I started reading Hugh McLeod’s blog Gaping Void about three years ago, and was amazed (and a little bit shocked) at his ideas, candor, and language. Now he has turned a long essay on creativity into a book that you should read.
Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity is an awesome resource. Here are the first ten keys:

1. Ignore everybody.

2. The idea doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be yours.

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.

Number 6 is one of my favorites: Ever­yone is born crea­tive; ever­yone is given a box of cra­yons in kin­der­gar­ten.
“So you’ve got the itch to do something” is how this chapter starts, and I think that we all feel this sometimes. McLeod describes all sorts of situations and ideas that may occur to you to create something, but you are afraid that is isn’t “good enough”, or no one will want to publish it, or any number of reasons not to do it.

So what is his amazing and powerful advice? Do it. Make it. Put your heart and soul into making something amazing that will blow the minds of people that see it. “If you make something special and powerful and honest and true, you will succeed.” If you have even the tiniest bit of creative spark in yourself, you will know that his is true. It might be buried way down deep, but you know it.

Read this book.

Then get started on that amazing thing. I am working on mine and I feel awesome. In fact, after reading this, and an opportunity came for me to take another day job (see #7 above), I took it. Because now the time that I spend on my “creative stuff” feels so much more valuable, more meaningful. And the small idea that I had for a Productivity E-book is turning into something special and powerful and honest and true. And it is going to be much cooler than the original plan called for. Stay tuned.

(I get something like $0.50 if you buy it through this link)

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