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How to Be Creative

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This book is a survival manual for the "Creative Class," about holding on to your creative spirit even though the business world tends to grind it down. The book will be divided into 30+ Pearls of Wisdom (based on the original manifesto and wildly successful Web phenomenon, "How to Be Creative"), and will be laced throughout with the author's witty, smart single-frame cartoons.

49 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

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183 people want to read

About the author

Hugh MacLeod

17 books134 followers

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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Sebah Al-Ali.
477 reviews4 followers
October 12, 2016
كتاب لطيف، جرعة تحفيزية لكل من يسلك طريقا جديدا أو يعمل على مشاريعه الخاصة. معظم الفصول تحوي أفكارا من منظور مختلف، لكن حوت بعض التكرار الممل الذي يملأ الكتب المشابهة. لغته سهلة، وكتابته سلسة.

أعجبني أنه أيضا يكتب من واقع تجربته في بدء مشروعه الخاص الذي كان بداية فكرة مجنونة لم يتوقع أي أحد لها النجاح، لكن إيمانه بها وشغفه بالفكرة جعل منها شيئا يستحق النجاح الذي حققه.

قراءة سريعة، ممتازة لأوقات الانتظار. :) ؛

--

اقبتست:

"The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you."

**

"You don't know if your idea is any good the moment it's created. Neither does anyone else."

**

"Good ideas come with a heavy burden, which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it."

**

"It was so liberating to be doing something that didn't have to impress anybody, for a change."

**

"Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. 90% of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort, and stamina."

**

"If somebody in your industry is more successful than you, it's probably because he works harder at it than you do. Sure, maybe he's more inherently talented, more adept at networking, etc., but I don't consider that an excuse. Over time, that advantage counts for less and less."

**

"Being good at anything is like figure skating --the definition of being good at it is being able to make it look easy. But it never is easy. Ever."

**

"I would find that extra hour or two in the day that belongs to nobody else but me, and I would make it productive. Put the hours in; do it for long enough and magical, life-transforming things happen eventually. Sure, that means less time watching TV, internet-surfing, going out, or whatever.

But, who cares?"

**

"Nobody suddenly discovers anything. Things are made slowly and in pain."

**

"Nobody can tell you if what you're doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the lonelier it is."

**

"Go ahead and make something. Make something really special. Make something amazing that will really blow the mind of anybody who sees it."

**

"Everyone has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb."

"You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But, if you don't make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness."

**

"Ask. Keep asking. And then ask again. Stop asking and you're dead."

**

"Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether."
--his explanation is: do something so different that it doesn't even have a crowd!

**

"The pain of making the necessary sacrifices always hurts more than you think it's going to. I know. It sucks. That being said, doing something seriously creative is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, in this or any other lifetime."

**

"Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside."

**

"Merit can be bought. Passion can't."

"The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everybody does."

**

"Nobody cares. Do it for yourself."

**

"You have to find a way of working that makes it dead easy to take full advantage of your inspired moments. They never hit at a convenient time, nor do they last long."

"If you're looking at a blank piece of paper and nothing comes to you, then go do something else. Writer's blog is just a symptom of feeling like you have nothing to say, combined with the rather weird idea that you SHOULD feel the need to say something."

**

Profile Image for REEM.
86 reviews
May 15, 2012
The book is highly recommended to undergraduate students, ppl that are starting new career and everyone that really is seeking to do his life in the right and affordable way, not only Dreaming and waiting the perfect moment which might never come at ALL!! I loved it!!
Profile Image for PRINCESS.
440 reviews13 followers
May 27, 2017
“I’m just not a creative person.”
.
.
We all were/are born:
Humble, clever, creative, fast, thoughtful, emotional, sentient, patient as a human, but the level of all these is different from one individual to another. Excellence is borne not of any particular innate ability, but of practice. We can be good or great at whatever we want if only we keep practicing.

If you think some people are just born creative, you are wrong. All of us were born having wellspring of creative energy, talented skills
Talent is about having both skill and passion for something. Passion bridges the gap between being good and being great.
We can be good at something but without necessary passion we will never reach to very good level of that skill. Together with the passion, skills should be developed.
Being creative is not only a skill but it is a talent. Talent comes in all shapes and sizes. If you look around and see the talented people, you will notice the only common thing between them is: doing thing that looks easy for them! They have been practicing over and over, that’s why they are so good at doing what they are doing and since we don’t have a clue and think that we can’t practice what they are practicing; we end up admiring them!
Every artist is looking for their big, definitive “Ah-Ha!” moment, whether they’re a Master or not.
It is not too late to admire yourself.

To read free online:
http://changethis.com/manifesto/6.How...
Profile Image for gisela.
244 reviews16 followers
July 31, 2017
I found some of the advice in this book to be inspirational and helpful to young creatives like myself (which, I presume, is the point of this piece) but the vast majority was just the ramblings of a dude in New York who works in advertising and apparently grew semi-famous drawing cartoons on the side.

It's certainly one example to draw some type of inspiration/information from, but I found the author's general "This is The Way. Follow This Path" attitude to be off-putting as most of his advice was just too case specific.

Also, no offence, but said author also comes off as a dick so often. There's one chapter paragraph against the mindless sheep in corporations and how the creatives are the revolutionaries who are going to Save Us All that made me physically cringe.
Profile Image for Heba Ibrahem.
47 reviews11 followers
December 17, 2017
Its a light book .. it is simple and direct . He don't give you golden advices but it give you something thing more . The writers put his own experience which worth to know . I enjoyed it
Profile Image for Marco Sansalone.
24 reviews
February 27, 2023
Overall the topic and the concepts are interesting. The point of view sometimes is a bit extreme.
Profile Image for Joshua Pitzalis.
46 reviews6 followers
October 8, 2016
Of all the gems in the is book, I enjoyed this one the most...

"
Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you donʼt make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.

This metaphorical Mount Everest doesnʼt have to manifest itself as “Art.” For some people, yes, it might be a novel or a painting. But Art is just one path up the mountain, one of many. With others, the path may be something more prosaic. Making a million dollars, raising a family, owning the most Burger King franchises in the Tri-State area, building some crazy over-sized model airplane, the list has no end.

Whatever. Letʼs talk about you now. Your mountain. Your private Mount Everest. Yes, that one.

Exactly.
"

This book is a fantastic pick-me-up.

Very quick, very good.
Profile Image for Celena.
119 reviews
February 15, 2014
There were some advice that I don't agree with, but overall the book is a great quick read.
Profile Image for Veronika.
144 reviews
January 29, 2015
Cool book to get motivated in doing creative work or anything you like.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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