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You are less limited by your innate abilities than you think. Design, music, and writing are all skills that people view as creative, but in reality the only thing they require is practice.

But, how do you get better, faster? All you have to do is follow a few simple guidelines.

Practice at your practice.

When you first start practicing a new skill, you're tolerance for practice will be low. You probably won't be able to stand more than 30 minutes to an hour of practice. The first step to gaining a new skill is learning to practice. By increasing your tolerance for practice, you'll be able to improve faster.

Set process goals, not outcome goals.

Outcome goals (eg. we will win the superbowl) are easy to set, but they're misleading because they teach you to focus on things outside of your control. The only area in which you have complete control is the process. So set goals related to the process itself, and give yourself a time frame to work off.

Don't blame anyone, but yourself.

If the presentation didn't go well, it's not because the crowd was tough. It's because you weren't prepared. If you're design wasn't well received, it's not because the client didn't communicate their goals. It's because you didn't elicit them. The first step to improving is viewing your performance in a completely neutral manner and being accountable for all the outcomes. Not just the good ones.

Compare yourself to your peers, but aspire for the experts.

If you spend all your time comparing yourself to the masters in your field you'll quickly get discouraged. Instead, compare yourself with peers who more closely align to your experience. This will give you the confidence to continue your growth in the field. Your first blog post is going to be awkward, your first design will be rough, so don't compare yourself to the masters in the field right away.

Push beyond your comfort level.

Always pick goals that are slightly beyond your abilities. If you're practicing design, then push yourself to use a different style in your next concept. Your goals should always stretch your abilities just beyond your current comfort levels.

These simple concepts are the first steps to improving your creative performance. The reality is — if you're dedicated to getting better at a creative task, you will. The only thing stopping you is your existing habits, and your belief in your lack of innate creative talent. Once you change your habits and your mindset you'll be on the path to reaching your goals.

Recently we just launched a new website for a company called Vocalocity. During the process we pitched them on the idea of communicating their message with a series of slow motion videos that would be featured on their website.

We were lucky enough to have Trey Lyda on site documenting the madness, so if you've ever wondered what a slow motion video shoot looks like. Here ya go:

The website came out awesome as well (so check it out): http://www.vocalocity.com/

I'm always fascinated by how people express their entrepreneurial vision, and recently I came across a great example from the TV personality, Alton Brown.

Alton Brown got started like most entrepreneurs. He didn't like something and thought he could do it better. In his case, the object of his scorn was cooking shows. To Alton, cooking shows were boring and didn't teach the scientific foundations of cooking. So he started thinking about doing his own cooking show.

The first thing he did was define his vision. He wrote down three names: Julia Child, Mr. Wizard & Monty Python. His show would be part Cooking Show, part Science Class and part Sketch Comedy Show.

This simple, concrete vision allowed him to create some of the most unique television around. There's power in creating a simple vision that's easily communicated and understood. Forget the sky high mission statements and take a lesson from Alton Brown, if you can't communicate your vision in a simple statement, there's a good chance that it won't be fulfilled.

Yesterday, I learned an odd fact. Traffic signs have very little effect on driver behavior. According to the book "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)", streets and cities that have taken the drastic step of removing all traffic signs, often see a reduction in crashes.

People drive more carefully when a road feels more dangerous. They automatically respond to the natural visual cues in their surroundings and adjust their behavior accordingly. They ask themselves, is this they type of road I can drive fast on, or is this the type of road where I have to drive carefully?

This is the reason narrow streets with trees crowded along the edges are often safer than wide streets with large clearing zones on each side. Common sense would say, less trees means fewer potential things to collide with. But, the reality is: the scary trees lining the side of the road act as a crash deterrent. The trees are far more effective than a "35 mph Speed Limit" sign. Traffic signs are nothing but artificial cues that try to compensate for a road environment that doesn't effectively tell people how to behave.

Interactive designers can learn from this lesson. Human behavior often ignores artificial cues. Just telling someone to "Click Here," isn't enough to spur them to action. Most of the time these artificial cues are ignored entirely (just like the signs that say "Slow Down: Children Playing"). Instead, websites should be designed with natural cues.

A well integrated call-to-action, engaging motion graphics, or a startling design element can provide natural clues to what a user should do next. They're built it into the environment, not patched on top of it, and that's the way they should be.

Users ignore most banner ads because they feel like banner ads. They're ugly, distracting and feel artificial. They're unrelated to the website experience at hand. The mind blocks them out and instead responds to other items on the page. If interactive designers really want to get people's attention, they need to create natural cues, not artificial ones.

The worst feedback someone can give is, "I don't like it." There's no value there. Especially in regards to design. It doesn't provide a way forward, or point to a new direction. Good feedback is critical in nature, but rooted in analysis. It pokes, prods and understands what the designer was trying to accomplish before speaking it's voice.

Design is rarely created to please a single person. Personal likes and dislikes aren't important when analyzing design. What is important, is asking: does this design accomplish its goals, or are there ways it could work better.

By providing informed critical feedback, instead of opinions, design projects will go faster and everyone will be happier with the end result.