Creativity & Initiative

Are you sitting around waiting for the next brilliant idea, breakthrough, or artistic whim to strike you like lightning. You're only procrastinating - so get to work!

In truth, inspiration has a more practical reality. In his book The War of Art, author Steven Pressfield quotes English dramatist and novelist W. Somerset Maugham. When asked if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration, Maugham responded, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”

Similarly, Pressfield himself states, “There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing that’s the hard part. What’s hard is sitting down to write.”

Creativity is merely the the elimination or refinement of bad ideas until you identify what is successful. Thomas Edison said, "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward."

What creative pursuit, business venture, or new direction in life are you putting off today in the hope that you'll be "inspired" tomorrow? Get to it!

- excerpt from The War of Art (by Steven Pressfield, 2002, Warner Books, Inc.) reprinted with permission from the author.

see www.ldv-enterprises.com for more creativity & business innovation resources.