Ignore Everybody.

The perfect rainy weekend afternoon: a good book (ie. one i can read cover to cover in one seating) and a cup of tea!

By recommendation, I picked up Ignore Everybody: and 39 other keys to creativity by Hugh MacLeod. It lived up to it’s rave reviews and served as the perfect reminder that everything is truckin’ along exactly as it should be right now.

Here is a sneak peak at my favorite tid-bits of brilliance:

#7 – Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the “creative bug” is just a wee voice telling you, “I’d like my crayons back, please”.

#10 – 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.

#18 – Merit can be bought. Passion can’t.
The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everybody does.

#20 – Sing your own voice.
Picasso was a terrible colourist. Turner couldn’t paint human beings worth a damn. Saul Steinberg’s formal drafting skills were appalling. T.S. Eliot had a full time day job. Henry Miller was a wildly uneven writer. Bob Dylan can’t sing or play guitar. But that didn’t stop them, right? … Don’t make excuses. Just shut the heck up and get on with it. TIme waits for no one.

# 27 – Write from the heart.
There is no silver bullet. There is only the love God gave you.

#28 – Remain frugal.
The less you can live on, the more chance your idea will succeed. This is true even after you’ve “made it”.

#37 – Start blogging.
(Editors Note: there really is something magical about this world of blogging. If you blog and read my blog and I don’t have your blog listed on the right — would you mind letting me know? I’d love to read about what you write about!)

#39 – When your dreams become reality, they are no longer your dreams.
If you are successful, it’ll never come from the direction you predicted. Same is true if you fail.

#40 – None of it is rocket science.
Work hard. Keep at it. Live simply and quietly. Remain humble. Stay positive. Create your own luck. Be nice. Be polite.

God speed. Seriously. Rock on.

…there are 30 more tid bits waiting to be uncovered…enjoy:)