John C Jay’s Top 10 Rules For Creating
/John C. Jay is a renaissance man in the creative community, turning his hand to advertising, marketing and film, and generally turning everything he touches into gold. These are his top 10 rules for creating:
- Be authentic. The most powerful asset you have is your individuality, what makes you unique. It’s time to stop listening to others on what you should do.
- Work harder than anyone else and you will always benefit from the effort.
- Get off the computer and connect with real people and culture. Life is visceral.
- Constantly improve your craft. Make things with your hands. Innovation in thinking is not enough.
- Travel as much as you can. It is a humbling and inspiring experience to learn just how much you don’t know.
- Being original is still king, especially in this tech-driven, group-grope world.
- Try not to work for stupid people or you’ll soon become one of them.
- Instinct and intuition are all-powerful. Learn to trust them.
- The Golden Rule actually works. Do good.
- If all else fails, No. 2 is the greatest competitive advantage of any career.
To that list I would add, always have a personal project you are working on, something you use to learn something new, or to fine tune your skills.