Zen, Creativity, and Theft?

Jan here: A few weeks ago I attended a creative conference. One of the pieces of paper included in my registration packet or one of the journaling workshops was written by Leo Babauta on his website zenhabits.net. This particular page starts out with:

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” - Albert Einstein

and I took the placement of the quote to mean that most of the stuff like this you find out there you have heard before, but this list pulls it together in quick-read way. Simple. Zen. Stolen!

The Little But Really Useful Guide to Creativity:

Play.
Don't consume and create at the same time ~ seperate the processes.
Shut out the outside world.
Reflect on your life and work daily.
Look for inspiration all around you, in the smallest places.
Start small.
Just get it out, no matter how crappy that first draft.
Don't try for perfect. Just get it out there, asap, and get feedback.
Constantly make it better.
Ignore the naysayers.
But let the criticism help you grow.
Teach and you'll learn.
Shake things up, see things in a new ways.
Apply things in other fields to your field, in ways not done before.
Drink ridiculous amounts of coffee.
Write all ideas down immediately.
Turn you work into play.
Play with kids.
Get out, move, see new things, talk to new people.
Read wildly different things. Especially stuff you disagree without.
Get lots of rest. Overkill kills creativity.
Don't force it. Relax, play, it will start to flow.
Allow your mind to wander. Allow distractions when you're looking for inspiration.
Then shut them off when you are going to create.
Do it when you're excited.
When you're not, find something else to be excited about.
Don't be afraid to be stupid and silly.
Small ideas are good. You don't need to change the world~ just change one thing.
When something is killing your creativity, kill it.
Stop reading creativity advice, clear away everything, and just create.
Most of all, have fun doing it.

Making stuff is great for the soul, but it really piles up around the house if you don't tell anyone you do it or share it. So we are going to show ourselves. Hope you can come see the stuff in person. It is really, really cool LIVE.