Danny Gregory's The Creative License is one of a few key ideas informing my paper-based system. He encourages people to use a pen (not pencil) & paper for to-dos, sketching, brainstorming... all lumped together to serve as a testimony for how you lived you days, and life.
Here's a new, and lovely, post about courage and doing creative things:
http://dannygregory.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/courage/