Prolific, Brilliant, Healthy
Last week I recommended The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry – a book on how to unleash your creative potential.
Henry has a great section about how people who get paid to be creative need to be (1) Prolific, (2) Brilliant, and (3) Healthy. But many only have two, which creates problems:
Prolific + Brilliant – Healthy = Burnout
Brilliant + Healthy – Prolific = Unreliable
Healthy + Prolific – Brilliant = Fired
I have known all three of those people. I have actually worked with all of those people. Okay, I’ve probably been all three of those people at different points in my life.
We need to hit on all three. And if you’re not? Maybe you have the wrong job. Or maybe you have the right job but, as Henry suggests, you need to build some structure into your life and creative process, and to learn and develop your personal creative rhythm.
I’m not sure, but I do know it sucks if you end up burned out or fired, and it sucks to work with you if you’re unreliable.