A Deeper Understanding 14: What You See Is How You Feel

What You See Is How You Feel

In founding my fourth startup, people often tell me how lucky I am. They're right, up to a point. I get to watch a kernel of an idea grow into something that changes people's lives, and I get to build teams of remarkably gifted people. But I'm just as quick to say, "You have to be stupid to be in a startup!" What I mean is that you will spend plenty of time with your head down, grinding through tasks that are difficult, boring, or both. And every founder I know works all the time.

Over the years I've learned that working all the time isn't healthy. I needed to program my mind for distraction, just to give it a break, and in this startup I finally have. The lesson: those breaks, especially the ones that feed my creative side, make me perform better and produce far more innovative ideas.

Creativity doesn't expire

Many people believe we become less creative as we age. Much of society starts thinking about retirement in their 50s. My experience says otherwise. These have turned out to be my most creative years.

Since turning 50, I still think outside the box, and I'm more willing to experiment with new ideas than ever before. Recent research backs this up (Creativity is not just for the young, study finds). Perhaps in time, I may not need to work at an extraordinary pace, but I could never stop working.

Why creativity matters

In my entrepreneurial journey, I've learned that you can't get stuck in a dogma of what worked in the past. You have to keep reinventing yourself before someone else puts you out of business, a process often called "creative destruction." That makes creativity and innovation essential, and it means I need to be at my best and in flow. That's hard when you're launching a new company. And as an introvert, I learned that I need to be able to escape into my own thoughts.

How being Visual helps

As I've written in earlier articles (see *Anchoring Frees You to Get Into "Flow"),* my creative side is very visual. Other tools help too. Music pushes distractions out through my ears, and movement helps me focus. When I need to be creative at work, you'll find me pacing, which engages my Kinesthetic side pushing noise out of my head. The the diagrams and flowcharts appear. The conditions have to be right, though.

Remove the Negative

For me, the negative is clutter. I wouldn't call myself a tidy freak, but I can't have so much clutter at home or at work that it blocks free movement or creates visual distraction.  When that happens, I find it hard to get inspired.

Add the Positive

I also need something that inspires me and pulls me into flow. Living in an amazing landscape (e.g. Monterey Bay and the Santa Cruz mountains) inspires me.  Abstract or provocative art does this by forcing me to consider many possibilities. I also find it in cultural experiences: art museums, watching a San Francisco Giants baseball game, musical performances (whether it’s Motown, Dead & Company, the San Francisco Symphony, jazz or an opera (a love I discovered when I lived in Italy)).  To detach from work and be completely absorbed into an artistic experience regularly brings new ideas into my professional efforts.

What I see shapes how I feel, and how I feel determines how well I create.

— Doug Breckenridge, Co-Founder of Vujade™ and Cabo™

Join Us Register for a free online Vujade™ Spotlight session on Tuesday, November 17, 2026 where we talk with Tom Lemke and Rev. Dr. Tim Barkett about their new book “The Grateful Pastor” about how to address the current crisis in the clergy with more than 50% seriously considering leaving the ministry at some point since 2020.