Unlocking Your Creativity
April 23, 2008
by Brian Tracy: Excerpt From: "Entrepreneurial Success"
I began studying creativity more than 20 years ago. I thought it was an ability
that was possessed by a few, especially intelligent people, such as artists and
writers and scientists. But as I delved further into the subject, I came to a
remarkable conclusion: I am a genius! Not only that, but you, too, are a genius!
In fact, probably 95 percent of the population has the capacity to function at
exceptional levels. Creativity is as natural to human beings as is breathing in
and out. Everyone is creative to a certain extent. People are highly creative
because they decide to be highly creative. It's no miracle. Creativity is like
any human faculty; it can be developed with practice and strengthened with
constant use.
If you improve things in small ways, you are engaging in small acts of
creativity. If you make major breakthroughs, and improve parts of your life in
extraordinary ways, you are demonstrating high levels of creativity. And the
amount of creativity you use in your life is largely up to you.
If creativity is improvement, in what areas do you want to use it? The answer is
simple. You want to use your inborn creativity to improve the parts of your life
that are most important to you. You can use your creativity to improve your
relationships, to increase your income and improve your business, and to assure
yourself higher levels of health and happiness. With that definition, you can
see clearly that you have opportunities to be creative from the time you get up
in the morning to the time you go to bed at night.
Creativity is like a muscle. If you do not deliberately and consciously flex
your creativity on a regular basis, it becomes weak and soft. It loses its
strength.
If people criticize you for your ideas, or if you have concluded that you are
not particularly creative, you will tend to be more passive and submissive and
look to others for new and better ways of solving problems and achieving goals.
However, if you start to practice creative thinking, along the lines that I'm
going to share with you, you will be absolutely amazed at how smart you really
are.
I used to think that you had to be highly intelligent to be creative. Then I
found that intelligence is not just a matter of IQ. There are many people with
high IQs who got excellent grades in school but who are doing very poorly at
life. They are working at jobs they don't like and earning salaries that are far
below their potentials. They probably haven't come up with a creative idea in
years.
Intelligence is a way of acting. If you act intelligently, you are intelligent.
If you act stupidly, you are stupid. That's all there is to it. You can decide
to be highly intelligent and highly creative simply by doing the things that
highly intelligent and highly creative people do. If you do these things over
and over, you'll soon get the same results. People around you will be talking
about how bright and full of ideas you have become.
There are three basic qualities of genius. Since you are a genius, you should
know what they are and apply them regularly.
The first quality of genius is open-mindedness. People who are fluent, flexible
and adaptive in their thinking are far brighter than those who are rigid,
mechanical and straitlaced. The more open you are to new ideas and
possibilities, to new approaches and solutions, the more creatively you will
function.
Most people tend to fall into what are called "thinking traps." They assume that
there is only one right answer to a problem; in reality, there could be several
right answers. They jump to conclusions, assuming that because one thing
happens, it is the reason for another thing's happening; there may be no
relationship at all between the two events. Sometimes people think that the
problem has to be solved immediately; often, the problem can be deferred for
some time, and often it will solve itself if left alone. People think that
certain problems have to be solved without spending any money; often, if the
solution is important enough, it is a good idea to spend money on it. Another
thinking trap people fall into is thinking they have to solve the whole problem;
sometimes, solving just one part of the problem is enough for the time. A final
thinking trap is thinking that it is your problem and you are the one who must
solve it; often, it is someone else's problem, and the very best thing for you
to do is to turn it over to that person and refuse to get involved.
The second quality of genius is the ability to concentrate single-mindedly on
one thing at a time, on one problem at a time. And to stay with it until it's
solved. Highly creative people practice focusing on single questions and single
problems, while uncreative people diffuse their mental energies by trying to do
several things at once. They work on this and work on that. They pick something
up and put it down. Then they go on to something else and come back. Often, they
are scatterbrained, and if they do come up with ideas, their ideas are shallow
and poorly thought-out.
The difference between diffusion and concentration in creativity is the
difference between gentle sunlight and sunlight concentrated through a
magnifying glass. It is the difference between light and a laser beam. It is the
difference between a small flame and a welding torch. Your job, in increasing
your creativity and enhancing your intelligence, is to concentrate your powers
where they can do the most good.
The third quality of genius is the ability to approach problems systematically.
People who throw themselves at their problems often become frantic and confused.
They take a haphazard approach to thinking, and then they are amazed when they
find themselves floundering and making no progress.
In his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter Drucker makes the point very
clearly that innovation must be a systematic process. It must be planned and
organized. It is too important to be random and haphazard.
Here is a 10-step method you can use to think systematically. With this method,
you develop your creativity to genius levels.
1. Change your language from negative to positive. Instead of using the word
problem, use the word situation, or call it a challenge or an opportunity. If a
sale falls through, you can say something like, "This is an interesting
challenge. It is an opportunity for me to improve my sales effectiveness so this
doesn't happen again in the future."
The more positive your language is, the more confident and optimistic you will
be when approaching any difficulty. The more creative and insightful you will be
in identifying solutions and breakthrough ideas.
2. Define your situation or difficulty clearly. What exactly is the challenge
you are facing? What is causing you the stress and anxiety? What is causing you
to worry? Why are you unhappy? Write it out clearly in detail.
Sometimes what you are worrying about is what is called a "cluster problem." It
is a series of small problems clustered together. You need to sort them out and
define them separately.
3. Ask, "What else is the problem?" Don't be satisfied with a superficial
answer. Look for the root cause of the problem rather than get sidetracked by
the symptom. Approach the problem from several different directions.
For example, if your business is slow, you could ask, "What exactly is the
challenge facing me?" Your first answer might be that sales are down. But what
else is the problem? How else could you phrase your answer to make the problem
more amenable to a solution?
Here are some different ways of answering that question. You could say that
sales are down. You could say also that you are not selling enough. Or you could
say that people are not buying enough. Or you could say that people are buying
too much of your competition's product. Or you could say that people are not
buying your product the way it is currently produced or packaged. Or people are
not buying your product the way you are selling it, or for the reasons you think
they should, or in the quantity you need them to buy it for you to be
financially successful.
In each case, by changing your definition of the problem, you change your
possible approach to the solution. You expand your possibilities. You become
more creative. You unlock more of your inner genius.
4. Ask, "What are my minimum boundary conditions?" What must the solution
accomplish? What ingredients must the solution contain? What would your ideal
solution to this problem look like? Define the parameters clearly.
5. Pick the best solution by comparing your various possible solutions against
your problem, on the one hand, and your ideal solution, on the other. What is
the best thing to do at this time under the circumstances?
6. Before you implement the decision, ask, "What's the worst possible thing that
can happen if this decision doesn't work?" I remember once spending all the
advertising money of the company I was working for on a single advertising
campaign. I was convinced that, even at a low rate of return, sales would more
than justify the expenditure. I failed to ask that question about the worst
possible outcome. I got blindsided by the "fallacy of large numbers," which says
that if you advertise to an enormous number of people, the odds are that you
will get a certain number of sales. What happened was that I got no sales at all
from the advertising. As a result, I almost ruined the business. I should have
asked, "What effect would there be on the business if the advertising did not
work at all?"
In fact, before you make any expenditure of money or effort in trying to achieve
your goal, you should evaluate what would happen if your decision were a
complete failure.
7. Set measures on your decision. How will you know that you are making
progress? How will you measure success? How will you compare the success of this
solution against the success of another solution?
If you decide to sell or market in a particular way, how will you know that you
have made the right decision? How will you define a success? Make it measurable.
Then monitor it on a regular basis.
8. Accept complete responsibility for implementing the decision. You might want
to delegate responsibility for the implementation of the action steps to someone
else. Many of the most creative ideas never materialize because no one is
specifically assigned the responsibility of carrying out the decision.
9. Set a deadline. A decision without a deadline is a meaningless discussion. If
it is a major decision and will take some time to implement, set a series of
short-term deadlines and a schedule for reporting. If you have a one-year goal
to increase your income, break down the goal into months, and then break down
the months into weeks. Break down the weeks into days and the days into hours.
Then discipline yourself to do the things you need to do, every hour of every
day, to assure that you achieve your weekly and monthly goals and your annual
goal on schedule.
With the deadlines and subdeadlines, you will know immediately if you are on
track or if you are falling behind. You can then use your creativity to
alleviate further bottlenecks or choke points.
10. Take action. Get busy. Get going. Develop a sense of urgency. The faster you
move in the direction of your clearly defined goals, the more creative you will
be. The more energy you will have. The more you will learn. And the faster you
will develop your capacity to achieve even more in the future.
The world is full of creative individuals who have wonderful ideas. But almost
all of them fall down when it comes to implementation. And this is where you can
excel. The future belongs to the creative minority who can not only think but
also take action and put their ideas into effect.
You can solve any problem, overcome any obstacle or achieve any goal that you
can set for yourself by using your wonderful creative mind and then taking
action consistently and persistently until you attain your objective. Success is
a mark of a creative thinker, and when you use your ability to think creatively,
your success can be unlimited.
"Unlock Your Potential!"
(60-Minute CD) Learn how to increase your periodicity, earn more money, and be happier and healthier than ever before. Get the most out of yourself! Visualize your ideal future; Increase self-esteem and self-confidence; Change your thinking, change your life; Seven Mental Laws for success; Set and achieve every goal; Increase your income 25% to 50% each year; Double your productivity, performance and output. Achieve more out of life, faster than you ever thought possible! -- Unlock Your Potential!
-------------
Article Publishing Guidelines:
These articles are the property of www.BrianTracy.com
 . They may be freely reproduced electronically or in print, provided that they are published as written and include the following contact information.
About the author: Brian Tracy is a leader in the field of human development. He is a millionaire, entrepreneur, businessman, author, and motivational speaker. He is also Chairman and CEO of www.BrianTracy.com
. He is the best-selling author of more than 17 books and over 300 audio and video learning programs.
Copyright © Brian Tracy International. All Rights Reserved.
------------------------------------------ |
Brian Tracy
Flight Plan
 - Brian's Best Selling Book of 2008
Brian Tracy Articles
Brian Tracy Biography
Quotations by Brian Tracy
More Business Leaders and Motivational Experts
Rapid Learning Made Simple
by Brian Tracy
21 Great Ways To Build A High Profit Business
by Brian Tracy
NEW!
by Brian Tracy
NEW!
by Brian Tracy
|
