With an astonishing resume that includes creating more than 130 dances, two books, and choreography for the movies Hair, Ragtime and Amadeus, plus a Tony award and two Emmys, Twyla Tharp surely personifies creativity in motion.

But on the subject of creativity, don't expect sentimental whimsy from this peak performer. Tharp believes creative breakthroughs come through hardheaded practicality, rigorous discipline and even a ruthlessness about the work. 

To inspiring innovators who worry they don't have the right stuff, Tharp says this: "Get over yourself. Do whatever it takes to to get moving, and stop wasting time."

To Twyla, creativity is the result of "habit, hard work, and constantly pursuing new challenges."  Mentors may help guide you to your goals, but don't choose people who will hold your hand. Choose mentors who can teach you, and invent them if you have to.

Twyla's book "The Creative Habit," promises interesting reading when she offers advice about not being intimidated, like the story of Brahms and Beethoven.

"[Brahms] was a consummate musician, and because he was so respectful of the great composers, and of Beethoven in particular,  he could not get out his first symphony until he was in his mid-forties. What a waste of time that was, and all because Brahms was totally intimidated."

Speaking of musicians, Twyla imparts this gem of an insight about Mozart. "Mozart was his father's son. Leopold Mozart was a sophisticated, broad-thinking man, famous throughout Europe as a composer and teacher. Mozart's first good fortune was to have a father such as that! That, and an incredible amount of hard work."

"Today when someone asks me how to find a mentor, I tell them, "Just go to Barnes & Noble and pull down a book from a shelf - pick out a writer, pick out a thinker. Pick out somebody who can teach you something!"