Creativity for the sake of creativity is such a beautiful thing. To let go and explore with no end goal, no expressed purpose other than to relish in the divine nature of it all.

But wait, who’s that calling? The landlord? Your investors? Reality?

When your livelihood is based on your creative output – you need to keep moving in the right direction. Around our studio, if we’re not productively creative, we don’t pay the rent. So fostering creativity that works is a primary intention.

(left: Carrie’s current inspiration board, on a burlap-covered canvas.)

CREATIVITY THAT PROSPERS

1. APPROACH EVERYTHING AS A CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY. There is no separation between life and work. The same opportunities to express yourself or get great ideas are at the dinner table and on the production line.

2. OBSESSION IS ESSENTIAL. Know your art! We immerse ourselves in the cultures we love and work in: we read industry news, the teachings of spiritual masters and successful entrepreneurs, we listen to what the people we serve are longing for and dealing with and asking themselves.

To foster obsession:
3. Read a LOT of magazines. And then read some more – about things related and unrelated to your work. Magazines are intensified viewpoints that can expand your perspective in just a few pages.

4. Create a style file or inspiration box of stuff that you love. Photos, articles, fabric swatches, postcards. Carrie has an inspiration board hanging on her office wall. I have an antique sake box filled with strange and lovely stuff. Sometimes I close my eyes and reach in to see what comes up – an Elvis coaster, a Zen koan torn from a divinity school program, an old chandelier crystal.

5. Watch stuff. Carrie watches TV at night (and Charlie Rose online,) and usually comes in the next day with one great observation or idea. I’m a documentary buff (always looking for versions of the truth,) which gives me all sorts of weird, tragic, breathtaking imagery and facts to work with.

6. Talk to people that you don’t hangout with. Cab drivers, teenagers, your bank teller. That kind of spontaneous, real contact could illuminate your next great idea.

To keep moving forward:

7. GIVE UP QUICKLY. Yep. If something feels like a drag and is not generating the right response – we drop it like a hot potato. As brilliant marketer Seth Godin says in his book, The Dip, “Fail fast.”

In order to give up quickly, you have to…

8. COURAGEOUSLY EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS. When something feels very wrong, totally uninspiring, say so – to yourself and your team. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you give up, it may spin you off into a better solution.

So that you can:

9. STICK WITH IT. If something feels fun, sparkly, exciting, and even one person has expressed wanting it from us – we explore every angle about how to make it work.

And be assured that:

10. BACKWARDS IS FORWARDS. Know that there is no such thing as waste. A painted canvass that didn’t turn out, a pilot group that fizzled, it’s all useful. We trash stuff and start from scratch often. Sometimes, especially in terms of web development, you start knowing that you’ll have to scrap half of what you build down the road – starting over is never really starting over. It’s life.

Which allows you to:

11. CELEBRATE OTHER PEOPLE’S CREATIVITY AND PROSPERITY. Honoring other people’s creativity and success helps shake loose our own brilliance. Whether it’s an excellent website, someone wearing a terrific outfit on the street, or a well known author – we go out of our way to say, “You’re great!” “Way to go!” “We love what you’ve created.”