MAKE SOMETHING USELESS 

Not everything you create needs a reason. 

Today, make something that serves absolutely no practical purpose.

Build a tiny house from twigs.

Arrange fallen leaves by color.

Stack three stones simply because you like the way they look together.

Fold a scrap of paper into something peculiar.

Make a crown from weeds.

Draw a doorway on an old envelope.

Give a name to a cloud.

Tie a ribbon around a branch.

Make a tiny flag and plant it somewhere only you will ever notice.

There are no instructions.

And there is absolutely no point.

Perhaps that is precisely why you should do it.

We become very good at asking useful questions.

What is this for?

What will I do with it?

Is it worth the time?

Can I sell it?

Will anyone care?

Am I wasting materials?

Am I wasting time?

But creativity did not begin as a productivity system.

Once upon a time, you made things simply because an idea wandered into your imagination and you wanted to see what would happen if you followed it.

No audience.

No outcome.

No justification required.

Just curiosity meeting your hands.

So today, give yourself ten minutes in which usefulness is completely beside the point.

Make the ridiculous thing.

Arrange the flowers.

Build the tiny kingdom.

Draw the impossible creature.

Leave a little beauty somewhere no one may ever find it.

And when the sensible part of you asks,

“But what is it for?”

you may answer—

Nothing.

I made it because I wanted to.

“But what is it for?”

Nothing.

I made it because I wanted to.