Trying new things

The life of a creative person is to attempt new things. Distraction is the avoidance of attempting new things.

If you never create, you'll tell yourself you can't do it. If you do create, you'll still need to remind yourself that it was you.

The real buzz is creating something you haven't done before. You surprise yourself everyday.

Creativity is about doing stuff you haven't done before. You begin by fearing it. Then you begin to love it.

Life is a fluid situation. Sometimes you gotta get your feet wet.

No one is ready to graduate or ready for the job interview, or ready to work for themselves. But they begin.

So many wait impatiently for a limo, when the bus was all they needed.

No one is ever 100% ready to begin. So many put off the work of their dreams forever.

Procrastination is indecision. Indecision is resistance.

People wait for decades until they feel ready. The world also waits.

You need to actively chase projects you want to do. Or you WILL be doing uninteresting work.

Stagnation is making what you know well. Enthusiasm is for what we have only imagined.

Don't need to wait for a job you've already done. Chase the creative career you want.

Obvious enthusiasm is more valuable than career experience.

You're not the sum of you work experience. Aim for your career expectations.

Don't be distracted by what you can do. Focus on what you want to create.

Stagnation, indecisive, procrastination, unmotivated & frustrated: all symptoms of no clear vision for your future career. 

You know you are creating when you say, "I have no idea what I'm doing".

People who know how, didn't know how when they began.

We all imagine a tight-rope between today and our ideal future.

To create is a risk. Not creating is a bigger risk.

10,000 say, "I don't know how", and never start. A rare few say, "I will figure it out" and begin.

Some wait for the perfect time. Some are waiting to be perfect.

We wait until we are ready, willing & able. But we just need to be willing.

People say they aren't creative. What they mean is: "I feel safe in my box".

Many say, "I'm not creative". (Translation: "I got by up till now").

For the past 50 years you could get by without being creative. Not any more.

SUCCESS: It’s not what you do well now, it's what you want to do great.

It's not how creative you are. It's how creative you want to be.

Creativity flows AFTER you start creating.

You won't learn about personal innovation until you take a risk.

Time & priorities

How can anyone hope for a more creative life if they don't even set aside 30 minutes a day to create.

I few minutes writing your thoughts down everyday is a great start to a more creative life.

The first step in a transition to a more creative life is to accept your need to create regularly.

It's about Task Management, not time management. Focus on your strengths.

Remember, People who are good at wasting their time, are good at wasting yours too.

Can't decide how best to use your time? Love knows when to say Yes. Wisdom knows when to say No.

Want to save a lot of time? Give people what they need, not what they want.

We spend our whole life waiting for the perfect time. But life isn't perfect.

Everyone needs a Creative Retreat. But that sounds defeatist. Let's call it a Creative Takeover.

We have no time to create because we have an over inflated sense of duty to go beyond our needs.

Today we have more opportunity to fill up our time, instead of protecting pockets of time to explore opportunities.

Your idea must be more valued than the compulsion to fill ever moment with mildly amusing distractions.

Ever experienced the subtle pressure not to create? "Oh, you're not doing much, can you help me"(?)

When we accept the mental cycle of "Need to work & deserve a rest", we won't allow ourselves time to create.

Great way to be more creative: What can you create that will be finished by sunset?

If people don't value your time, they don't value what you're doing.

Time should be shared, exchanged & given voluntarily. Not expected from you.

Time is valuable. People can expect too much of it from you.

Your life isn't giving your time away. It's devoting you time to what you love.

It's easy to say, "When I've organised everything, then I'll create". That makes your art the lowest priority.

There will always, always be something else to do. But you CAN find 15 minutes to create everyday.

I wonder what’s on the Procrasta-vision?

Maybe I'll aimlessly surf the Procrasta-net?

We wait for the mythical 'When'...but the 'NOW' is your moment.

Tomorrow will be a better day to start... ...Start TODAY will a better tomorrow be.

The greatest gift to yourself is TIME...YOU are one of your priorities.

I've been guilty of over planning & under achieving.

Education is a wonderful thing but it conditions people to learn first, THEN apply it in the real world.

'Beginning' has a wonderful effect; What you thought was too hard & too tiring is often only an illusion.

The best way forward is often a bit to the left or right. Never in the middle or to the extreme.

Success

Outward success is nice, but satisfaction is better.

People will do all sorts of crazy things if they think they will be rewarded for it. -Unknown.

A creative persons greatest distraction is the pressure of showing outward success.

The pressure to justify a creative direction with material success can be too much for an artist.

Sometimes our desire for creative expression & financial success cancel each other out.

Confidence in your talent must exist BEFORE it is rewarded.

Success is believing that YOUR thoughts, YOUR point of view & YOUR ideas have great value. (Write them down)

Success is the avoidance of unnecessary distractions & expectations.

Creative times, are the small deposits of success we invest into our confidence, skills & future.

Success is keep showing up....with enthusiasm

Success is being unique with excellence.

Admire their talent & work. Not just their success.

Stuff I've done

STUFF I'VE DONE: Took bus to college with my big art folder. I made it look like a huge air mail envelope. Bus (cont) http://tl.gd/6ujsjj

STUFF I'VE DONE: Worked for another News Ltd paper in the ad dept. Lochlan Murdock didn't pop in either. (Like father, like son).

STUFF I'VE DONE: Worked in a Graphic Design dept of a News Ltd paper. When Rupert Murdock came for a visit, he never popped in to say hello

STUFF I'VE DONE: As Commercial Artist at my 1st newspaper job, some days were so quiet, I would draw jet cars all day.

STUFF I'VE DONE: Of course I loved art class in high school but they didn't grade art so some kids just messed around.

STUFF I'VE DONE: Kids used to get me to illustrate their school projects. They got good marks for initiative but low marks for effort.

STUFF I'VE DONE: The art on my heading pages in my school exercise books were so detailed that I kept the art & through away the books.

STUFF I'VE DONE: When I was 14 & 15, my school made me illustrator for the annual school magazine.

STUFF I'VE DONE: I used to draw so much that my school exercise books looked more like art journals.

STUFF I'VE DONE: By the time I was 12, I had over 50 model planes hanging from the lounge room ceiling. (It was my own air show)

STUFF I'VE DONE: When I was 10, I made an army tank from 'my' junk. It had an old toilet seat as the hatch.

STUFF I'VE DONE: When I was 5, I lived in flats that had a huge junk pile. My 1st playground. One day it was all gone. I was devastated.

STUFF I'VE DONE: I used to make the best cubby houses. Kid next door was so jealous but we had the best junk.

STUFF I'VE DONE: As a kid I used to jump off the house roof with a big plastic bag as a parachute. (I was a paratrooper)

STUFF I'VE DONE: As a kid I used to make a wall of boxes in a door frame & smash through. (I was Superman)

STUFF I'VE DONE: When I was 12, I made a town on my bedroom floor using small boxes, toy cars & soldiers for people. (Young urban planner).

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In the old days (when everything was still in black & white) ...actually, that sums up the newspaper I worked for. 

To be fair, newspapers did have color. You could have red or blue. But that was a lot of extra work.

In an early newspaper job, I would keep the drawings & photos in this thing called a Filing Cabinet.

Change is normal; I was a Paste-Up Artist for a newspaper. Yes, thats real 'Cut & Paste' people.

Be open to change. I worked for a newspaper that went from 'hot metal' typesetting to full digital workflow in 4 years. 

Sign of the times

Sign of the times: In 1999 I bought a new Apple computer. Friends said 'Why'. Now half my friends have them.

Sign of the times: In high school, those computer nerds were the ones that hid in the library at lunch time. Now we have 5 computers.

Sign of the times: My oldest is 12 years old. So is Google. Don't know how we researched baby names???

Sign of the times: My 12 year old is on her 3rd computer. I don't think I even saw one when I was 12.

Sign of the times: Moved the VCR out of the lounge room this week. None of us remember how it works.

Sign of the times: Put old encyclopedias outside for recycling. A stake 5 foot high.

Sign of the times: Saw my 1st computer (Sinclair ZX Spectrum) in comp museum in UK. Ran off a cassette recorder. That's a.... Never mind.

Persistence, determination & progress

An artists success is not becoming famous, but remaining an artist.

Successful creatives actually have terrible imaginations. They couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Successful artists lived with the thought that they may never know success.

Half of 2010 is gone. How are your projects going?

Failure is my teacher and success is my role-model.

Someone will always have a reason why you can't do something great.

If we don't create reasons to create, we will create reasons to do something else.

We need to remember the reasons we create. Or we will find many reasons not to.

For some reason people try to control if, when, how, where & what you create.

You're not a machine. You have seasons, rhythms, cycles & a pulse.

Some people are too quick to abandon a life with more freedom when they realize that it isn't free.

Raise the bar, reach for a star.

Been writing about my creative journey. Surprised how determined I've been to stay creative.

I think I'm Will Powered.

"Too difficult" is just something unpracticed.

Some creative people aren't stopped by inexperience, unanswered questions & no guaranties.

People throw rocks on your path but they won't build walls.

This year may have been a disappointment, but what you learnt, you'll need for new year.

Talked to a homeless man today who's writing two novels (at the libuary). His life's work is on a memory stick.

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Excuse me sir, I'm looking for an opportunity. Well son, you just gotta be prepared to go down the road an extra mile.

How can I be sure there'll be an opportunity when I get there? Well, very few go that far but those that do, aren't disappointed.

But everyone I know only does what they're paid to do. Well, I guess that's all they'll ever get paid for.

Ok, can you tell me what I'll find at the extra mile? Don't know, but I'm sure it will something worth the trip.

Alright, I'll go. I'll see you when I get back. Well, better say goodbye now because you won't need to come this way again. The End

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Most of your best experiences will happen because you took the first step.

Yesterdays man will always laugh at the work of tomorrows man (or woman).

People who said, "You haven't got what it takes", couldn't see what you got.

Some people don't see the facts, only flaws.

Every creative giant had to first ignore early critics.

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It's not just mind over matter. But heart & spirit as well.

A refugee can make more of his life than someone with a birthright.

One day you'll shine but first protect that flicker of hope.

The world lays on a subtle guilt when we want to create. Creative expression isn't selfish.

There's only one way to win this year. It must be conquered.

There can be no focus or persistence without passion.

Some people find themselves on the fringe of life. So they create life around themselves.

You'll probably enjoy a lot of fan love one day, but others will spit poison at you along the way.