As Austin Kleon, the author of Steal Like an Artist, writes on his blog, for artists or those looking for inspiration generally, you can’t always rely on your own family, friends or upbringing to give you the tools you need. Instead, you “must establish your own artistic genealogy”.

Like any habit, journaling is easier said than done. I tried for years (all of the half-empty notebooks in my childhood bedroom can attest to this) and didn't form a sustaining habit until I studied abroad in university and wrote in a travel journal daily. Something just clicked during that time, and I kept it up when I was back home, where it morphed from a catalogue of the places I visited and food I ate into a place to work through feelings, expand on questions or random observations, and set goals for myself.

How's NaNoWriMo going? Do you have 20 per cent of a novel on your hard drive yet? If not, maybe you're having trouble thinking of what to write. Fortunately, there's a place on nanowrimo.org that is full of ideas ripe for the stealing.

"A good composer does not imitate; he steals," Igor Stravinsky supposedly said. Faulkner allegedly phrased it as "Immature artists copy, great artists steal." Steve Jobs put it most simply: "Good artists copy, great artists steal." The saying regularly inspires artists, thinkers and dorm-room poster designers. But in practical terms, what does it mean?

If you are a fan of The Great British Bake Off, you have most likely noticed an all-encompassing sense of calm that pervades the program and soothes the viewer. Unlike other cooking shows, the contestants aren't "here to win", they're here to bake, and maybe even make friends.

Talking about your goals publicly can be a good way to motivate yourself to do better. However, you may want to wait until you've taken the first step before making an announcement to really take advantage of the effect.

Marvin Gaye might have been best known for albums like I Heard It Through the Grapevine and What's Going On, but when you look closer, you see an artist who struggled with depression yet somehow found a way through that to release some of the greatest soul music to come out of Motown.

Low-level grunt work can feel demoralising, but there's a good reason to do it well anyway. If the people you work with don't think you can handle making coffee, they're probably not going to put you in charge of big projects.

Setting a long-term goal is an easy if vague way to plan your life. You know you want to lose weight or pay off debt. If you really want to reach those goals, though, you need individual steps to get there.

When you dread having to do a task, you put it off. You probably view it as cumbersome and tedious. However, in many cases, you might actually enjoy the task once you're doing it. Remind yourself of how you feel while getting stuff done to get the motivation to start.

When you're writing, adjectives give you the most flexibility to create a vivid picture. It's also easy to slip into a cliche series of mundane, familiar adjectives. Describing Words helps inspire you with something different.

Not every game is about winning. Amidst the rise in tabletop gaming, dozens of storytelling games have emerged that challenge you or your teammates to create entertaining stories instead of beating each other. If you want to hone your skills as a creative writer, these are an excellent way to start.

Playing tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder thankfully doesn't carry the same stigma it once did. That's great because as this TEDx talk explains, the game can do a lot to help you in real life.

If you judge by the movies, being creative is all about freewheeling ideas and a total lack of discipline. In reality, being an artist is hard work. If you want to build your art, be prepared to deal with some boring minutiae.

Chrome: One of the best things you can do as a designer is get input from other sources to inspire you. Palettab helps by showing you a new colour and font pairing every time you open a new tab in Chrome.

TED talks are a great way to learn something new in an entertaining presentation. In a recent quora thread, TED curator Chris Anderson was asked to rate his favourite TED talks, and he's seen a ton. Here were his top five.

Boredom, daydreaming and idle time are all important for creativity and motivation, as well as your mental health. This video reinforces the idea, pointing out that while none of us will ever be lauded for staring out of the window, it's exactly what more of us need to do to stay happy, healthy and inspired.

The magic of productivity is really to just get started. You may know that already, but the reverse of that message -- to wait for inspiration to strike before you really do something -- keeps us from doing great work, says artist and photographer Chuck Close.

The term "breakthrough" has a lot of weight to it. It's a significant milestone. You finally cracked that project or reached a level of personal development. It's also always the hardest part of whatever you're trying to achieve.