8 rules for staying creative
People picture creativity as this eureka moment a millisecond of magic that strikes at random, like love at first sight, or a sudden rush of blood to the head.
But the truth is, creativity is a series of moments. It involves thousands of tiny insights, picked up over years of experience. “Eureka!” comes when these things meld together when the interactions you have with people, and the observations you have about the world, and the crazy images you have in your brain collide with one other and mate.
The process can take years. The trick is to keep yourself in a creative space which, these days, is one of the most difficult things to do. We live in a world where it’s easier to conform than challenge norms; where “pwede na” is standard practice; and where it’s difficult for us to dream. To set myself free, I turn to this set of eight rules that people I look up to have set.
1. Control quality
“Good and fast won’t be cheap. Good and cheap won’t be fast. Cheap and fast won’t be good.”
Ñ The Project Triangle
Forget the pipe dream. Nothing will ever be good and fast and cheap. You have to put in countless of hours of work to make anything great. Ask Mark Zuckerberg, who built Facebook out of his dorm room, or the great inventor Thomas Edison, who once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
But creatives always come across clients that want good and fast and cheap. When you’re starting out, you may need to grin and bear it. But later, when you’re able to, Apple founder Steve Jobs has this advice: “It’s only by saying ‘no’ that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”
2. Take risks
“Often, you’re the only one who believes in what you’re doing. Don’t give up if you meet some resistance. Once you’re successful, people listen to you more.”
ÑSkype founder Niklas Zennstrom 
Creative leaders are never easily discouraged, because they know they’re just ahead of the curb. Venture capitalist Fred Wilson shares, “Ideas that most people derided as ridiculous have produced the best outcomes.”
So, go ahead and plunge head-first into your big, bright idea. Here’s another lesson from Steve Jobs: “A lot of times,” he says, “people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
3. Fail a little or a lot
“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.”
Ñ Polaroid founder Edwin Land
Failure doesn’t discourage creative leaders, either. Edison once said it took him 10,000 attempts to build the lightbulb. “I have not failed,” he said. “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
So, don’t punish failure. Celebrate it. Henry Ford once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” But perhaps Oprah Winfrey puts it best: “Failure,” she remarked, “is another steppingstone to greatness.”
4. Share
“Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”
Ñ computing pioneer
Howard H. Aiken
There are so many people who don’t share their ideas because they’re afraid others will steal them. They end up worrying about this so much, that they never put their ideas into action. But the truth is, ideas are worthless until they’re materialized, and the only way ideas get off the ground is when people share in them.
If someone copies you, improve on your concept or move on. Remember this little quote from Edison: “To have a great idea, have a lot of them.”
5. Compete with yourself
“You can’t get ahead when only you’re trying to get even.” 
Ñ Anonymous
Competition is a good thing. It keeps you on your toes, forces you to do better, and validates that there’s a need for you in this world.
But people win races by looking forward, not to the side. Which is difficult to do these days, when everyone’s so connected, everyone’s got a press release to trumpet, and we’re all struggling to keep up in this rat race.
The moment you think like this, though, you put yourself in the position of a follower. Don’t. Admob founder Omar Hamoui warns, “If you define yourself by how you differ from the competition, you’re probably in trouble.”
Focus instead on why you’re doing what you do. “I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did,” Steve Jobs said in a 2005 Stanford commencement speech. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work; and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
6. Inspire others
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
Ñ Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author, ‘The Little Prince ’
The best leaders inspire. They know that their team is their biggest asset so they put their belief in them, respect their abilities, and allow them to take charge.
As educationalist Sir Ken Robinson points out, “The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it’s to create a culture where everyone can have ideas.”
This has been echoed by Steve Jobs: “The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh,” he is quoted as saying. “My job is just to create a space for them.”
7. Face your problems
“If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.”
ÑÊMalcolm X
In 2008, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) did a piece on Pixar, the animation studio that has given us some of cinema’s greatest gems Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, and Wall-E, Up.
How does it manage to churn masterpiece after masterpiece? Pixar president Ed Catmull reveals the company has an extensive feedback process before, during, and after a film is made.
During postmortems, HBR writes, Pixar film teams are asked to name five things they’d do again, and five things they wouldn’t. This helps the company learn from mistakes and improve strengths.
Notice that that involves two parts: identifying problems and fostering solutions. As Henry Ford put it, “Don’t find fault, find a remedy. Anybody can complain.”
8. Smell the roses
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
Ñ Winnie the Pooh
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten is from fellow filmmaker Lav Diaz. It was simple. He just said, “Don’t join the rat race.” At the time, I was on overdrive, doing everything item number five on this list says I shouldn’t. I was doing things for the wrong reasons from the feeling of success to getting validation. I realized quickly that I was running out of honest ideas, and when Lav said this to me, it made me stop. I took eighteen months off to find myself, go back my center, and rediscover how much I love my craft. I enjoy every single bit of it every single bit and that’s the only thing that matters.
I guess you’ve picked the right career when you enjoy the practice games as much as you do winning the World Cup so to speak. So, don’t hurry. Being driven doesn’t mean driving fast.
“The road of life twists and turns,” writes novelist Don Williams Jr. “No two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons always come from the journey, not the destination.”
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