You should share ideas liberally—if not for the sake of your own success, then for the sake of society.

In order to channel your ability to focus—and perspire—for extended periods of time, you will likely need to develop a consistent work schedule. Structuring time spent executing ideas is a best practice of admired creative leaders across industries. It is the only way to keep up with the continuous stream of Action Steps and allocate sufficient

References are any project-related handouts, sketches, notes, meeting minutes, manuals, Web sites, or ongoing discussions that you may want to refer back to.

“Freelancers need to spend half of their time marketing themselves and the other half doing their work,”

application to which you could drag up to five Action Steps—from any project—that you wanted to focus on today.

Develop a communications strategy.

Every creative person and team needs a Room Three. As we build teams and develop a creative process, our tendency is to privilege the no-holds-barred creativity of Room One. But the idea bloodshed that occurs in Room Three is just as important as the wild ideation of Room One.

Yet, among the hundreds of successful creatives I’ve interviewed, a fearless approach to sharing ideas is one of the most common attributes. Why? Because having the idea is just one tiny step along the road to making that idea happen.

you should do (or delegate)—and capture all of them, not only the ones that arise during meetings.