Waking up your Creativity Mojo

To Julia, who reminded me...

Creativity IS the best therapy. Tell your therapist that you won’t be coming in today. Next time you feel anxious, sick, frustrated (insert negative emotion here), don’t TAKE something,– go MAKE something. Anything. Doesn’t matter what. Bake a cake, make a snowman, blow upa balloon and paint a face on it. When you channel your energy into the creative process and enter into flow state, you’ll forget all about that feeling of hanging on the edge.

Try it. Every single day, spend at least fifteen minutes making something out of nothing. I absolutely guarantee you will feel better. And if you don’t, draw a picture of how stupid I am, then send it to me. What are you turning your problems into?

Wisdom without distribution is selfish and soul-less. What you scatter is more important than what you gather. And hording wisdom without circulation is a dangerous act of selfishness. Now, that doesn’t mean you need to publish or share every single thought you’ve ever had.

But if you’re debating whether or not to tell the world, ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen if I distribute this idea?” Odds are, the answer won’t be as detrimental as you think. Are you being selfish with your exeriences?

Brainstorming sucks,… mostly. You don’t need another meeting. You don’t need another conference call. And you don’t need to spend another afternoon talking the life out of your idea. You need to take massive action. Today.

Otherwise you’ll get hooked on the addictive power of brainstorming – when what you REALLY need is to slide down hill in the plastic sack of execution. That is what is truly exhilarating

Creativity without innovation is useless.Sure, creativity is fun and cool and healthy for the soul, but there comes a point when you need to stop thinking and start executing.

Because there’s a HUGE distinction between creativity and innovation: One is a state of being – the other is a practice of doing. Both are essential, but neither can sustain you alone. Are you an “idea guy” or an “execution girl”?

Inspiration isn’t a Pow thing.If you sit around waiting for inspiration, the only thing that will ever come to you is lower back pain. That’s not the way creativity works. You can’t force inspiration.

You can only live your life in a conscious, creative and adventurous way – listen carefully to everything that happens to you through the filter of your Theory of the Universe – and then render what wants to be written or accomplished in a disciplined, structured way.

You’ll soon discover that reckless brain engagement truly is the best idea-generator. And you’ll never have a creative block again. When was the last time you made the choice to be inspired?

Lack of discipline dulls the blade of creativity. Inspiration is overrated. If you want to make Idea Lightning strike, you need to make yourself into an earthing rod. The best way of doing this for doing so is to cultivate creative discipline. To make yourself sit down at the workbench at the same time, every day, ready to create.

As a writer, I call this being “due at the page.” That way, every morning at 7AM when I sit down to work, lightning strikes. Because everything yields to diligence. What is about to hit yo uin the face if you let it?