*Typing*

Playing basketball on a dirty court is like running on an ice rink.

Because of this, my high school basketball coach would mop the floor before every practice. He would get three or four towels good and wet, wring them out in the sink and then fasten them to an industrial-sized swiffer.

He would then walk his makeshift mop up and down the court, covering all 3,108 square feet of the floor. Once we took to the court after school was out, the floor was so spotless and adherent, our sneakers squealed and squeaked as we ran through our drills.

If your creative work is the game of basketball, your mental and emotional state is the court. I have found it to be extraordinarily difficult to get good creative work done when the floors of my mind haven't been properly cleaned.

Tending to your mental floors is about wiping your mind clean so that you can think creatively without the risk of slipping.

Comparison leads to jealousy, insecurity or both. Because of this, you should avoid comparison as much as possible. In the instances where you compare yourself to others, it helps to develop a more rational approach to comparison. This involves comparing holistically rather than specifically.

If you find yourself feeling insecure or jealous by a specific aspect of someone's life, ask yourself if you feel insecure or jealous about all aspects of the person's life. More times than not, you will find the answer is no. Individuals who are disproportionately successful in a specific area have had to sacrifice many other areas.

Greatness doesn't come without its costs: family, friends, happiness, kindness, physical health and mental well-being to name a few. Unless you are also willing to suffer these costs to obtain that what which you desire, it is not rational to be jealous or insecure.

You can't begin to understand something until you've forced yourself to exist in the absence of that something. This is why we fast. We fast from sugar to understand sugar. We fast from alcohol to understand alcohol. We fast from social media to understand social media. It is in these periods of abstinence that we develop a deeper and truer understanding of that which we are choosing to abstain from. Once our fast has ended and this understanding has been reached, it is our choice on whether or not we choose to once again pick up the something we were fasting from. If we do, we will often notice a healthier, more mindful relationship with that something. Abstinence allows us to avoid mindless consumption.

Letting go isn't giving up. It's making room for something new. We struggle to let go, though. We believe we can do it all, Despite a mountain of evidence that says otherwise. May our hands serve as a constant reminder that there is a limit to what we can carry. If we pick up too many things at once, the things we carry will fall and break or, worst yet, we will fall and break. To pick something up, we must put something down.

If creativity is a form of expression, your creative work is done when you have nothing left to say.