I have one rule in life that I’m quite rigid about every time I turn the TV on, and there’s something that I’ve seen already, I’m turning it off and start doing something else. That’s the key to my productivity.
In order to write, H. De Balzac locked himself up in his study for months at a time, till he finished whatever he wanted to write. There’s no other way.
If you are determined to do whatever you’ve set your mind to, you shouldn’t pay any attention to what others have to say about it. Only when they start hitting you, you should reconsider.
If you aren’t sure in which direction to go, go to the opposite one from the rest of the crowd. Even if it’s the wrong direction, you could always console yourself that you were an original.