Just do it!

PREPARE AND TELL A JOKE

“Self-loathing never works.”

—B. J. NOVAK, COMEDIAN, ACTOR, AUTHOR

Woody Allen wanted to be a magician until he discovered he could write one-liners for the New York tabloids. For 3 hours after school, he sat and wrote 3 or 4 typewritten pages with 50-some jokes.

So you never know where a good joke can lead you. My friend Todd started writing jokes—things like “a priest, a cowboy, and a quarterback walk into a bar”—and ended up touring the country as a stand-up comic.

Zumba for the Soul

Invite someone you’ve never met to tea.

Look through the want ads and find a job for which you’re clearly not qualified, but might like if you were. Compose a cover letter, tell your future employer why you’d be perfect for the job. Stick it in the mail with your resume.

Make a puzzle.

You’re in Good Company

Thirteen publishers turned down William Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Ironweed.

IMPORTANT CREATIVITY TEST

The SAT determines if you’re bright enough for college, the LSAT tests law school potential, and the MCAT, which costs a whopping $310 every time you take it, predicts your affinity for med school.

But here, being offered for absolutely no charge, is the very best test I know for measuring creativity in human beings.

Get out your pencil.

PAM GROUT’S TEST OF CREATIVITY

1. Are you breathing? Yes______ No________

Check your score here.

If you answered “yes” to the above question, you’re highly creative.