Three Ways Journaling Can Boost Your Creativity and Your Business
Three Ways Journaling Can Boost Your Creativity and Your Business
I have a friend who has struggled with her creativity for a
long time. She's extremely uncomfortable thinking of herself
as "creative." We've been working together on it, and making
progress. One of the tools that's really helped her has been
journaling.From Julia Cameron's The Artist Way to Natalie Goldberg's
Writing Down the Bones to Linda Trichter Metcalf, Ph.D. and
Tobin Simon, Ph.D.'s Writing the Mind Alive to numerous
other publications, journaling has enjoyed a long history of
creative-nurturing along with a host of other benefits.For my purposes, I'm defining journaling as any sort of
loose, longhand writing. Whatever thoughts come into your
head you put them down on paper. There's no structure, no
form, nor concern about spelling or grammar or even
legibility.Even if writing isn't your dream, incorporating a regular
program of journaling into your life is a wonderful way to
jump-start your creativity and cultivate a constant flow of new
ideas. Here are three reasons why.1. Helps you get rid of the junk in your head. We all have it.
Junk thoughts. Everything from self-defeating comments
("Oh, I'll never be good at that." or "Who told you that you
could be a writer?") to the "worry of the moment" to neurosis
of every type to the ever-growing, constant to-do lists.Who can be creative with all that noise going on? For that
matter, who could even hear a creative thought over all that
racket?Journaling is a way to quiet the mind. Writing all that junk
down transfers it from your head to the paper. Suddenly, you
find you can actually think rather than simply react.The best part is this quiet lasts long after the journaling is
done for the day. And if you journal frequently, then the effect
is cumulative.When I finish journaling, I find that I feel peaceful. Calm.
Able to focus. The junk is gone, leaving space to be creative.2. Gives you a chance to try new ideas. What better way to
see if a new idea will work than to try it out on paper? You
can write out the pros and cons, describe a scenario, play
"what if" games ("What if my new business was
successful?" "What if I tried that new advertising
campaign?" "What if I contacted the editor at Money
Magazine?"). And the best part is it's all in a private little
notebook that no one will ever have to see.Try writing down your hopes, dreams, goals, visions. Play
around with them. You may find as you journal about them,
a strategy for making them come true suddenly presents
itself, right there in the pages of your notebook.3. Helps you build a bridge to your muse. This one really
only kicks in after you've sufficiently done number one (at
least, this is the way it works for me). It seems only after I've
gotten most of the junk out of my head that the muse
sometimes slips out to play a bit.How do you know the muse came to visit you? When that
brilliant idea flashes in your head. It may not happen while
you're journaling, but instead while you're showering,
walking, driving or something else. This is the muse talking
to you.It's important to remember muses have quiet voices. They
can easily be drowned out by the incessant bickering of the
other noisy chatter going on in your head. Once you can get
those other voices to shut up, you can start to listen for the
muse.Don't worry if this doesn't happen right away. There have
been weeks and even months when I write nothing but junk
down. But then, one day, that great idea appears on the
paper or in my head as I'm walking my dogs.And when that happens, I know all the time I spent
journaling about nothing has paid off.Creativity Exercises -- Journal more ideasI would love it if you made a pact with yourself to journal
regularly for a month. If that's too much of a commitment for
you, try it as a creativity exercise.Write down your challenge at the top of a piece of paper.
Maybe it's ways to increase business or promote your
products more or a new PR campaign. Now just start writing
about it.Don't think, just write. Fill a few pages of musing about that
particular challenge. Don't type it either -- write longhand. If
you wander away from it, try nudging yourself back.Write for at least 20 minutes. If no answer presents itself in
that time, don't get too hung up about it. Try it again the next
day or a few days in a row. Sometimes it just takes awhile to
jar things loose. And remember, great ideas have a
tendency to pop up in the most unexpected places, not just
when you're doing something "creative."Michele Pariza Wacek is the author of "Got Ideas? Unleash
Your Creativity and Make More Money." She offers two free
e-zines that help subscribers combine their creativity with
hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become
more successful at attracting new clients, selling products
and services and boosting business. She can be reached
at TheArtistSoul.com.
Innovation Through Concept-Combination
Innovation Through Concept-Combination
There are many creative problem solving techniques used by inventors to come up with new solutions to old problems. For sheer innovation, though, it's hard to beat the technique of concept-combination. Just start combining ideas and things, and voila, you're having fun - and maybe creating something new.Innovation or Inovation?Combining the concept of search engine misspellings with article writing gave me "inovation." What good is that? Well, now that I've used the misspelled word twice, the thousand people every month that type "inovation" into search engines can find this article."Search engine" combined with "people," could lead to the first search engine devoted entirely to information on individuals. "People" plus "advertising" might lead to the first large-scale paid-tatoo-placement campaign. Want a monthly stipend for having a Coke logo on your forehead?Much of the innovation you see in the business world is nothing more than combining existing ideas. For a ton of new business ideas, just combine the concept of "home delivery" with almost anything. Parties, tax preparers, rental swimming pools? Would people pay to have these things delivered?Using Creative Problem Solving TechniquesIn the process of innovation, you need to be careful not to stifle creativity. This means allowing ideas to come without judging them at first. It also means using techniques only as tools, not as a rules. If your mind goes off on a creative tangent - let it.Randomly combining things is a great mental exercise when you're driving or daydreaming. A boat and a bicycle becomes a waterski-bike that glides across the lake using pedal-power. Combining stock-trading and McDonalds has you imagining the selling of stocks and bonds at drive through windows.For more specific problems, you just look for things to combine with what you already have. If your taxi business is struggling, combining "taxi" and "pets" might lead to a successful arrangement with a kennel, to pick up and deliver their client's cats and dogs. "Famous people," might give you the idea to run some sort of tour of the town, like they do in Hollywood.For maximum creativity in your innovation, look far and wide for concepts to combine. "Meditation" and "amusement parks" seem too unrelated to yield interesting combinations, but I'll bet people at a carnival would pay to be put into a meditative trance using the latest brainwave entrainment technologies.Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower enhancement, creative problem solving, and related topics for years. Learn more, and subscribe to his free Mind Power Course, at: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/mind-power.html
The Optimal Mind State
The Optimal Mind State
Let's begin by defining the optimal mind state and the power it will give you to channel your energy toward your desired outcome. The optimal mind state is a quality of attention that leads to the highest level of concentration. It's a balanced state that's neither rigidly tense nor too relaxed. The optimal mind state is a quality of mind that's under your control. And this means that you have the ability to focus your attention on whatever you choose, and maintain that quality of focus in an undistracted way.Your ability to focus your attention in this way means that you'll be better equipped to enhance the quality of your life, work, and relationships. Since the quality of your attention is so fundamental to the quality of your life, you could say that your ability or inability to focus your mind provides a fairly accurate measure of how in control or out of control you are of your life.When you think about an optimal mind state or about optimal states of performance, keep in mind that these are not totally foreign to you. If you think about your past, I'm sure you'll remember some times, and even special moments, that stand out and sparkle in your memory.Pause for a moment, and reflect back on the near or distant past, scanning through your mind, and find a time or times when you knew what it really felt like to be "in focus."Can you remember the times in your life when you felt most fully alive and in the flow? The times when your attention was completely captured by the intensity of the moment and that nothing else dared to intrude? Can you remember the times when you just relaxed into the flow, and felt yourself carried and supported, moving effortlessly and easily through some activity? Or a time when everything just clicked into place, effortlessly, and you didn't have to try to get things to work, they just happened? Can you remember what it felt like to be alive at those magic moments in your life?Special moments are often described as times in your life when you are most in the flow, or in the zone, or at the peak of your performance. It is a deep flowing and an effortless sense of concentration. You have a vivid sense of clarity of your goals and a sense of being on purpose and aligned with what has real value. You even experience a loss of the sense of time, and a lack of self-consciousness. You have a deep sense of connectedness or belonging.These special moments are the ones we all live for, they are the moments that shine like beacons in our lives. They remind us of what we're really looking for, and what we're really capable of doing and being. So then, what are the strategies for having more of these moments of being present, open, connected, and in the flow of life in such a wonderful way?The key to having an optimal mind state is being able to have dynamic or fluid concentration. Learning to focus your mind with dynamic concentration will equip you with a wealth of powerful skills and strategies to carry the power of the optimal mind state into every activity of your life.Learning to live and work in the flow of an optimal mind state means learning how to put your mind to work for you. To accomplish this, you must understand the nature of your mind, and learn how to use and direct the energy and power of your mind more effectively. Though you rely on many wonderful tools and technologies to live your life, ultimately, your mind is your most important and primary tool. With your mind, you envision and design all other tools and direct the way they're used.The first thing you must learn is how to focus your attention. One of the most effective methods for developing your concentration is with deep breathing. When you inhale, focus your attention within yourself, and as you exhale, imagine that you can direct the focused power of your attention in whatever direction you choose. Breathing in and focusing. Breathing in and directing the focused beam of your awareness wherever you choose. Just remember, you're focusing, and directing, focusing, and radiating.Once you have developed your deep breathing, then you need to develop the flexibility of your concentration. The best way to do this is by focusing on your hands. Just zoom in and focus on them, notice their position, and feel all the sensations or vibrations in your hands. Then, intentionally shift your attention and focus on some other interesting object in your visual field. Just let go of focusing on your hands, and focus completely on this visual object. And then, shift your attention back to your hands. Keep shifting your attention back and forth and just listen to the flow of sounds around you as you do this. Then shift your attention to observing the flow of thoughts and images in your mind. Don't try to elaborate, just watch the flow for a moment. Finally, shift your attention to the top of your head, and then to your hands, to the taste in your mouth, and back again to your hands.Practicing these simple exercises on a daily basis will help you to develop a greater flexibility of your attention. You will be to take greater control of where and how you direct your attention. And this will allow you to concentrate in an infinite variety of complex ways and to also perform an infinite array of complex activities. Your flexibility of attention offers you freedom by giving you the power to control the movements of your mind. The greater your mental flexibility is, the greater your power and creativity will be to move your mind through an infinite array of possible moves and functions.The flexibility of your concentration is directly related to the versatility and adaptability of your nervous system. The more rigid and inflexible your mind is, the more rigid and limited your brain function will be. As you develop greater flexibility of your mind and body, you'll find that your brain is able to handle more and more complex situations, and you'll be able to deal with greater challenges without feeling nearly as much stress. When you become a master of concentration you're really building a mind that is "fit for action."The quality of your life is directly related to your ability to shift between different ways of thinking, viewing, and working with the creative challenges that life brings you. The flexibility of your attention will allow you to shift your focus from one person to another, or from thinking about one project to thinking about another. As your resilience and versatility of concentration grows, you'll be able to shift mental gears more easily, and move fluidly, from one way of looking or thinking about a situation, to another point of view. For example, you can focus your attention toward someone in a critical manner or in an appreciative way, and you can shift back and forth between multiple styles of thinking about the same situation.In this complex and fast changing world of today, you're constantly challenged to pay attention to a barrage of continually changing circumstances. Your success in life will depend largely on your ability to interact with all the situations that your are faced with in a creative manner.Regardless of all the outrageous claims of some of the new, flashy mind technology that's appeared on the market, real and lasting mental development, like muscular development, can be achieved only through practice. You simply can't passively take a pill or plug into a machine that's going to strengthen your mental muscles and build your powers of concentration for you.However, you'll find that training the mind is in many ways easier than physical training, since you don't need to wait for a special time or place. You don't need to rely on expensive equipment or exotic paraphernalia. You already have everything that you need to improve the quality of your concentration. Just strengthen your personal commitment to continuously learn to improve the quality of your life, and you'll be on your way to a life of happiness, success, and prosperity.Copyright