The title of this post is ripped directly from the title of a short must-read book, written by Saatchi & Saatchi Creative Director legend, Paul Arden.
Here’s three pieces of advice from this book:
1. Do not seek praise, seek criticism. “It is quite easy to get approval if we ask enough people, or those who are likely to to say what we want to hear. The likelihood is that they will say nice things rather than be too critical. Also, we tend to edit out the bad so that we hear only what we want to hear. So if you have produced a pleasantly acceptable piece of work, you will have proved to yourself that it’s good simply because others have said so. It’s probably ok. But then it’s probably not great either. If, instead of seeking approval, you ask, ‘What’s wrong with it? How can I make it better?’, you are more likely to get a truthful, critical answer. You may even get an improvement on your idea. And you are still in a position to reject criticism if you think it is wrong. Can you find fault with that?”
2. Energy. “It’s 75% of the job. If you haven’t got it, be nice.”
Number 3 plus a link to buy this sucker after the jump [click continue reading link below].
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3. Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know and more will come back to you. “You will remember from school other students preventing you from seeing their answers by placing their arm around their exercise book or exam paper. It is the same at work, people are secretive with ideas. ‘Don’t tell them that, they’ll take credit for it.’ The problem with hoarding is that you end up living off your reserves. Eventually you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you’re 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. They’re not your ideas anyway, they’re someone else’s. They are out there floating in the ether. You just have to put yourself in a frame of mind to pick them up.
Nine bucks here at Amazon.com.
If you’re a creative person, you should own this book, even if you just read it on the toilet.
Thanks David Airey for a reminder about Paul’s books…
I’m not a photographer (recently stumbled onto your site) but love the creative juices that flow from your blog!
I had Paul Arden’s “Whatever you think, think the opposite” and found it to be very inspiring. It is one of many factors that led me to move to Hong Kong. However, I can’t help but think that Paul is capitalizing off his past success. Though the book I read was extremely helpful, he could write five more similar books of cute inspiration and people would eat it up. All that being said, he has made great books and let’s hope he doesn’t assume he’s a Midas’ touch (though he’s close!)
Sharing ideas and information is (often) a beautiful thing. The analogy of kids not letting you see their test answers is almost fitting except that there’s a big difference between kids/people actively stealing your answers and you freely giving them to unselfish people. Hopefully, if you are giving enough, even those with ulterior motives will not need to steal because they already have what they set out to steal. yay! A modern digital age is born.
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Comparison of Paul Arden and his wisdom:
People’s creativity doesn’t expire, but sometimes even great creatives produce crap. If you need proof, listen to Miles Davis in the 80s. There’s some good music (especially stylistically), and a whole bunch of crap that people eat up as if it was divine inspiration.
Moral: Stay level headed, and be receptive to good information/inspiration.
Thanks for the post chase.
🙂
Ordered! … Thanks for the recommendation Chase ;o)
Yes, I like this.
The 3rd point especially. I find when I’ve shot a lot of work that I like I end up sitting back, feeling real self satisfied for a bit. After awhile I’m still sitting on the stuff, but not feeling so satisfied anymore. The old stuff gets stale, and yet it’s presence leaves me with little incentive to “replenish”. This post is a great reminder to me that it’s crucial to enjoy your successes, and ideas, but also not to get hung up on them and move on to creating new work!
R.I.P. Paul, truly an innovative and brilliant mind.