Short Saturday: Lists for Students … of Creativity

It’s back-to-school week and all over the country young adults are headed back to college. The Boy teaches high school kids but he has a blog aimed at college students and young professionals. This week he ran a list for music majors that should warm any mother’s heart.

Austin Kleon (“a writer who draws”) also has a list of things he wishes he’d heard in college:

1. Steal like an artist.
2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.
3. Write the book you want to read.
4. Use your hands.
5. Side projects and hobbies are important.
6. Do good work and share it with people.
7. Geography is no longer our master.
8. Be nice. (The world is a small town.)
9. Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)
10. Creativity is subtraction.

It’s a great list. He built it into a blog post and later into a lovely inspirational book: Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. (I read about this first on Brain Pickings, a blog that embodies the message of Steal Like an Artist.)

After college, of course, there are other concerns. It’s good to understand what comprises creativity and that you should take advantage of the opportunities of your youth, but as the bloggers at Duolit note:

Being an adult also has its downfalls. All the things we dreamed of as children—careers, houses, cars, etc.—come with hefty price tags.

How do you make a career in the creative arts and still make a living too? That is the sixty-four million dollar question. Duolit has a list answer, and it’s a wise one.

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