Cowards Don't Go To Heaven - A Guide For Lost Creative Souls
What separates the legendary from the forgettable?
(Hint: It ain’t talent.)
If you wish to be a spiritual man, St. Paul bids you to abide by the nine fruit(s) of the Spirit.
If you harbour ambition to be a field marshal, Carl von Clausewitz offers you the nine principles of war.
But what if you aspire to be a thinker of clunky ideas or an artificer of sublime beautifulness? What then?
Is there a system of routines which you can put into practice daily like squats and bench-presses to transform you from a 98-pound weakling into a creative megamonster?
You know what it's like to be a moppet? A perpetual almost-great? That gnawing sense of emptiness when your work is merely okay. The vague dissatisfaction as you scroll through the D&AD website. Or witness your colleagues take a short walk and a handshake on the stage of Cannes. The quiet desperation as another year passes with no bragging to annoy your gf, bf or better-half with.
Creative mediocrity isn't your destiny. You're just lacking the 8 creative backbones, for the moment, to become a superstar.
After scrutinising the writings and sayings of creatives as diverse as Einstein, Picasso, and Aristotle to Steve Jobs, C.S. Lewis, and Churchill, Eugene Cheong isolated eight cardinal virtues that great creatives have in common: eight creative habits, if you will, that separate the forgettable from the legendary.
1. Courage: Grow a spine, not an excuse
2. Idealism: Stay starry-eyed in a rotten world
3. Curiosity: Wander like a wonder-drunk child
4. Playfulness: Treat serious things as toys
5. Free-spiritedness: Refuse to color inside the lines
6. Intuition: Trust your gut like a god
7. Authenticity: Be real in a hydrocarbon world
8. Persistence: Be tenacious as a mother bear
These eight habits aren't just nice-to-haves—they're the difference between creative life and creative death, between being forgotten and leaving your mark on the world.
COWARDS DON'T GO TO HEAVEN isn't merely a book—it's a physical object of rebellion against sanitized, algorithm-friendly content. Handwritten and illustrated across 400 pages, this limited first edition of 1,000 copies stands as both battle cry and field manual for the creative insurgent.
What people are saying:
"A raw, unfiltered manifesto for creative rebellion. A smack in the face of mediocrity. A survival guide for anyone who gives a damn about creativity."
David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song
"A self-help book not for your meemaw. A combination of gut punches. And proof we'll never write as well as Eugene Cheong. Required reading for anyone with an appointment with Everest. Like my daughters."
Anselmo Ramos, Founder & Creative Chairman of GUT
"Everybody knows Eugene is a writer's writer, but this book shows he's one hell of a philosopher, theologian and poet—read it to get a glimpse of heaven."
David Tang, Former CEO of DDB Asia
ORDER YOUR COPY NOW BEFORE ALL 1,000 ARE GONE.
Click below to migrate from creative amoeba to god-tier:
What separates the legendary from the forgettable?
(Hint: It ain’t talent.)
If you wish to be a spiritual man, St. Paul bids you to abide by the nine fruit(s) of the Spirit.
If you harbour ambition to be a field marshal, Carl von Clausewitz offers you the nine principles of war.
But what if you aspire to be a thinker of clunky ideas or an artificer of sublime beautifulness? What then?
Is there a system of routines which you can put into practice daily like squats and bench-presses to transform you from a 98-pound weakling into a creative megamonster?
You know what it's like to be a moppet? A perpetual almost-great? That gnawing sense of emptiness when your work is merely okay. The vague dissatisfaction as you scroll through the D&AD website. Or witness your colleagues take a short walk and a handshake on the stage of Cannes. The quiet desperation as another year passes with no bragging to annoy your gf, bf or better-half with.
Creative mediocrity isn't your destiny. You're just lacking the 8 creative backbones, for the moment, to become a superstar.
After scrutinising the writings and sayings of creatives as diverse as Einstein, Picasso, and Aristotle to Steve Jobs, C.S. Lewis, and Churchill, Eugene Cheong isolated eight cardinal virtues that great creatives have in common: eight creative habits, if you will, that separate the forgettable from the legendary.
1. Courage: Grow a spine, not an excuse
2. Idealism: Stay starry-eyed in a rotten world
3. Curiosity: Wander like a wonder-drunk child
4. Playfulness: Treat serious things as toys
5. Free-spiritedness: Refuse to color inside the lines
6. Intuition: Trust your gut like a god
7. Authenticity: Be real in a hydrocarbon world
8. Persistence: Be tenacious as a mother bear
These eight habits aren't just nice-to-haves—they're the difference between creative life and creative death, between being forgotten and leaving your mark on the world.
COWARDS DON'T GO TO HEAVEN isn't merely a book—it's a physical object of rebellion against sanitized, algorithm-friendly content. Handwritten and illustrated across 400 pages, this limited first edition of 1,000 copies stands as both battle cry and field manual for the creative insurgent.
What people are saying:
"A raw, unfiltered manifesto for creative rebellion. A smack in the face of mediocrity. A survival guide for anyone who gives a damn about creativity."
David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song
"A self-help book not for your meemaw. A combination of gut punches. And proof we'll never write as well as Eugene Cheong. Required reading for anyone with an appointment with Everest. Like my daughters."
Anselmo Ramos, Founder & Creative Chairman of GUT
"Everybody knows Eugene is a writer's writer, but this book shows he's one hell of a philosopher, theologian and poet—read it to get a glimpse of heaven."
David Tang, Former CEO of DDB Asia
ORDER YOUR COPY NOW BEFORE ALL 1,000 ARE GONE.
Click below to migrate from creative amoeba to god-tier:
What separates the legendary from the forgettable?
(Hint: It ain’t talent.)
If you wish to be a spiritual man, St. Paul bids you to abide by the nine fruit(s) of the Spirit.
If you harbour ambition to be a field marshal, Carl von Clausewitz offers you the nine principles of war.
But what if you aspire to be a thinker of clunky ideas or an artificer of sublime beautifulness? What then?
Is there a system of routines which you can put into practice daily like squats and bench-presses to transform you from a 98-pound weakling into a creative megamonster?
You know what it's like to be a moppet? A perpetual almost-great? That gnawing sense of emptiness when your work is merely okay. The vague dissatisfaction as you scroll through the D&AD website. Or witness your colleagues take a short walk and a handshake on the stage of Cannes. The quiet desperation as another year passes with no bragging to annoy your gf, bf or better-half with.
Creative mediocrity isn't your destiny. You're just lacking the 8 creative backbones, for the moment, to become a superstar.
After scrutinising the writings and sayings of creatives as diverse as Einstein, Picasso, and Aristotle to Steve Jobs, C.S. Lewis, and Churchill, Eugene Cheong isolated eight cardinal virtues that great creatives have in common: eight creative habits, if you will, that separate the forgettable from the legendary.
1. Courage: Grow a spine, not an excuse
2. Idealism: Stay starry-eyed in a rotten world
3. Curiosity: Wander like a wonder-drunk child
4. Playfulness: Treat serious things as toys
5. Free-spiritedness: Refuse to color inside the lines
6. Intuition: Trust your gut like a god
7. Authenticity: Be real in a hydrocarbon world
8. Persistence: Be tenacious as a mother bear
These eight habits aren't just nice-to-haves—they're the difference between creative life and creative death, between being forgotten and leaving your mark on the world.
COWARDS DON'T GO TO HEAVEN isn't merely a book—it's a physical object of rebellion against sanitized, algorithm-friendly content. Handwritten and illustrated across 400 pages, this limited first edition of 1,000 copies stands as both battle cry and field manual for the creative insurgent.
What people are saying:
"A raw, unfiltered manifesto for creative rebellion. A smack in the face of mediocrity. A survival guide for anyone who gives a damn about creativity."
David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song
"A self-help book not for your meemaw. A combination of gut punches. And proof we'll never write as well as Eugene Cheong. Required reading for anyone with an appointment with Everest. Like my daughters."
Anselmo Ramos, Founder & Creative Chairman of GUT
"Everybody knows Eugene is a writer's writer, but this book shows he's one hell of a philosopher, theologian and poet—read it to get a glimpse of heaven."
David Tang, Former CEO of DDB Asia
ORDER YOUR COPY NOW BEFORE ALL 1,000 ARE GONE.
Click below to migrate from creative amoeba to god-tier:
Format: Hardcover, linen wrapped
Pages: 400
Size: 26 cm x 22.5 cm
Publication: 2025
Limited First Edition: 1000 copies
ISBN: 978-981-94-2391-0
Special Features: Handwritten text, original illustrations