How to Kill Creativity

The following are ten ways to kill creativity.

(Note: these are two weeks of blog reflections, condensed into 150 words, and inverted to be positive suggestions):

1. 1. Be vague. Specificity and precision are hard work, but they create an appetite for and fuel creativity.
   2. Don’t go outside. Staying inside, confined by walls and a ceiling, literally and figuratively boxes in your creative potential.
   3. Speed up. Creativity thrives on slowing down and going deeper; mania is not truly creative.
   4. Ask permission. Waiting for permission is the opposite of initiation. Creativity thrives on initiation. (Also, this one.)
   5. Don’t take risks. Creativity is allergic to safety, risk aversion, and incessantly measuring the cost.
   6. Dismiss others as cliche. Dismissing others' work is not your work. Using empty criticism perpetuates a lack of creativity.
   7. Don’t find a hero. There are creative heroes out there; find them, stand on their shoulders; see from their perspective.
   8. Sexualize love. When love is reduced to sex and beauty and attraction, the deep love behind creativity suffers.
   9. Avoid silence. Noise keeps us revved up, putting one foot in front of the other. Silence lets us recharge. Creativity needs a full charge.
   10. Ignore the transcendent. Creativity is tapping into the transcendent. What’s “out there” inspires dreams within.

h/t to Anthony Esolen for helping me think through these.