The Creator’s Manifesto

15 May The Creator’s Manifesto

 “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”

– Abraham Maslow

I’ve found that passionate work comes down to one action: creating things.

To building things using your talents, strengths, passions and interests, to help the world in some way.

But in a world of instant notifications, distractions and people constantly asking for our time, we lose sight of what matters. It all comes back to creating things. That is what makes the world better. It always has and it always will. The tools will change, but the essence of creativity never will.

We are all artists. Some of us just haven’t recognized it yet.

May this be a rallying cry to find the inventor in all of us…

The Creator’s Manifesto:

create |krēˈāt|- verb : Bring (something) into existence. Cause (something) to happen as a result of one’s actions.

1. Build things that only you are capable building.
2. Don’t take inspiration for granted. When it hits, stop everything to capture and create.
3. Learn what inspires you – the people, the movies, the music, the books. Then spend every second you can around them.
4. Ideas appear in the strangest places. Pay attention.
5. Creation comes in every form – relationships, food, art, music, prose, products, services. Notice what you create. What people ask you for. Give that all your energy.
6. Know your limitations. Build what you’re best at. Leave the rest for others.
7. There are so many ways you can spend a day, but making new things and adding real value are the only ones that really make a difference.
8. Stop wasting your time.
9. Sitting still is the most dangerous action of all.
10. Welcome the skeptics. Build it anyway.
11. Creativity comes natural or it must be learned. Either way you’re on the hook to build something that matters.
12. The sooner you can create, the better.
13. Every screwup gets you closer to your masterpiece. Make mistakes as often as you can. Start falling.
14. Everything is progress, as long as you’re doing something to build upon yesterday’s art.
15. If those around you are killing your creativity then change whom you choose to hang around.
16. Constantly ask: How can I make what already exists even better? What are other people not doing?
17. Embrace the process. Forget about the end result. You never get there anyway. Find comfort in knowing that the process is all there is.
18. The goal is not to build what you think people will buy. It’s to build what you feel you must, and help people so much they want to pay you for it.
19. When it doubt, make something. Anything. That’s always the next step.
20. It starts with a single word. A sketch. A conversation. An idea. A tune. A note.
21. Stop worrying so much about what others think. They don’t do it that much anyway. Do what feels right.
22. Ask how. Ask why. Ask why not.
23. Things don’t get created while on Twitter, Facebook or when nose-deep in emails. They happen out of the office, away from the Internet, out experiencing the world – be it a crowded bus or an empty field across the world. Get. Out. There.
24. Don’t let a day pass without creating something new. No matter how small.
25. Start each morning pursuing an idea.
26. Do less reading and more creating.
27. You have something in you worth building. We all do. Put your head down to make it come to life. We will thank you for it.

[update: here’s a little more visually fun version for you all – enjoy!]

We have so much more inside us than we give ourselves credit for.

You can lay bricks or build a cathedral.

Stop holding back.

-Scott

Fired up? Share the inspiration with those who need it.

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image courtesy of Garrett Gill