After a chilly fall football presser, my fellow sports reporters and I scattered around to grab lunch and find available seating.
I sat next to the sports editor of the local paper, with whom I had interacted very little. He was an East Coast sports journalist with a sensible wit. He previously had a radio show in New York until he was replaced by an up-and-coming Stephen A. Smith. So it goes.
He also would later become my boss.
To preface our interaction, please note I was a terrible columnist.
I had a weekly slot on the student sports section and always scrambled for some semblance of wisdom to share. Lowlights included mansplaining social media etiquette, Gus Johnson appearing in Madden, and the weather turning nice.
Few 20-year-olds should have their writing published for the masses. Fewer 20-year-olds should share their ideas with the masses.
Wanting to put some dimmers on my glaring weakness, I asked the sports editor how he churned out multiple columns a week.
“I’m always making connections,” he said, as swirled his open hand around the side of his head. “When you’ve been around a while, you can see trends and pull from different experiences. It’s like a web in my head.”
This was welcome advice, but it wasn’t immediately actionable. Do endless ideas really only come from a life well-lived?
Privileged with reflection, I can answer: No.
I’m 15 years removed from that moment and four months into writing a weekly newsletter. I have more ideas than I have posts published.
The editor’s quote replays in my head weekly. Because he was right, in more ways than he probably intended.
He described “making connections” as relating A and B to X and Y, something you can only understand after seeing A through Z. That comes with time and experience.
But there’s another way to make connections as it relates to creating ideas, and anyone can do it: Connect with the world around you. Then it’s no longer about A and B. It’s about you and me.
Talk to people. Go to events. Document the experience.
Every moment has meaning. The fun is finding it.
As long as you chase those connections, you’ll never struggle for ideas again.