Creative Marty Coleman aka @TheNapkinDad shared some suggestions for creativity at BlogWorld Expo. Because creativity is key to innovation and entrepreneurship, I want to pass them along.
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| The Napkin Dad Marty Coleman prepares to talk at BlogWorld Expo. |
Why do we call him The Napkin Dad? While making his junior high and high school daughters’ lunches, he drew on napkins with quotes and inspiration and fun for them. He’s still drawing his art on napkins, now inspiring all of us.
Here are my notes from his presentation:
Every one of us has our own creativity road. And we all have stop signs. It doesn’t matter where they come from, you have to deal with them.
Stop sign 1. No moola.
Money doesn’t make you more creative or guarantee success.
Money is usually attracted. What are you doing to be more attractive?
It’s not all about inner beauty. There is a reason we have an outer side.
Money is valuable, but so is time.
When you get down to it, what I’m about is love.
Go sign 1. Keep love at the center of your circle.
Stop sign 2. No time.
We all have the exact same amount of time.
When you say you have not time, you mean you have no time for this.
Not all action is equal. Neither is all time.
Pleasure does not equal wasted time.
Caution: don’t go fast in the wrong direction.
Go sign 2. Persist.
In the confrontation between the rock and the stream, the stream wins not by strength but by persistence.
Piece by piece. Step by step. Baby steps.
Stop sign 3. Don’t have the education.
An education doesn’t make you creative or successful.
No one majors in common sense.
Caution: cockiness in what you know can lead to you not knowing much.
You have to be open minded past your judgment.
Go sign 3. Be educated where and how you can.
Stop sign 4. It has to be perfect.
You don’t achieve perfection by being a perfectionist.
The process of being creative is messy and imperfect.
Don’t do the BEST you can. Do WHAT you can. You can’t always give 100%.
Go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. It’s what’s in between the failures that counts.
Go sign 4. Be yourself.
Everyone else is taken.
Stop sign 5. I had bad stuff happen.
Your problems are real and valid. Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hitting back.
Don’t compare your bad stuff with other people’s bad stuff.
Your bad habits may help you to cope. But don’t hold on to those bad habits past the reason you needed to cope.
Unless you change direction (attitude), you’ll get where you are going.
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| Marty drew an enthusiastic crowd after his talk concluded. |
Go sign 5. Rise to your problems.
The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise high with the occasion. A. Lincoln
Stop sign 6. I’m a chicken.
Reality is, you will fail.
Yes, someone is better than you. But don’t give them power over you.
Better than you or not, they aren’t thinking about you.
Go sign 6. “Life is much more unexpected than I expected,” Marty said.
Learn more from Marty at The Napkin Dad Daily.
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
One of my biggest hindrances is that I want everything to be perfect – I need to remember to stop being a perfectionist, as it is getting in the way of my creativity.