Ever
since I was a purpose-searching teenager growing up in Brooklyn, I’ve been a
sucker for motivational books. They all
say the same things – sometimes even quote or reference the same people – but
somehow, each one is consumed a little differently. Each one serves as a reminder to think beyond
ourselves, overcome our fears, pursue our dreams, and to see things a little
differently than they are. Even if their
feel-goodness concludes with the reading of each book, they put me in a nice
frame of mind. I hadn’t read one in
awhile, but one about creativity caught my eye while I was at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art gift shop.
It was written by a Madison Avenue guy, Paul Arden, who spent 15 years at Saatchi & Saatchi. It’s called “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be.” There’s a period in the title, which is not normally done, but it seems to emphasize the title as a statement of fact. The back copy says the book “is a concise guide to making the most of yourself – a pocket ‘bible’ for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible.”
It was written by a Madison Avenue guy, Paul Arden, who spent 15 years at Saatchi & Saatchi. It’s called “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be.” There’s a period in the title, which is not normally done, but it seems to emphasize the title as a statement of fact. The back copy says the book “is a concise guide to making the most of yourself – a pocket ‘bible’ for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible.”
How
could anyone turn down a book with such a promise? We all want to see what’s invisible, to turn
shit into gold, so surge beyond any barriers – real or imagined. So what stops us? Excuses, time, money, fear, commitments and
any of a thousand things. The longer we
go without pursuing our passion or living up to our creative capacity, the
closer we are to feeling like an abject failure.
But when
breezily rummaging through his skimpy 128-page, big print, image-heavy book, you
quickly find ideas and concepts to grab onto like one needs a lifeline when
jumping out of a burning building. Here
are some of the quips that resonated with me:
“All
creative people need something to rebel against.”
“Everybody
wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to
be great.”
“If you
can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re playing by the rules.”
“Start
being wrong and suddenly anything is possible.
You’re no longer trying to be infallible.”
“Firstly
you need to aim beyond what you are capable of.
You must develop a complete disregard for where your abilities end. Try to do the things that you’re incapable
of.”
“If you
ask the right question, you get the right answer.”
“Theatre
director Joan Littlewood said, ‘If we don’t get lost, we’ll never find a new
route’”
“Failures
and false starts are a precondition of success.”
“How you
perceive yourself is how others will see you.”
“Don’t
give a speech. Put on a show.”
“Instead
of giving people the benefit of your wit and wisdom (words), try painting them
a picture. The more strikingly visual
your presentation is, the more people will remember it. And, more importantly, they will remember
you.”
“If you
get stuck, draw with a different pen.”
“To be
original, seek your inspiration from unexpected sources.”
“Knowledge
comes from the past, so it’s safe. It is
also out of date. It’s the opposite of
originality. Experience is built from
solutions to old situations and problems.
The old situations are probably different from the present ones, so that
old solutions will have to be bent to fit new problems (and possibly fit
badly). Also the likelihood is that, if
you’ve got the experience, you’ll probably use it. This is lazy.
Experience is the opposite of being creative.”
“Give
away everything you know, and more will come back to you.”
“The
problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are
left with nothing. This forces you to
look, to be aware, to replenish. Somehow
the more you give away the more comes back to you. Ideas are open knowledge. Don’t claim ownership.”
“A new
idea can be either unfamiliar, or silly, or both. It can’t be judged by description. It needs to be done (made) to exist. It is unlikely that anyone will sanction the
cost of something they don’t understand; therefore you have no choice but to do
it yourself. At whatever cost. You may have to beg, steal and borrow to get
it done. But that’s for you to work out
how you do it. It’s exciting. It’s difficult and it’s fun. If it was easy anyone could do it.”
Every so
often even the most creative, confident, and courageous individual needs to be
reminded, if not inspired, by books like Arden’s. Who knows, maybe you’ll even write such a
book for others.
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Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer. You can follow him
on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels
more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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