One of my favorite—almost daily—blog stops is 99U.com, the effort by the folks at Behance to provide the “missing curriculum” for making things happen. They know a thing or two about making good on good ideas. Now editor in chief Jocelyn K. Glei has asked a who’s who of thought leaders, Seth Godin and Stefan Sagmaeister among them, to share their best practices for going beyond being busy to being truly, creatively productive.

The book is organized around four key principles: 1) building a rock solid routine, 2) finding focus in a distracted world, 3) taming your tools, and 4) sharpening your creative mind. All are unified by a common theme: creativity is a habit, and there are good and bad habits.

The tone of the book is encouraging, supportive, and best of all, motivating. Buy a copy. Read it (it’s a short plane flight long), and then leave it where you will see it. A one- or three-page refresher in the morning will change the way you spend your day.

From the book:

The most important rule in achieving your goals via your inbox is that distracting opportunities have to die for your most important goals to live. As you move through your inbox, if an idea or opportunity is catching your eye and asking for your focus, think hard about whether pursuing it will help you achieve your complex goals.

Focus when you’re fresh. Tackle the projects that require hard focus early in your day. Self-control—and our ability to resist distractions—declines as the day goes on.

The most successful creative minds consistently lay the groundwork for ideas to germinate and evolve. They are always highjacking the brain’s neural pathways, developing a toolkit of tricks to spark the mind like flint on steel. When you’re working on a sticky problem, the solution is often disengagement.

“You can do anything, but not everything.” —David Allen

Listen to your gut as much as you listen to others. With all the new sources of communication and amplification, don’t let yourself be persuaded by the volume of the masses. Nothing should resonate more loudly than your own intuition.

Manage your day-to-day. Build you routine, find your focus and sharpen your creative mind.

Jocelyn K. Glei
2013, 253 pages
$14.95
Available from Amazon.