Successful people are creators
Everything around you was created by people who were no smarter than you. - Steve Jobs
Remember that success is rare and unique. Most factors are completely random (timing, starting circumstances, external help).
Successful people are creators. Jobs - computers. Ford - cars. Rowling - books.
Productivity = Creativity. Without creating anything, you won't achieve success.
"Creativity". You pay too much attention to words. If you create - you are already a creative person. It's a matter of numbers. Try out a few wrong ideas, eventually you will find the right one.
Don't expect immediate achievements from yourself. Do you want to be a creative person? Record a hit, write a bestseller, paint a beautiful picture. And then ask people around you if what you created is good. As if the opinion of people around you mattered greatly.
Most successful people didn't have promising prospects. Their work wasn't appreciated. "Moby Dick". "Harry Potter". Van Gogh's paintings.
If you create anything, you are creative. If you don't create anything, something is blocking you -> "Hate" (that's what the author calls the blocking force).
Discover your Hate
Creator + Hater. Creativity has been in you since childhood. Hate too. Hate works against your creativity. It prevents you from doing new things. It's like a good accountant. It only does its job.
Where does Hate come from?
Hate wins when you give up on doing new things. This usually happens gradually (initial hype phase, followed by increasing boredom).
It's better to create something that others can criticize than to create nothing and criticize others. - Ricky Gervais
Criticism is easier than creation. It improves your well-being. Jealousy. You reluctantly admit that someone else has achieved something while you haven't.
Success is more often a reason for jealousy than inspiration. Next comes Hate.
Two wolves
The one I feed wins. - Litza
You regularly oscillate between Creativity and Hate. The time spent on one side is a matter of:
- decisions
- thoughts
- habits
- environment
- a group focused on hate and pessimism
- "lifestyle" Instagram, for show
By not feeding Hate, you focus on Creating.
Raise the stakes. Irritate Hate
Usually, Hate sleeps when the stakes are low. The higher the stakes, the more power it wants to gain.
- IG post
- Blog entry
- Book
- Lecture for 1000 people
Don't ignore Hate. Feed the creative wolf, take away its food, start creating.
The worst kind of Hate.
Excuses. Uncontrolled Hate, directed not outward, but inward. Hate towards oneself.
You allow hate to dictate what you should do 24/7 in a way you wouldn't let others speak.
Its prophecies are self-fulfilling. If you let it speak.
Face your Hatred
Accept its presence. Acknowledge it. You will recognize it when you hear in your head that you are not good enough for something. The excuses you tell yourself will sound very convincing, learn to recognize them. Silence the Hatred when you recognize it.
Disarming Hatred
Excuses are lies. The greatest strength of Hatred is its ability to convince you of the truthfulness of excuses. Its arguments sound very logical.
The human mind is capable of believing anything that has been repeated enough times (Maxwell Martz, "New Psycho-Cybernetics").
Hatred operates predictably, according to a pattern.
Lack of time
- You have the same amount of time as others, you decide how to manage it.
- You can freely use your time (within the limits of the law). Children? -> Less TV. Work? -> Less YouTube, more personal development.
- You are most creative when you are not working. Relaxed, you generate ideas (vacation, walk, shower).
- Work efficiently, not harder.
- single-tasking
- smaller projects
- planning
- pomodoro technique
- responsibility
- The less time you have, the more efficiently you work and prioritize. Challenge yourself.
Concentration and productive work => more time (opposite of "lack of time") => creativity (opposite of Hatred).
Failures
Remember that failure is information about the need to change course, not immediate death.
By avoiding failures, you experience failure. You don't correct your course, you don't look for new paths.
Accept failures and learn from them for the future. The more failures, the faster you will adjust your course.
Return on investment
It rarely happens that the profit from creative actions is certain. Assume failure from the start:
Example of a startup: 97% of users will choose the free version -> Failure at a rate of 97% and success at a rate of 3%.
Hatred suggests that 97% is a perfect reason not to take action, while that 3% can be a huge profit (depending on the target group).
You are too weak
When you believe that you can't do it, Hate suggests not even trying.
By admitting that you are too weak, you admit that you are worse than others (Everything around you was created by people who were no smarter than you. - Steve Jobs).
Don't compare yourself to others. It's the biggest killer of Creativity - by comparing yourself, you come to the conclusion that you are worse.
Remember that you are not 100% responsible for your failures. You have the greatest influence, but it's not 100%. (thought: You are 100% responsible for what you do with that failure).
When Hate suggests that you are too weak, stop and evaluate if it's really true.
You should do something else
Hate brings up guilt (I should spend more time with my children instead of sitting on the blog). A sophisticated trick.
You feel bad when you do something you don't like. Do more of what you love.
Some things are not worth doing out of guilt.
It's too difficult
Hate instills paralyzing fear by convincing you that something is beyond you.
The biggest cause of failure is doing nothing. The problem lies in the very attempt to take action.
Start.
It has already been done
Success is not achieved only by the one who entered the market first. The most important thing is not the idea, but building interest.
Everything that had to be said has already been said. Since no one listened, it must be said again. - Andre Gide
The fact that something already exists means that the idea is good, ready to be realized. You just have to stand out, do it better.
A good artist knows that nothing comes from nothing. Creative work is always based on what came before. Nothing can be fully original. - Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist
Seeking approval
Don't worry about the opinions of people who don't have enough qualifications. Lions don't care about the opinions of sheep.
You don't need approval or permission to pursue your ideas.Zero tolerance for negativity
Negativity is the currency of Hate.
- Let go of "negative" relationships (you are the result of the 5 people closest to you).
- Spend less time with negatively inclined family members. Do not dwell on the symptoms of negativity in conversation.
- Give up groups dominated by negatively inclined individuals.
- Give up on people with a negative attitude on social media.
- If you feel that you can have a positive impact on a group, try. Be prepared to withdraw at the right moment.
- Give up on "negative discussions" with yourself. (-> self-fulfilling prophecy)
- Remember that negativity is boring and does not attract people.
- Don't just talk about yourself.
- Listen to yourself.
- Practice empathy and gratitude.
Symptoms of negativity:
- criticizing everything
- complaining
- blaming others
Shaping self-awareness
Take a look at yourself and see if you're doing well. Understanding yourself and being honest with yourself are your most important skills.
You can use a personality test (e.g. Gallup StrengthsFinder), but don't let them pigeonhole you. Such a test will show you why you like/dislike certain things.
Look at objective data. Test your ideas, don't dwell on their quality. Their implementation will reveal the truth.
Don't be afraid of failures. Each one brings you closer to something that will work.
Read between the lines. People rarely tell painful truths, learn to find honest criticism amidst approval.
"I have a negative attitude" > "I have a lot of negativity within me". You can do something about your attitude.More gratitude and creativity
Hatred stems from a lack of gratitude. The more gratitude, the less hatred, and the more creativity. It works relaxingly. When people complain about someone's work, they usually do not appreciate the effort that someone put into that work.
Cultivating gratitude
Every day, list a few things (equipment, content) that you are grateful for and explain why.
Notice the expression of gratitude, remind yourself how important it is.
Practice gratitude even when the situation does not favor it.
Avoid monotony in life, every new thing is an opportunity to show gratitude.
Catch the words "I have to" and replace them with "I want to".
Help others, you will realize how much you have.
Avoid complaining. When you start to complain, interrupt and change the context (environment, activity).
Stop watching the news (xD)
Empathy
Remember that you are not supposed to be in someone else's shoes, but to understand how someone feels. You have no idea what it's like to be someone else, but you can listen to them.
Remember that you are actually taking care of your own interests and instinctively relate everything you see to yourself.
Make honest attempts to understand the other person.
Don't rush to judge.
Notice empathy in others.
Spend more time in face-to-face contact. It's easier to make quick judgments online.
Listen more and ask open-ended questions. Don't interrupt.
Create more. It's easy to judge someone when you haven't done anything yourself.
Remember that empathy is not sympathy. Don't deepen someone's sadness by pitying or being overly optimistic.
Practice reading people's emotions.
Empathy should be a part of your business. Then you will know how your client feels, what they say, what drives them, and what matters to them.Competence
Do not use lack of faith in your own competence as an excuse.
Do not use perfectionism as an excuse. Hate will try to convince you that everything should be perfect. It knows that then you won't start/finish what you've started.
Done is better than perfect.
Especially if the alternative is nothing.
There are fields that require a lot of competence, but not all of them.
No matter what you do, always be as good as you can be 👉 good enough. You can always improve along the way.
If you really feel that you lack competence, you can start doing something else. It's important that the next thing you do develops your Creativity.
Shut up and enjoy the greatness
Shut the fuck up and enjoy my greatness. - Kanye West
Many people will criticize what you do. Then tell them to shut up and enjoy what is great. Or at least tell it to yourself.How to be a creative person?
Passion is a powerful idea, but it rarely goes hand in hand with hard work. If your passion is to show off works of art, but not to paint all day long, then don't become an artist. By following your passion, you lean strongly towards doing what you love and building something of interest out of it. You forget about the effort and only think about the end result. Remember that success cannot be built on exciting experiences; you have to constantly create it.
Let yourself be carried away by the flow - a state in which you engage in work completely for the sake of doing it and your own pleasure.
Create more than you consume
💡 Entrepornography - admiring the successes of other entrepreneurs, dreaming of achieving your own, and constantly considering starting your own business, but without taking action.
The more time you spend on consumption, the less time you spend on creation. Look at both activities and adjust them to create more. The hardest part is at the beginning.
Create so much that they can't ignore you
In the public space, it is others who decide whether what you create is good enough. But the process of creating is solely yours. You don't have to conquer the world. Strive to be good, and being good will come.
- Mirek Burnejko 👉 100 episodes of a vlog before anyone even became interested in it
Of course, it's not about creating crap and hoping that something will eventually come out of it. You have to believe that what you create is very good (even if it requires creating something good 5001 times).
Divide into fragments
Instead of imagining obstacles related to the most difficult stages of projects, which Hate cleverly exploits, simplify your creative project to increase your chances of completing it. Narrow down the scope, divide it into fragments.Relaxation -> Creativity
Relaxation (both physical and mental) is crucial for Creativity.
Physical relaxation in itself is of great importance in combating our negative attitudes and ingrained patterns of reaction ~ Maxwell Maltz, New Psycho-Cybernetics
Learn to relax. Meditate, engage in sports, take a shower (72% of ideas are born during a bath), take walks (studies show that it helps improve creativity by 60%). Do what helps you relax, and creativity will emerge.
Treat ideas as a hobby, not immediately as a source of income. By doing something as a hobby, you are less stressed, you have no obligations, so you can relax and unleash Creativity.
Fuel creativity
Surround yourself with creative people, do not surround yourself with people from one tightly-knit group. Listen to podcasts of people you consider creative, follow the right accounts on IG. Just remember to create more than you consume. Consume enough to fuel your Creativity.
Collect ideas and review them regularly. Also, do something different from time to time, immerse yourself in a different form of creativity.
Change your environment
Change your environment from time to time, create in a cafe, on a balcony, outside the office. This will put you in a good mood conducive to creation.
Peter Shankman, author of Zombie Loyalists, once flew from the USA to Japan and back just to finish writing a book because the deadline was approaching 🤦♂️
Creativity toolkit
Take action as soon as a creative impulse arises.
- Organized environment
- Readily available tools
- notebook + pen
- applications (Keep, Trello, Docs)
Create together with others
Seek support from other people. Create an environment where creative work is natural and people support each other - Facebook groups, masterminds, slacks.To do
Go and do it. #createorhate