound."

To stay in touch with the things that matter most, Juan explains how important it is to be able to recall the place you've come from and be proud of what you've accomplished so far.

"I suggest that artists keep a journal and consider what you're doing now by looking at yourself five years ago, or ten years ago and twenty years in the past. Ask yourself what you would be thinking about the work you're doing today. Because past you would probably consider it to be great."

In the end, Juan reminds creators that the main thing to remember is to get your work to the world. It isn't about getting the highest number of sales, followers or customers.

"I find it arrogant to assume people won't want the product you offer. You're making the decision on behalf of someone else. You let them decide. If they like it, they'll buy it. If not, they won't. You just have to make it available to the people who need it. Take a deeper look at the world around you, study the most you can and then make choices that other people make. own choices."

"Create your own thing, and then put your work out there," Juan says. "You never know what will occur in the future."