How to Be Creative, from gapingvoid

Hugh Macleod at gapingvoid has assembled a nice How to Be Creative tip list. I’ve pulled his headers into a list below, but it’s definitely worth clicking through to his site for the full commentary. I especially like his “Keep Your Day Job” dictum, which is great advice for all those investment bankers out there who plan to quit and become painters. Not that they shouldn’t, but if you’ve got a good job you can afford to buy paint. And healthcare. But I digress:

1. Ignore everybody.
2. Creativity is its own reward.
3. Put the hours in.
4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being “discovered” by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don’t try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.

via Joi Ito