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

How could school be able to teach incorrectly? Here's how university creativity professor Juan Munoz is making more impact as a creator by making himself a better student.

On the first day of school, the creativity and innovation professor Juan Munoz told his students they could submit their assignments in any manner they liked.

"It is possible to write it in pencil, in your own handwriting and it could be written by a computer. It could be video, you can make it a podcast, are free to do what you wish to do. If you want to mail a messenger dove with your homework it's okay. You don't have to be constrained by a sheet of paper, or Google Doc," he advised.

However, even with this liberty, his university students still turned in identical PDFs with the same formatting every single time.

"I was so angry," Juan remembers. "I considered this to be the simplest task to complete. How can they discover creativity if they are unable to accomplish this?"

While the sequence continued, Juan wondered if there could be a larger issue that was at work.

"Students were taught programming over a period of ten to 15 years at the school. They've been taught that, no matter how great or great, you'll get a worse grade when you don't follow the model your teacher taught them to follow. The fear is inherent to deviating from the standard path."

Juan was able to see that this internalized programming had a negative impact on creativity and he wanted to change things.

Juan loved teaching, but was frustrated by the university rules. When he had free time reading, he would read TechCrunch as well as other publications for entrepreneurs that gave him the idea to start an enterprise.

There was not a vibrant entrepreneurial environment in Juan's home country of Costa Rica, so Juan was determined to assist in getting the ball rolling.

"I hold a civil engineering degree. I was aware that some people might ask, "What does this guy know about business?' The first thing I did was I wrote all of my ideas on a blog, and then spread them around. I launched my creator career through sharing my thoughts online and sharing the things I can achieve."

Presently, Juan teaches creativity, goals-setting, entrepreneurship, as well as business through his online learning platform called Epico Academia . The platform offers online classes and a library of free workshops, and a paid monthly email newsletter that helps users live more artistic and epic lives.

Here's how experimenting, taking unplanned paths, and continuously learning helped Juan create a successful online company and gain access to an entrepreneurial approach that is holistic that is rewarding and enjoyable.

What can you do to present content without making it make it feel like school

Based on his previous experience in creating courses as a university professor, making content wasn't a challenge for Juan. The only thing was to figure out the most effective way to deliver that content.

"The biggest friction is getting people to watch our content," Juan shares.

"People purchase a course but only a few of them will take it. It's like going to being in school. If nobody's compelled me to perform the task and I'm interested, my brain goes into school mode. There's a teacher, there are classes, and classes are offered."

So Juan was experimenting with new methods to get his messages to his followers.

"What do I do if I take the online course that lets you'll receive an awesome email every week for a year ? Or TikTok-type content, just 30 second videos. Could I make an online course that has a lot of videos that are 30 seconds long? I don't know, maybe. I'll try it out and see if it works."

"I am awestruck by the ability to make basically any content I want in whatever sequence I'd like. I can make courses that are just 100 30-second videos, that let students go through the course."

One of the experiments that proved successful was a Monday-focused email newsletter

When it comes to experimenting, Juan decided to try something new which was different from the norm, he ended up creating one of his most-loved resources: The Monday newsletter .

When he first started his business online, Juan noticed a trend.

"Every Sunday night, and on early on Monday, everyone would make memes of how they dislike Mondays." Juan says. "I was thinking, there's never going to not be the Monday. You can't escape it. So why are you still stuck on this?"

"I started realizing these are the same people that come to me and say, 'I don't like my lifestyle, I don't enjoy my job, I want to get better, I noticed a pattern. I love marketing and branding and thought that this would be an interesting concept for a brand because it's not hard to get bored on Mondays. There's already a club to help you with that and it's an enormous club. But how do you do reverse that?"

Juan started a newsletter all about the way he enjoyed Mondays. He would offer a suggestion, idea or concept that could aid his readers to get the most out of their week.

"It was a popular topic with a lot of people since people were unhappy with something that was going on in their lives and I had been discussing strategies to make their lives more pleasant. It made people question"Why do I hate Monday?'"

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

To be a better creator, learn as much information that you can on your subjects of interest

It's not every thought that comes together as easily like the Monday newspaper And Juan found that the best method to gain clarity about concepts for content and product ideas was to become a student and then a student.

"I'm constantly amazed by the privilege to live in a place where we can learn from everyone and that anyone is able to take lessons from us. It's amazing. If I'm interested in marbles, I can discover someone in love with marbles, they'll show me something new. It could be that they're in Singapore, I might not know their name however I could benefit from their writings."

In order to be a successful writer in the near future, take as many classes as you can about the topics you love.

"I encourage people to read anything they're interested in," Juan recommends. "Often there's even free content on social media. And when you consume information, you see that this really isn't that difficult. The guy is speaking about marbles. It's not necessary to possess the Ph.D. in a subject."

"There used to be specialists," Juan explains. "There were people that knew every aspect of a particular subject, but there was only a limited amount of information. The information available was not as vast as that we are able to access today. And the information was kept somewhere. It was clear that there was one person who had all the information and was the expert. This isn't the case anymore."

"There are many people who are knowledgeable, and there are lots of people who have a few ideas and there's always someone who knows less than you. Therefore, you could create content for them and still be able to make an impact."

In essence, the more you go out and gain knowledge, the more information you'll be able to give to those in your life. If you're stuck on the best way to impart knowledge, try switching roles and taking on the role of a student to reignite your inspiration.

Imagine if you had created something solely for the purpose of doing it?

One of the most profound lesson Juan discovered during his entrepreneurial adventure was that there are numerous ways people can share their passions.

Creating also shouldn't be all about achieving some specific result or financial goal, nor a followers count. Find a way to strike a balance between Telic and Atelic objectives.

"Telic goals" are those with a certain end-product that is easily measured. They are good goals to achieve for the sole purpose of making them. It is my opinion that people should approach creating with both types of goals in mind," Juan shares.

"If you're actually helping individuals, it doesn't matter whether there's just one or one million."

Furthermore, you can gain value from the fact that your work exists within the global community.

"If you post a tweet, Instagram post  or video but nobody is able to see the message, it's not gone. Somebody will find it. Also, getting likes on a post and helping people through your post are two different items. I like a variety of items that I never double-tap. If no one has double-tapped your post or retweeted your tweet can't be a reason to dismiss it as not beneficial."

"Creating is a visceral thing. It's emotion, it's sensitive, and it's real," Juan relates. "It's a picture of you and how you feel, and putting that up for public display and letting no person take notice is horrible."

"But even if nobody buys it, it's still worth it. You still learned a lot. You can use that knowledge for your next consulting job or anywhere. Nobody can take that away from you. That's soul bound."

To keep in touch with the things that matter most, Juan explains how important it is to remember the place you've come from and to celebrate all you've accomplished in the past.

"I advise that creatives keep a journal and consider what you're doing now by looking at yourself five years ago. Or the past ten years or even twenty years in the past. Ask yourself what you would be thinking about the work you're doing today. In the past, you'd probably believe that it was great."

In the end, Juan reminds creators that the most important thing is getting the work there. This is not about achieving record-breaking sales, likes or customers.

"I find it arrogant to think that people will not like your service. This is because you're making a an assumption for another. Allow them to make the choice. If they're interested, they'll buy it. If not, they won't. You just have to make accessible to the people who need it. Be more mind-blown by the world, learn the most you can and then make things-other people will make their own decisions."

"Create your thing and put it out there, Juan says. "You don't know what's going to occur the next time."