Revisited: The Beautiful Brilliance of Boredom with Creative Polymath Elle Cordova
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this captivating conversation, Simon Sinek sits down with the multi-talented Elle Cordova, a singer-songwriter and social media creator who accidentally found viral fame during the pandemic. Elle's journey from touring musician to internet sensation began when COVID-19 lockdowns forced her to pause her music career, leading her to discover new creative outlets through poetry and comedy sketches on social media platforms. (18:30) Her viral content, including poems about the Big Bang and witty sketches about fonts at parties, showcases her unique ability to make complex scientific concepts both accessible and entertaining.
- Core themes explored: The unexpected benefits of boredom and creative gaps, the importance of scheduled downtime for idea generation, dealing with anxiety while pursuing creative work, and the value of curiosity-driven learning across multiple disciplines
Speakers
Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek is a bestselling author and motivational speaker known for his work on leadership and organizational behavior. He's the author of several influential books including "Start With Why" and hosts the podcast "A Bit of Optimism," where he explores human potential and positive change.
Elle Cordova
Elle Cordova is a polymath creator who gained viral fame during the pandemic for her educational poetry and comedy sketches on social media. Originally a touring musician performing under the stage name Reyna Del Sid, she holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Minnesota and has become known for making complex topics like particle physics, grammar, and space science accessible through creative content.
Key Takeaways
Embrace "Good Nothing" Time for Creative Breakthroughs
Elle and Simon discuss how our brains need unstructured time to process information and generate ideas. (27:00) Elle discovered during lockdown that her most creative work emerged when she stopped her busy touring schedule and allowed herself space to think. Simon explains that our rational brains can only access about "two feet" of information around us, while our subconscious minds have access to "three acres" of stored experiences, conversations, and knowledge. The key is scheduling intentional gaps - what they coined "good nothing" time - where you're not consuming content, making calls, or checking devices. This allows your subconscious to make connections and solve problems you've previously posed to it.
Questions Must Be Asked Before Solutions Can Emerge
One crucial insight from their conversation is that creativity requires intentionally posing problems or questions to your brain before expecting solutions. (30:42) As Simon explains, "A question must be asked. We can't expect our brains to be working on a problem that we haven't presented to it." This means actively engaging with big questions through conversations, reading, and diverse experiences, then allowing space for your mind to ruminate on these challenges. The process involves three steps: ask specific questions, feed your brain with relevant data through conversations and learning, and then create space for processing.
Turn Curiosity Into Your Motivating Force
Elle attributes her success across multiple domains to curiosity rather than exceptional talent in any single area. (04:49) She aims to spark "resonant curiosity" in others, hoping people will either create their own work or look up the concepts she discusses. This approach has led to her viral content where people learn about particle physics or grammar rules simply because they want to understand her jokes. Her strategy of "dangling the joke as a carrot" motivates learning better than traditional educational approaches because the reward is social - getting to participate in the community conversation.
Introversion Can Fuel Polymathic Excellence
Both Simon and Elle discuss how their introverted tendencies, rather than being limitations, actually contributed to their diverse knowledge bases. (06:53) Elle describes her "crippling shyness" leading her to stay home with books rather than socialize, accidentally developing expertise across multiple fields. This pattern of using learning as "escapism" created a foundation of diverse knowledge that later proved valuable in her creative work. The lesson is that what might seem like social limitations can become intellectual advantages when channeled productively.
Leverage Constraints to Unlock Creativity
Elle's experience in Roswell, where her van broke down for 10 days, perfectly illustrates how constraints can spark creativity. (57:06) With nothing else to do in the small town after exhausting the tourist attractions, she and her bandmate wrote and filmed one of her most beloved songs. This mirrors her pandemic experience where cancelled tours initially seemed devastating but ultimately led to her breakthrough as a content creator. The takeaway is to reframe limitations as opportunities for creative exploration rather than obstacles to overcome.
Statistics & Facts
- Elle has been "backed off and banned from probably close to six or seven casinos" in Las Vegas due to her card counting abilities. (10:00) She learned basic strategy and card counting initially just to minimize losses while spending time with her mother, who loves Vegas for her birthday trips.
- There has been a "basic global decline in ideas" with significantly fewer patents being filed today compared to the past, and the quality of patents filed is also lower. (32:28) Simon attributes this decline to the elimination of "space and gaps" in our hyperscheduled, hyperconnected world.
- Our rational, thinking brains have access to only about "two feet of information around us," while our subconscious minds can access the equivalent of "three acres of information" - every conversation we've had, every movie we've seen, and every book we've read. (27:57) This explains why our best ideas come when we're not actively thinking.
