'How To Be Creative' - from Gapingvoid

          



 

 

Cartoons on the back of business cards . . . now that’s something you don’t hear about everyday!  Gapingvoid is one of the blogs that I personally make it a point to visit at least once a week for reasons too numerous to state here.  The main reason: ITS CREATIVE.

As far as creative concepts go, this is pretty damn unique.  Who would have thought to put these two ideas together – cartoons and business cards?  But this guy has and in my humble opinion – it’s a winner!  

Just a few days ago I was perusing through his site and came across a gem of an entry entitled “How To Be Creative”.  After reading his 31 tips on how to do this, I absolutely had share them with you all. 

Tune in over the next few days as we re-mix Gapingvoid’s ideas -Threshold style - and hip you to some tips that hopefully turns up the volume on your creativity dial.

1.  Ignore everybody.  As the saying goes . . . opinions are like @$$holes – everybody’s got one.  People will tell you anything about your ideas.  If you ask a hundred different people for their opinion, you’ll get a hundred different answers.  Go with your gut.  It’s about the only thing that will never steer you wrong.

2.  The idea doesn’t have to be big it just has to change the world.  An idea that emerges enough to change your world and make you passionate about it, is powerful enough. A small idea with a big heart behind it, will take you a long way.

3.  Put the hours in.  As they say Rome wasn’t built in a day and anything worth having is worth fighting for and in the case of the building of Rome and fighting/winning wars (i.e. developing an idea, business, or anything else) that doesn’t happen over-night. 

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail. Make it happen yourself.  Russell Simmons (co-founder of Def Jam Records) didn’t wait for some record executive to “hook” him up - he made things happen himself. 

5.  You are responsible for your own experience . You are your own gauge. Your idea of success is defined by you – not by others.  How you see your future is determined by your own vision of the world.  As a saying goes "an innovator changes her environment, the environment doesn’t change her". 

6.  Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.  When you were a child you scribbled inside and outside the lines.  Clearly the rules were to stay inside the lines but as a kid you didn’t care.  Boundaries did not confine you.  Be as you were when you were younger and don’t let boundaries limit the possibilities.

7.  Keep your day job (a Gapingvoid nugget) - 'the sex and cash theory'.  Keep at least two Jobs – have a job that you are passionate about (sex) and the other job is to pay your bills (cash). If you can have both in one. . .

8.  Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.  Apple is one of the most creative companies doing business today.  They are highly innovative and are determining the industry standard on multiple levels.  Be creative or get left in the dust by the developing Apple’s of the world. 

9.  Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.  Whether it is a mountain, or a molehill, everyone has some challenge in life that demands his or her attention.  Find it, embrace it, and come to terms that this is your challenge.  Whether it is creating your own personal magnum opus or figuring out what that magnum opus is, everyone needs to determine what his or her personal Mount Everest is and get climbing. 

10. The more talented somebody is the less they need the props.  Real talent only needs a rough idea, a bic pen and the back of a napkin.  If you don’t have the raw ability, all the blogs, websites, software, venture capitalists, and investors in world can’t help you.  Buying five hundred dollar Tiger Woods golf clubs doesn’t make you play like him. . .

More to come. . .