The Power of Creativity \(Book 1\): Learning How to Build Lasting Habits, Face Your Fears and Change Your Life pdfdrive com

Creative Takeaways
Sleep deeply before you approach the blank page or the canvas.
Remember, you must find it easy to begin your creative practise, and
it should feel effective, efficient and rewarding (at least some of the
time) if it’s going to become a habit.

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3
TRACE YOUR CREATIVE ROOTS
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think
critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
P
AY
THE
BILLS
,  feed  your  family,  exercise,  meditate,  paint,  draw,  play  music,
learn to cook, speak Spanish, travel to Peru, spend six months teaching English
in  Southeast  Asia,  record  an  album,  craft  artisanal  clay  pots,  photograph  your
muse, study for an MBA, start a blog.
You could spend your life on thousands of worthwhile creative endeavours.
The painful realities of life complicate your ability to do what you want. And
your options narrow the older you get.
If you want to become a more successful creative person, you will face tough
decisions about what you’d like to do (like spending six months teaching English
or  travelling  around  Peru)  and  what  you  must  do  (compose  an  album,  write  a
novel, etc).
Talent, opportunity and riches aren’t enough. Talented artist might get off the
starting  blocks  quicker  than  the  rest  of  us,  but  their  talents  are  of  little  use
without an idea of where they’re going.
The  rich  artist  or  the  artist  with  more  opportunities  than  his  or  her  peers

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might be able to create flashier works than others (at least at first), but he or she
will  squander  their  talents  or  garb  themselves  in  the  “Emperor’s  New  Clothes”
unless they know what it’s all for.
If  you  don’t  know  where  you’re  going,  the  current  of  life  will  sweep  you
along  like  an  object  afloat  in  a  river,  sometimes  dashing  you  against  the  rocks
and sometimes holding you back in a sluggish stream.
Your  only  real  choice  is  to  cast  a  rudder  into  the  river,  and  while  you’re
unable to control the current, you can at least steer your humble craft in the right
direction.