One of the great challenges I’m facing these days is creative margin. I used to read about 150 books per year. But the more I’m writing the less I’m reading. And I’ve felt a little intellectually stagnant the last few months. I’m still reading, but not with the same level of consistency, variety, or quantity. So yesterday I spent the entire afternoon at a Barnes and Noble. It was so refreshing. I scanned the bookshelves. I sipped a toasted marshmallow latte. And I spent the afternoon reading Starbucked and How Life Imitates Chess.

I think one key to creativity is cross-pollinating. You have to read across disciplines to get new ideas. That I why I love reading everything from neurology to business to physics. It keeps me from becoming a closed-system.

In my experience, an afternoon at the bookstore is the cure for the creative cold.