Linus Pauling was a biochemist, author, educator and activist. He won multiple Noble Prizes for his work in different fields. Pauling was gifted and talented, but he understood the value of “doing reps” when it came to ideas and creativity. Pauling was credited with the quote:

“The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.”

Reps. We have to do them and we need a lot of them.

My songwriter friends know the adage about good song writing. You have to write 100 bad songs so that you can get to one good one.

You see creativity is a muscle. If you want to be more creative, have better ideas, and come up with more creative stuff, you have to commit to working out your creative muscles. You have to go to work every day and do reps. Trust me, it takes a lot of bad ideas to flush out the good ones. One of the biggest problems we have is that rarely do we create the margin to work out our reps. Margin creates flexibility to work the bad stuff until we get to the good stuff.

So today start doing some reps. What do your reps look like? Maybe it’s time you sit down and –

• Write.
• Draw.
• Paint.
• Sing.
• Read.
• Watch a movie.
• Take a picture.
• Film something.
• Look at a magazine.
• Listen to music.
• Have a conversation that inspires you.
• Look for something to inspire you.
• Make something.
• Go on Pintrest.
• Surf the Internet.

Without reps, you will be tempted to settle. Maybe you call it hitting a wall but the reality is, we just haven’t kept our tank full and your muscles ready to work.

What will you commit to do today to get some reps?