Four months into my new years resolution and I’d grade myself at a C- for my creativity. I have started doing a lot of new things. I’ve moved to a new home. Cleaned it more. Started working on my cooking. Traveled to South America. Taken a few more pictures (bought a new camera). The problem is that I’m not sharing any of this creativity, and I’m not held to any deadlines. I’ll have days of creative juices flowing and days where I’m as boring as a broomstick.
The other day I was watching this video of Kate Bingaman at Creative Mornings Portland, and was inspired to start creating projects with rules. Rules, or constraints, help us focus on our work. No constraints means no work. I’d never finish a design or piece of code if I didn’t have time constraints. This lead me to the Make Something Manifesto idea.
Make Something Manifesto
Constraints
- Create something new everyday
- Share it with world by posting it online
That’s it. Nice and simple. The only requirement of making something is that it is postable. I could make a new batch of chocolate cookies, and as long as I post a few pictures and a review (maybe a recipe if it was a success), it would count as an item towards the manifesto.
Of course there will be days without internet, or creative urge. These days will need to be made up for on the next available connected day. I should end up with no less than 365 new items a year.
Today, I’m making this blog post, tomorrow who knows.