Make Brilliant Work

Lessons on Creativity, Innovation, and Success

Macmillan Publishers, 2021

15 min read

6 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Unleash your potential with insights on how to achieve exceptional and successful creative projects.

1×

Editorial Rating

Qualities

Applicable
Eye Opening
Eloquent

Recommendation

Do you dream of making something brilliant but wonder if you’re capable? You are if you are willing to do what it takes. The advice, methods and mind-sets this book provides will spur you to shake up your way of doing things – and make brilliant work. It just takes commitment. Find out how to get out of a rut, get noticed, gain a new perspective on discouraging experiences, and find confidence and drive. This book will appeal to and inspire anyone who wants to surpass their limits and achieve something exceptional.

Summary

Stop trying to fit in.

Being an excellent student doesn’t make you a creative genius. People who do exceptional work often struggled in school. The educational system rewards you for mastering conventional thinking, but brilliant ideas are always unconventional. It’s normal to want to feel accepted, but if you want to create brilliant work, you need to draw motivation from your work itself, not from a desire for approval.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs states that humans will focus on basic needs like food and shelter first, but will then feel driven to satisfy higher needs. The highest need is not approval but “self-actualization.” Act based on what’s important to you, not to others. Even if you win awards, it won’t be as satisfying as knowing you have realized your vision. Fulfillment comes from satisfaction in your work, not from external validation.

Not only will original work satisfy you more, it will also have a greater impact on your life. You will connect with more people by making things that fit your personality than by trying to fit in.

Try these strategies to help you find your ...

About the Author

Rod Judkins is a lecturer at Central Saint Martins University of the Arts in London, England, and the bestselling author of The Art of Creative Thinking.

Comment on this summary

More on this topic

In our Journal

3 months ago

Journal Article

Critical Thinking in Practice

Critical thinking is often cited as one of the most important future work skills. But what does that mean in practice? Critical thinking is often cited as one of the most valuable future work skills. How do critical thinking skills manifest themselves in the workplace? Learn about the mindsets, habits and demeanors that make critical […]

11 months ago

Journal Article

How to Lead an Organization

When you know how to lead yourself and others, you are ready to learn how to run entire organizations. Here are the key competencies you need to succeed. Successfully filling a leadership position in an organization has huge self-leadership and employee leadership aspects. Without navigating these fundamentals, it is difficult to ensure the gears of […]

11 months ago

Journal Article

How to Reassure Your Team

In the face of unsettling technological change, ease the panic and show a way forward – with these eight action steps. Will I be out of work soon? Is my company going to survive? How can I upskill so I remain relevant in five years? These are probably just some worries preoccupying people’s minds as […]

2 years ago

Journal Article

Creativity Is a Journey, Not a Destination

A Reading List to Get the Creative Juices Flowing Creativity is the Holy Grail for businesses. Coming up with that fresh, new idea is make or break for any organization. Yet creativity is often surrounded with mystery – where does it come from? How can I be more creative? Is it possible to turn creativity […]