Published in 2014, John Hegarty‘s book Hegarty on Creativity: There Are No Rules discusses how to recognize and respect talent. And if you’re one of the few talented creatives, how to earn a living doing it. (more…)
Tag: creativity
194. What Makes Successful People Successful & How to Copy Them
Too many creative people think they don’t need to specialize, that they can have lots of ideas in lots of different subjects all of which are going to be great.
It can be easy to settle on something that feels right. Something that seems to make sense of all the confusion.
You’ll feel relief when you get to this point. You’ll think you’ve cracked it. You’ll feel good.
But then you have to take a step back from what feels really good and ask:
But is it great?
More often than not coming up with a great idea is a rollercoaster ride of thoughts with no logical progression;
ou lurch from the interesting to the absurd to the good back again to the absurd.
When it comes time to pitch, you’ll be amazed by how powerful your persuasion skills have become simply because you understand a little more about the field and what drives it.
In the end, everything is connected and the more connections you make the more interesting your work will become.
Without inspiration, our creativity dries up and we start repeating ourselves.
To be a successful creative person you have to be fascinated by the world and all its wonders, absurdities, failings, and mishaps.
Stay open to new ideas, new places, and new people will feed your creative soul.
Lack of inspiration may be just another way of saying lack of experience.
Of course, the danger is that your passion spills over into obsession and you become a bore.
Nobody wants to be one of those.
I work in advertising but I don’t live it.
If it’s a race to get into minds and stay there, then it’s the artists who make their points faster, smarter, and more thought-provoking that will be the ones who succeed.
When you are intent on putting a great wrong right, creativity will often exceed all expectations.
Out of conflict comes purpose.
For most of us, anger amounts to stress, and the worst type of stress at that.
But for artists, anger can be a positive force.
If focused and channeled into a piece of work, it is capable of producing something of great profundity.
When I’m asked, ‘When do you do your best thinking?’ My answer is always, ‘When I’m not thinking.’
That is why a brainstorming session is a complete and utter waste of time for the truly creative person.
Creativity doesn’t work like that. Too much thinking jeopardizes the creative process.
We’re all creative but only some of us will be lucky enough to earn our living by it.
We live in an age with daunting problems.
We need the best ideas; we need them now; we need them to spread fast.
The common good is a meme that was overwhelmed by intellectual property.
In advertising, the best partnerships are usually those formed between art director and writer. The reason for this is in their job titles:
Art directors think visually.
Writers think in terms of narrative.
At the foundation of any great idea is the truth, and the most powerful force of creativity.
Loss Aversion: we hate losing what we’ve got.
When we copy, we justify it. When others copy, we villify it.
Most of us have no problem with copying – as long as we’re the ones doing it.