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How to Be Creative on a Deadline

How to Be Creative on a Deadline
Authors
  • Name
    Phil Cooke

One of the big reasons I admire athletes is that they have to perform. In front of stadiums filled with people, they have to be excellent on a schedule. To make that happen, they must  be in a regular program of stretching their abilities. Pushing farther. Going beyond. But for most of us, after high school or college, we actively avoid pushing ourselves. After that last final exam, we quietly vow we’ll never stretch quite that far again. But you’ll never achieve your best without taking the risk of embarrassment or humiliation.

What do you need to do to take your life or career to the next level? Become a confident public speaker? Learn another language? Increase your computer skills? Be comfortable with hostile audiences? The difference between pros and amateurs? Amateurs wait for inspiration, but pros just get to work. Whatever it is, the time to start is now. This is your wake-up call. Stretch. Take a risk. Crawl out on the limb and the cut it off behind you. Burn your ships. Because as any athlete will tell you, there’s nothing quite like the feeling on the other side.