What Spurs You On?

Sharon B. blogged for her Sunday post on creativity. The inspiration came from Serena Fenton's Layers of Meaning, to which I also subscribe and had gotten the heads-up. Serena had come across a post from gapingvoid about creativity. Sharon picked her ten top favorites and challenged us to pick our top ten faves, too. So here are mine:

1. Ignore everybody (my PERSONAL favorite!!! (VBG)).
2. The idea doesn't have to be big, it just has to change the world. (Well, I don't know how world-changing I am yet, but the more I learn, the more I strive).
3. Put the hours in. (Having played the piano for more than forty years, and been a concert and recitalist pianist during my pre-teen years, I am here to tell you there are NO overnight miracles...but work does bring its own rewards).
4. You are responsible for your own experience. (Unless you're about to be hit by lightening!)
5. Everybody has their own personal Mount Everest that they were put on this earth to climb. (Life is not easy, but how are you going to learn otherwise??!!...those of us who have an entire Mountain Range obviously will have IQs of at least 300 eventually!!!!)
6. Don't try to stand out in the crowd; avoid the crowd altogether. (This is my second personal favorite!!)
7. The world is changing. (Better change with it...stagnation produces mold!!!)
8. Merit can be bought; passion can't. (If it's not from the heart, it's not worth producing, IMHO.)
9. The choice of media is irrelevant. (Thank goodness I don't have to be a Rembrandt!!)
10. Sing in your own voice. I switched order a bit and put this one last because in a way it sums up all the others. And, for me, besides the fact that I LOVE ignoring crowds (Extremely big grin!!), it means the most.