7 Techniques to Supercharge your Creativity and Solve your Problems
7 Techniques to Supercharge your Creativity and Solve your Problems
Do you ever encounter problems, challenges or obstacles in your business? If you answered 'no,' then you can stop reading and continue to rake in the fortune you must be making. For the rest of us, the answer of course is 'yes.'
For the most troubling problems, the biggest challenge is in your inability to come up with new and innovative solutions. This is because when you try to solve a problem, you probably use the same approach every time ('let me sit here and think about it until I come up with something?'). The next time you try to solve a problem, try applying any (or all) of these approaches:
1) Be Obvious - Cances are, whatever your problem is, there is some conventional wisdom about how to solve it. Ask yourself why you are not following it, and evaluate for yourself whether your reasons are valid. Sometimes the easiest solution is the one right in front of us.
2) Be Contrarian - The opposite of being obvious, being contrarian means to consider doing the opposite of what conventional wisdom says. If the standard advice is to buy, think about selling. Instead of working more, work less. Note: This does not mean you should automatically DO what the opposite is; it just means to let your mind wander over the opposite to get it working in another direction.
3) Start Where you are - Sometimes we get so caught up in the long term goal that we lose sight of where we are. Think about your problem and what you might do right now to solve it. Usually this results in frustration because we don't have a fully formed solution. But just because an idea is not fully formed does not mean that it does not have some validity. Start with your current idea and watch as new ideas present themselves.
4) Chunk up - If you can't figure out how to achieve your goal, try looking at the bigger picture. If your goal is to earn $10,000 this month and you can't figure out how, think bigger - maybe you want $10K because you want to earn six figures this year. Then start to brainstorm ways of earning six figures. Don't get so caught up on your problem that you lose sight of the bigger picture.
5) Chunk down - The opposite of chunking up. Think in terms of smaller details. Continuing with the $10K example, if you can't think of how to earn $10,000 this month, can you think of ways to earn $333 per day? Maybe, but even if you can't it gets the mind working in a new way.
6) Take a REAL Break - Stop working on the problem for a bit and let your subconscious work on it. This requires two things. First, you need to actually give your mind a break and recharge. Switching from thinking about one problem to another will not do it. Get away from the problem an your work, even if for only five minutes. Second, make sure you are not dwelling on the problem. Taking a walk to get away from work is great, but if you continue to mull over the problem your not really giving your mind a break from it.
7) Move - Get the blood flowing! Exercise, walk, run, stretch, whatever. Be it from blood flow, endorphins, or a change in focus, physical movement enhances creativity. I do some of my best thinking while shooting baskets. Find out what works for you and do it.
There are many different techniques you can use to solve a problem. Try the few above to start, and then come up with your own. Use them well, and watch yourself create new and exciting solutions faster than ever.Avish Parashar is a professional speaker who runs seminars on creativity, teamwork, productivity, leadership, and communication using the principles of improvisational comedy. http://www.professional-speaker-avish-parashar.com
Creativity e-book:http://www.supercharge-your-creativity.com
How To Let The Subconscious Mind Do The Creative Work
How To Let The Subconscious Mind Do The Creative Work
From time immemorial mankind has wished for an Aladin's lamp,
which would make wisheds come true.The closest thing to this magic lamp is the subconscious mind.
The "genii" of the subconsious mind
will work for you if you follow a certain process.How can we trap the subconscious mind
into a great deal of our creative work for us.Here are eight tested ways.1. Give yourself a motive.The subconscious mind works at its creative best
when you have a purpose.2. Make a date with your subconscious mind.Prod it with definite orders as to what you want,
but don't tell it what methods to use.Let it use its own methods.Example : "Genii, at 2 p.m. tomorrow,
I want you to tell me just how I am going to sell 3000 crates
of oranges to hard boiled Mr. Mack."
It will help the genii if you have obligingly
collected on cards all the pertinent information about Mr. Mack likes,
dislikes and hobbies.
This will make it easier for the genii to figure out the best approach.3. Always keep a pad and pencil at your bedside.You never can tell when the subconscious mind
will suddenly come up with an idea.
When it does, write it down.
Always carry a small notebook or pad with you.4. Write every idea down.When you first get an idea,
don't try to figure out whether it's good or bad.
Write it down.
"The faintest ink is better then the best memory."
This is particularly true of creative ideas.5. Don't be critical of your ideas too soon.You have a problem that can't be solved by cold logic.
It needs the spark of imagination.
But the moment your subconscious mind tries to throw out a spark,
your conscious mind says :
"That idea is a lemon. It will never work."In the early stages of the creative game,
the conscious mind must be told to shut up.
Nothing will cause the genii to scamper away
so much as being told by the conscious mind
that their ideas are worthless.6. When stymied, stop for a while.Of course, most creative problems can't be solved overnight.
After you had a creative session with yourself,
it's usually best to stop trying to think up any more ideas.
This stage is called the incubation.7. Keep yourself motivated.Whenever you have temporarily abandoned
seeking an answer to a problem,
the uncounscious mind should have its orders :
"This is important to me.
Don't give up the ship.
Keep on working on this idea while I sleep and rest."8. When the heat of creation is goneput your work aside for later evaluation.Just as a period of conscious thinking and gathering facts
usually precedes a creative idea,
so a period of conscious thinking should eventually follow it.
This is the period of evaluation.Creativeness is wonderfull.
But it is only half the battle.
The other half is evaluating your idea
or hearing another's opinion of it.Sometimes an honest opinion may spark a new idea.Fernando Soave
CEO CUTTING EDGE MLM
http://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk
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Attraction: What We Attract With Our Creative Choices
Attraction: What We Attract With Our Creative Choices
I used to be a jazz singer. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, they were wonderful and I strived to sing like they did. But no one impressed me as much as Billie Holiday. The tragedy and the talent meshed together into a musical offering unlike any I'd heard. I was inexplicably drawn to the drama and the heartache.Louise Montello points out, in her book, Essential Musical Intelligence, that I was drawn to those songs for a reason. They corresponded with how I was feeling about myself and my life, and the real or imagined conflicts or unresolved issues that were going on for me.Later, I found myself still listening to music that was at a different 'frequency' than me, simply out of habit. I either didn't notice that all the songs I was choosing were focused on 'negative' topics or content I didn't agree with anymore, or sometimes I was drawn to the music or musicality of the performers. Or it was simply habit.There was sometimes a 'coolness' factor - maybe the performer emulated a quality I wanted to possess. Maybe it was their version of success I was after.A common concept in the personal growth field is that whatever we put our attention on, we unconsciously manifest into our lives. This is the purpose behind the gratitude list - taking time each day to focus on what we're grateful for. It helps to balance out the time that most of us spend lamenting what we DON'T have.Last night I saw the new movie, 'What the Bleep do We Know?'. My mind is still reeling from all of the scientific evidence that supports the notion that the possibilities, for all of us, are infinite - AND definitely within our control if we choose to think a certain way.One of the most fascinating and concrete examples came from a Japanese researcher who documented how water crystals changed depending on which thoughts were directed towards them. For more information about the movie, see http://www.whatthebleep.com.This is not to say that we shouldn't ever sing sad songs, that we should only paint with pink and yellow, or that we should use our computer to filter out negative words in our writing. It's not to say that we should in ANY way censor our authentic expression.My point here, as it with many of the topics I speak about, is that we should consciously choose and be aware of what we're expressing. AND, as an experiment, we can choose to try and manifest what we want by describing THAT in our art, instead of focusing on expressing our feelings about what we don't.Today I experiment with choosing songs, both to listen to and to sing, which evoke images of things I want to create in my life, or things I'm grateful for.I have a very special collection of songs that I listen to every morning. Every song in there is very deliberate. Some of the songs remind me to be grateful, some songs remind me to celebrate and all of the songs connect me in some way to my spirituality.(c) Copyright 2005, Genuine Coaching Services.Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach, helps artists enhance their creativity by addressing their unique self-care issues. To receive her free monthly newsletter, "Everyday Artist", subscribe at http://www.genuinecoaching.com/artist-newsletter.html