When it comes to enhancing your creative abilities, there are many paths to explore. When I was younger I was obsessed with D&AD annuals, and I still like to peruse their excellent (and free) online archive. I also read the book Hey Whipple, Squeeze This several times, and, naturally, I enjoyed my regular doses of excellence from Creative Review.

But what about the many influences beyond our borders? What could we learn from less expected sources? If we’re all fishing in the same river, won’t we all produce the same kind of stuff? If we want to pursue originality and freshness in our work, we need to do the same in our leisure.

Which brings me to 50 Cent. Did you know about his self-help/advice book, Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter? Well, allow me to enlighten you.

Thanks to a prompt on TikTok (marketing moves in mysterious ways), I checked out its Amazon page and was surprised to discover that it had over 7,000 reviews, 88% of which were 5-star. That was enough for me to buy a copy and see if the writer of P.I.M.P. had anything to teach me.

Now you might be thinking that you have nothing to learn from a supposed rapper who has barely troubled the charts in over a decade, but you’d be wrong.

If we want to pursue originality and freshness in our work, we need to do the same in our leisure

Fiddy, as I think we all called him in the 2000s, made $100m from an investment in VitaminWater, when he asked for equity instead of an endorsement fee. He also created, produced, and starred in six seasons of the TV show Power, wrote a couple of books, acted in over 30 movies, won an Emmy and a Grammy, became a licensed boxing promoter, and declared bankruptcy. That means he possesses quite a bit of experience from which to draw on for nuggets of wisdom.

There are plenty in the book, but I’m not going to reproduce them all here, or pretend that every last one will make you a better copywriter, art director, or creative director. However, just to whet your appetite….

First you must “build a strong crew” and “establish the balance between trust and discipline in dealing with them”. Yes, that applies to drug dealing and your musical entourage, but I think this is also what David Abbott, Peter Mead, and Adrian Vickers put into practice when they formed AMV BBDO.

He also suggests you “Learn from your Ls”, which is the same as Wieden+Kennedy’s ‘Embrace Failure’ motto. Not everything can be Honda Grrr or In Da Club, but all creative endeavours can be learning experiences that feed the next success.

Most importantly Mr Cent recommends that you “cultivate the heart of a hustler”. “Hustlin’,” he continues, “is a motor that’s got to be running inside of you each and every day. And its fuel is passion.” In my experience this is golden advice. It’s all well and good coming up with excellent ideas, but each one needs a certain amount of hustle to enhance the executional process.

Now you might be thinking that you have nothing to learn from a supposed rapper who has barely troubled the charts in over a decade, but you’d be wrong

I did enjoy the book in a ‘rough round the edges’ sort of way, but what I liked most was the fact that it could give me access to a world and a set of perspectives that were entirely alien to me. There’s a huge amount of life out there, and the more you uncover, the more you can grow, both personally and professionally.

You might want to start with your media consumption: I have a feeling adland is not overly keen on the political and moral stance of The Sun, but as one of Britain’s most popular newspapers, it’s essential reading for people in the business of mass communication.

When people suggest advertising is out of touch with ‘real people’, looking down our noses at the interests, hopes and dreams of genuine Sun readers is the kind of thing they mean. If you don’t want to give money to Murdoch, read it for free online or in a library, but read it.

Another thing that will expand your influences and revitalise your mind is learning a language. I’ve had a Spanish teacher for the last year and her guidance has led me out of my comfort zone on a daily basis.

It’s all well and good coming up with excellent ideas, but each one needs a certain amount of hustle to enhance the executional process

For example, she suggested I watch some Spanish language TV shows, toggling between the English and Spanish subtitles that Netflix provides. That led me to Luis Miguel, a biopic series about the Mexican Frank Sinatra. Twelve months ago I knew nothing about him; now I could recommend several of his songs as a very different soundtrack to a new commercial.

On similar lines, you might consider working in another country. And I’m not even talking about somewhere testing, such as Mongolia or Chad. Australia or the US will also provide new influences on a daily basis. (Did you know it’s almost impossible to find sugar-free sliced bread in LA supermarkets? Also, they have separate parts of the city dedicated to Bangladesh, Armenia, Ethiopia, and Thailand that are like mini versions of those countries.)

I could go on, but you know what I mean. All those clichés that suggest you ‘stay curious’ or ‘think like a child’ are true. Whether that means reading a book by a former hip-hop artist, going back to school in some way, or taking a weekend break somewhere off the beaten track, there are so many fun, fascinating ways to get your creativity out of a rut.

“A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will”, as a certain rapper once said.

Based in Los Angeles, Ben Kay is a creative director and copywriter, and advertising columnist for CR; ben-kay.com; Top image: Shutterstock