7 Creative Quotes and Practices: Inspired by Thomas A. Edison
When I think of creativity, I love to think of Thomas A. Edison. He was quite possibly, the most creative person who ever lived—and no—he was not an artist.
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."
Thomas A. Edison
Many people are afraid of creativity—thinking of it as a special gift, given at birth to only a few. I believe there are ways to exercise your creativity. Here is my list of seven creative quotes and practices inspired by Thomas A. Edison.
1. Never Stop Learning.
Combine your current knowledge with new creative ideas. Pretty much anything you want to learn, you can find on the internet for free these days.
"The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense."
Thomas A. Edison
Kinda cool how he made up a word there"Stick-to-itiveness." I gotta love that about Tom.
2. Be Curious.
Have you ever heard of Google? I thought so—If you want an answer, go find it. But be sure to check multiple sources. Not everything you read is factual and there are many ways to go about doing things. Find what works for you.
"Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless."
Thomas A. Edison
3. Trust Your Ideas.
You may be one step away from success.
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
Thomas A. Edison
4. Find Creative Friends.
Creative friends will support your crazy ideas and want to do creative activities with you. My friends are happy to listen to my creative adventures. They are also willing to help implement them.
"I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world."
Thomas A. Edison
5. Don’t Worry About Other's Opinions.
If you spend time thinking about what everyone else thinks, you may drive yourself crazy. People will be happy to agree with you. Why? Because if you do whatever you want and fail over and over, people might think you are strange, but you just might create the new light bulb.
"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."
Thomas A. Edison
6. Take a Nature/Photo Walk.
Get outdoors or even just out of your office. I enjoy carrying a camera along to take photos of sidewalk cracks, trees, bark, flowers, clouds etc. Get close up, enjoy things from a different perspective.
"I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun."
Thomas A. Edison
7. Schedule Creative Time.
Shut off the computer, the cell phone, and the TV. You may leave on your radio. I believe listening to music while working is the only distration that can improve creativity. Schedule time in the studio to create, to write, or practice your creative skills.
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas A. Edison
So there you have it. Thomas A. Edison, one the most inspiring creative people I have ever studied—It would have been fun to know him.
What do you think? Who inspires you?
Sincerely,Holly Herick: Creative Adventures P.S. If you like this post, please share with your friends. If you are not on the Creative Adventures newsletter list, you can sign up here. I will never sell your email or spam you. Creative Adventures is a once a month pondering of creative ideas and challenges.