Hard work

I always remember one of the leading lights on my foundation course, Rob Mills, saying that the only way to feel confident going in to a presentation/a crit/a meeting was to have done lots of work.

Great ideas don't just happen - you have to have worked through the process, to have put pen to paper and hand to head (scratch-scratch).

On a similar, and more interestingly expressed, note are these anecdotes from big cheeses in Ad-land:

“…If you produce a lot of ideas, you’re going to find good ones in there. It’s about amount. It’s about quality. Quality comes from quantity. In the creative process you have to see the ad. Make, make, make, make, make, make, make, make it. In the end you look and see one good one, ah this is average, and you pick up the best ones.”
Marcello Serpa, CEO, Creative Director, ALMAP/BBDO.

Particularly like Dave's tip about generating ideas. Another thing I was told on my foundation course was to present work in boxes - helps to order ideas and I find it stops one dwelling on one part of the page. Also everything designed seems to ultimately end up being in a 'box' of some form or another.

“…I would work as long as it took. I forced myself to write as many ideas as I possibly could. So I would do stupid things like, I'd get layout pads and fill it with a hundred squares. Like post-it notes. And I couldn't leave until I filled each box with an idea, even if I loved the first idea."
Dave Droga, Founder/Creative Chairman, droga5.

Via: diaryofacreativedirector.com