This is an article about creativity in marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson:

When it comes to marketing, guerrillas become creative in very special ways and they're not the ways that are demonstrated by most marketing.

Guerrillas view creativity in marketing the same way that drivers view steering wheels in their cars. The creativity is supposed to guide the marketing toward its goal of producing profits just as the steering wheel is supposed to guide the car toward its goal of arriving safely at the destination.

It doesn't always work out that way. The bummer is that although there are tragedies on the highway because accidents happen, there are tragedies in marketing and none of them have to happen. Worse yet, they don't even happen by accident People actually plan, sweat over and focus hard upon marketing that is headed from the start directly towards disaster.

Creativity in marketing is very much different from creativity in the arts, although marketing is as eclectic an art form as has ever been devised by humankind. Marketing embraces writing, design, photography, video, special effects, music, dancing, and acting-and yet its purposes are not those of the arts.

Guerrillas view marketing with ten insights into marketing creativity that illuminates the path for them. These insights prevent them from going over the edge, losing their way or wasting their time and money. Why wait? Here are the ten insights:

1. Creativity in marketing should be measured solely by how well it contributes to your overall profitability. If it helps you sell at profit, it is creative and if it doesn't, it's not creative. That makes creativity easy to measure. Awards and compliments have nothing to do with it.
2. Creativity should always be blended with its ability to withstand repetition because purchase decisions are made with the unconscious mind and repetition is the best way to access the unconscious. If your creative marketing idea can get stronger with repetition, you've got a winner.
3. Using creativity in marketing that resorts to humor is like reaching into a bag filled with poisonous snakes. Not only might you get hurt on your very first time reach into the bag, but the more you reach the more it works against you because repetition helps marketing but murders humor.
4. Creativity in marketing not directed towards motivating a purchase is like employing a vampire in your marketing. The vampire sucks attention away from your prime offer, your benefits and your main idea in an inane attempt to be creative at the expense of your profitability.
5. Creativity should be seen as an opportunity not for show business but for sell business. Marketing is business far more than entertainment, and although it may be entertaining, that is not its prime requirement. It exists mainly to create a desire to buy and not mainly to entertain.
6. Creativity is a way to implant your name and not an excuse not to mention your name. Gain awareness and a crucial share of mind by showing and saying your name creatively, helping people remember your name the next time they're in the market for what you sell.
7. Creativity in marketing is the challenge of demonstrating your benefit in a way that people will remember. It is important that your prospects remember your name and equally important to know what makes you special and why they should own what you are offering.
8. Creativity comes not from inspiration or even perspiration. It comes from knowledge. The more knowledge you have, the more creative you can be. You require knowledge of your benefits, prospects, industry, competition, media options, and the Internet-for starters.
 9. Creativity begins not with a headline, graphic idea, special effect or jingle; it begins with an idea. The idea should center around your offer, your competitive advantage or your main benefit-and it should come singing clearly through your marketing in any medium.
 10. Creativity of the highest form in marketing has longevity and improves with age. How long has the Green Giant been ho-ho-ho-ing in his valley? Have United's skies been friendly? Has the Maytag repairman been lonely? Great marketing creativity is both flexible and enduring.

Source: Website: "Guerrilla Marketing"  http://www.gmarketing.com/articles/117-10-ways-to-guerrilla-creativity  

Back in 1972 the Advertising Council (est. 1942) partnered with the United Negro College Fund (est. 1944) and came up with the slogan, "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste." This is particularly true of our aging population.

Retirement brings more leisure but also challenges. Just as the body can atrophy without exercise and nourishment, so can the mind. We need to challenge our minds to keep them as strong as our bodies. Here are a few ways to do that.

For the analytical thinker, there are online debates: 

1) Online Debate Network -  www.onlinedebate.net   Debates on topics such as philosophy, politics, religion, technology and social issues.

2) Controversial Forums -  www.controversialforums.com - Forums and discussions on ethics, morals, addiction, and science

If you're interested in documenting your family history, check out Cyndi's List at www.cyndislist.com/writing 

Or how to write a compelling family history at - www.genealogy.com/products.html  

For online games to increase brain power, try - www.expandyourmind.com/home  

The Franklin Institute Human Brain site features brain training games for memory, attention, focus, and speed at - www.fi.edu/learn/brain 

Another way to stimute the mind on many levels is to learn a new language. A site that links over 100 different free or inexpensively priced language courses is - www.word2word.com/course.html  

Without a healthy brain, the mind slips away from us. Keep doing those mental push-ups!

Does a sense of humor make for a more creative mind? Perhaps. There are certainly many creative and intelligent people who also like to have a good laugh. Consider the following two examples.

American physicist Richard Feynman was a joint recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, for his work on quantum electrodynamics. He is credited with the concept and early exploration of quantum computing. He also had a very well developed sense of humor.

Here is how he is described in Wikipedia: "As well as being an inspirational lecturer, bongo player, notorious practical joker, and decipherer of Maya hieroglyphs, Richard Feynman was regarded as an eccentric and a free spirit. He liked to pursue multiple seemingly independent paths, such as biology, art, percussion, and lock picking." An unusual character, to say the least.

Another example of the combination of a very creative mind with a sense of humor is found in Albert Einstein. You may have seen one of the more famous photos of him, in which he is sticking his tongue out at the photographer. Einstein was known to be very playful and full of laughter.

But is this just coincidence? We are all a collection of character traits after all. Is it possible that Einstein and Feynman just happen to have a well-developed sense of humor - which had no relation to the creative work which they did? Maybe. But there is a more likely explanation.

Sense Of Humor And Creativity

According to brain researchers, three parts of the brain light up when you laugh at a joke. There is the thinking part that helps you get the joke, the area that controls the movements of your muscles and an emotional area that makes you feel good. What makes something funny isn't as clearly understood, but humor researcher (what a job!) John Morreall believes laughter is a response to incongruities or stories that disobey conventional expectations.

Does that sound familiar? Stories that disobey conventional expectations? That is the essence of lateral thinking. Consider that while other mathematicians and physicists were more conventional, Einstein was imagining himself riding on a beam of light. That's a whole different approach - closer to the kind of thinking that makes humor possible than to the usual analytical thinking of mathematicians and physicists.

Of course a correlation doesn't prove causation. In other words, Feynman's love of practical jokes and Einstein's readiness to play and laugh don't necessarily cause more creativity. Instead, it is possible that their creative genius and there sense of humor are both caused (at least in part) by a different way of thinking.

If this different way of thinking explains the correlation between humor and intellectual creativity, then developing your sense of humor wouldn't necessarily help you to become more creative (although you might be happier). To do that, you would have to change the deeper patterns of thought. But then, what if humor did just that?

Remember that humor lights up three parts of the brain, starting with the thinking part that helps you get the joke. Consider a one-liner, like "If at first you don't succeed, skydiving may not be for you." A joke like this starts out with a traditional saying ("If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."), and then surprises you. It disobeys conventional expectations. It goes in an unexpected direction.

What did the fish say when he ran into a concrete wall? - "Dam"

To "get it," your mind must go in an unexpected direction as well. In other words, creating or understanding humor is essentially a process, and a practice of lateral thinking. (Lateral thinking is a way of attacking problems from other angles, as opposed to the more traditional linear and logical ways. ) Doesn't it seem likely that if you exercise your mind in this way, you will also have more ability to think "outside the box" - to be more creative in your problem solving?

Two eggs are in a frying pan and one says to the other, "Gosh it's getting hot in here." The other one screams, "Oh my god, it's a talking egg!"

Many people have observed that the relaxation which often comes with laughter results in greater productivity. This makes sense. It is easier to do good work, and have good ideas when you are less stressed. But beyond that, I think the research will eventually show that developing one's sense of humor specifically develops a kind of thinking that leads to greater creativity.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For more on How To Increase Brain Power, and to get the Brain Power Newsletter and other free gifts, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Gillman

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

- Albert Einstein, US (German-born) physicist (1878-1955)

By: Bill Breen

A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who's really creative in your company.

Creativity.

These days, there's hardly a mission statement that doesn't herald it, or a CEO who doesn't laud it. And yet despite all of the attention that business creativity has won over the past few years, maddeningly little is known about day-to-day innovation in the workplace. Where do breakthrough ideas come from? What kind of work environment allows them to flourish? What can leaders do to sustain the stimulants to creativity -- and break through the barriers?

Teresa Amabile has been grappling with those questions for nearly 30 years. Amabile, who heads the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School and is the only tenured professor at a top B-school to devote her entire research program to the study of creativity, is one of the country's foremost explorers of business innovation.

Eight years ago, Amabile took her research to a daring new level. Working with a team of PhDs, graduate students, and managers from various companies, she collected nearly 12,000 daily journal entries from 238 people working on creative projects in seven companies in the consumer products, high-tech, and chemical industries. She didn't tell the study participants that she was focusing on creativity. She simply asked them, in a daily email, about their work and their work environment as they experienced it that day. She then coded the emails for creativity by looking for moments when people struggled with a problem or came up with a new idea.

"The diary study was designed to look at creativity in the wild," she says. "We wanted to crawl inside people's heads and understand the features of their work environment as well as the experiences and thought processes that lead to creative breakthroughs."

Amabile and her team are still combing through the results. But this groundbreaking study is already overturning some long-held beliefs about innovation in the workplace. In an interview with Fast Company, she busted six cherished myths about creativity. (If you want to quash creativity in your organization, just continue to embrace them.) Here they are, in her own words.

Read more:  http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/89/creativity.html

"The Other Innovation Guru at Harvard Business School"

http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/2009/10/other-innovation-gur...  

"Creative Schooling" (Website: North Caroline Department of Cultural Resources)

http://mediacentered.edublogs.org/2009/12/08/creative-schooling/  

Nur is a student in Malaysia. She writes: 

"i'm NUR NADEERA BT.MOHD AMIN..People call me dyera..Foundation in creative multimedia(MMU)..hope this blog will have more followers so that i can share my art work :)" 

http://dyerarmani.blogspot.com/2010/10/these-are-some-of-creative-things.html

Here is some of her work:

Nur's career mind-map:

A different kind of shopping bag

Morita Therapy is a purpose-centered, response oriented therapy from Japan, created in the 1930s by Dr. Shoma Morita.

Background

Dr Shoma Morita (1874-1938) was a psychiatrist and department chair at Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo. Morita's personal training in Zen Buddhism influenced his teachings, yet Morita therapy is not a Zen practice.

Morita formulated his psychotherapeutic principles in Japan as a program for the treatment of neurotic tendencies at the same time that attention in Europe was given to Dr. Sigmund Freud's discovery of the unconscious and Carl Jung's development of archetypes.

Underlying philosophy

Morita Therapy directs one's attention receptively to what reality brings in each moment. Simple acceptance of what is, allows for active responding to what needs doing. Most therapies strive to reduce symptoms. Morita therapy, however, aims at building character to enable one to take action responsively in life regardless of symptoms, natural fears, and wishes. Character is determined by behavior, by what one does. Dogmatic patterns of collapse are replaced with the flexibility to call upon courage and empowerment. Decisions become grounded in purpose rather than influenced by the fluid flow of feelings.

In Morita Therapy, character is developed by cultivating mindfulness, knowing what is controllable and what is not controllable, and seeing what is so without attachment to expectations. Knowing what one is doing, knowing what the situation is requiring, and knowing the relationship between the two are quintessential to self-validation, effective living, and personal fulfillment. Character is developed as one moves from being feeling-centered to being purpose-centered. A feeling-centered person attends to feelings to such an extent that the concern for self-protection reigns over decisions and perceptions. Given the human condition, change, pain, and pleasure are natural experiences. Indeed, emotions are a rich type of experience and a valuable source of information. Feelings are acknowledged even when what is to be done requires not acting on them. Constructive action is no longer put on hold in order to process or cope with symptoms or feelings. The individual can focus on the full scope of the present moment as the guide for determining what needs to be done.

Trying to control the emotional self willfully by manipulative attempts is like trying to choose a number on a thrown die or to push back the water of the Kamo River upstream. Certainly, they end up aggravating their agony and feeling unbearable pain because of their failure in manipulating the emotions.

—Shoma Morita, M.D.^{[citation needed]}

Ultimately, the successful student of Morita therapy learns to accept the internal fluctuations of thoughts and feelings and ground his behavior in reality and the purpose of the moment. Cure is not defined by the alleviation of discomfort or the attainment of some ideal feeling state (which the philosophy of this approach opposes), but by taking constructive action in one’s life which helps one to live a full and meaningful existence and not be ruled by one’s emotional state.

An Introduction to Morita Therapy Methods

Background

As noted above, “Morita Therapy” refers to a psychological treatment system that was developed by the Japanese psychiatrist Shoma Morita. His groundbreaking work was first published in Japan in 1928. Like Sigmund Freud’s works which were developed for the Austrian culture in an earlier time, pure Morita Therapy had its greatest applications to a Japanese culture almost one hundred years ago.

People from different times and cultures actually do think differently. Human thought processes are not all universal within our species, but vary significantly depending upon by whom we are raised, and where we grow up and live. Having said that, there are aspects of our humanity that do not change. People in 1920’s Japan had similar emotional responses to stress and life’s challenges as do modern-day Europeans. The response of individuals from different times and cultures (and hence their treatment) must adapt to fit into the context of their daily lives.

Methods

Morita Therapy Methods (MTM) brought Morita’s original thinking to the west and adapted it to modern western minds and culture. For example, the original Morita treatment process has the patient spend their first week of treatment isolated in a room without any outside stimulation—no books, no television, no therapy other than being alone with their own thoughts. Modern-day benefits providers are unlikely to see the ancient wisdom of paying for people who are attempting to learn to better face the challenges of life, to spend a week alone sitting in a hospital bed. Obviously, modifications to the original process that still remained consistent with the valuable, proven, underlying principles needed to be developed; the MTM approach is the culmination of that work.

Shinkeishitsu

The original Morita Therapy was developed for what was referred to back then as “anxiety-based disorders”. Just as civilizations change through time, medical and psychological cultures evolve, and so do our diagnostic definitions. What Dr. Morita defined back then as shinkeishitsu (an anxiety-based disorder), today has a much broader definition that considers not just anxiety, but life situations in which modern westerners find themselves. Most of us at one time or another are living in a world of shinkeishitsu, where we become lost in a quagmire of stress, pain (physical, psychological, or both) and the aftermath of trauma (physical, psychological or both).

The shinkeishitsu phenomenon is a quagmire just like quicksand. Sometimes we can escape its clutches alone and quickly. Other times we sink if someone doesn’t extend a rescuing lifeline. Depending on the situation, the depth of the quicksand, and the strength of the sinking person at that time, not just any life line will serve the purpose of facilitating the rescue.

Structure

MTM is structured for the person who needs a guide for self-rescue from the pain that life gives all of us at times. It is not a cure-all for everyone. It is not easy. Emancipation requires personal commitment and action. MTM claims to help patients find, and use, a well of inner strength deep within themselves that enables them to make powerful changes in their life.

MTM is an amalgamation of Eastern treatment methods applied to the Western mind. The developers have succeeded^{[citation needed]} in making Zen-based treatment methods palatable to, and understandable by, modern people of the western world.

MTM is roughly divided into four basic areas of treatment, each a clinically proven^{[citation needed]} version of Morita’s original treatment methods. In addition to the four basic areas of treatment, adjunct areas of MTM designed to the patient’s well-being are also covered below.

The four areas of treatment

Phase one is the “rest phase”. It is a period of learning to separate ourselves from the minute-by-minute barrage of the constant assault on our senses and thought processes by a loud and intrusive world. We learn to turn off the television, close the door temporarily to demanding work, well-meaning friends, and yes, even family. We use the solitude to meditate with simple, non-religious based meditation. Through this simple meditation we learn to re-familiarize ourselves with the warm and healing peace that has been beaten out of us by work stress, the media, psychological and physical pain. Yes, you can have profound meditation even if experiencing profound pain.

Phase two introduces us to “light and monotonous work that is conducted in silence”. One of the keystones of this stage of self-treatment is journal writing. Our thoughts and feelings come to us in indistinguishable waves and flood our minds. Writing in our personal journals helps us learn to separate our thoughts from our feelings and define their different effects on our lives. In this phase we also go outside… outside of ourselves and out of the house and begin a reconnection with nature. We leave the solitude of Phase one and go out of doors. We breathe the fresh air and feel the sun on our faces. We walk. We walk and breathe. We walk, breathe and reconnect with the world of nature that has been shut out of our lives by pain and stagnation for weeks, months, even years. We move from darkness to light in both figurative and literal ways.

Phase three is one of more strenuous work. Dr. Morita had his patients engage in hard physical work outdoors. This is what we call the “chopping wood” phase. For people with physical injuries, it is the phase where you move from passive treatment given to you by others (i.e. chiropractic, massage and pain medicine) to learning to begin healing yourself though a stretch and strength oriented physical therapy program. MTM incorporates moving from being treated to learning self-treatment in both the physical and psychological realms. It is hard, it hurts, and it will be a challenge to persevere in the beginning, but if you are ever going to move from being the treated victim to being the recovering survivor this step must occur.

Depending upon the depth and nature of injury (of spirit, mind or body), Phase three can be short or long. For some it becomes a part of daily life, forever. Some pain resolves, some pain needs to be managed. The beneficial aspect of this phase of treatment is that it also encourages the engagement of what we now understand is the right side of the brain. The recovering survivor is encouraged to spend time in creating art—writing, painting, wood carving—whatever puts them into contact with the creative aspects of their humanity.

Phase four is when Morita would send patients outside the hospital setting. They would apply what they had learned in the first three phases and use it to help them with the challenge of reintegration into the non-treatment world. This is the phase where the patient learns to integrate a new lifestyle of meditation, physical activity, clearer thinking, more ordered living, and a renewed relationship with the natural world. They are not returning to their former lifestyle. Instead, they will integrate their “new self” into the imposed set of changes brought about by their trauma, pain and limitations. As re-integration into the world outside of treatment brings with it some unanticipated challenges, the survivor returns to the materials they studied and perhaps even the counsel of their teacher to find coping skills that will allow them to progress further and further on the journey of recovery.

External links

• David Reynolds' Adaptation of Morita Therapy
• Morita Therapy -- The ToDo Institute
• The Morita School of Japanese Psychology

by VINAY MEMON, Columnist, Toronto Star 

The sound meter in my hand reads 97.6 decibels.

A farm tractor, a newspaper press, a band saw, a howler mon­key, a motorcycle, a train whistle. These are a few things known to be this loud. But none of them are present in my living room on Day 3 of the experiment

''It's my turn!" screams Ava, one of my 4-year-old daughters, as my Scosche SPL1000 goes haywire, the digital numbers cycling madly between 85 and 95 decibels.

"Ava did it last time!" shouts her sister Charlotte, sustaining 87 decibels and hitting 97.6 with a piercing, "Myyyy Turnnn!"

A few minutes ago, the SPL1000 was calm and steady as the girls watched Cinderella. The minimum sound level captured was 47.5 and the maximum 62.2, which is just slightly louder than "normal speech."

But as the closing credits rolled, without warning, the girls scrambled from the couch like firefight­ers on a five-alarm call. They rushed for the DVD player, jostled for position, argued about who gets to push the eject button.

Now my living room has gone from ''normal speech" to ''food processor." For a few seconds, it's even "revving racing car engine" though it never gets to "thunder clap."

Before the kids were born, sound experiments were not necessary. My wife and I lived in the 30-65 decibel range. Sure, there were dinner parties and the occasional stubbed toe. But for the most part, we were aurally ensconced be­tween "distant nightingale" and "dishwasher rinse cycle."

We were on the same wavelength, which is to say, a safe wavelength. But over the past four years, weve been at the grim mercy of sonic inflation.

If I had to guess, the ambient baseline in our home has increased by 20 decibels. The ''babbling brook" has given way to a "passing diesel truck." For every 10 minutes of "rustling leaves" there is 15 min­utes of "ringing telephone," 15 minutes of "vacuum cleaner" and 5 minutes of "air raid siren."

On Day 1 of the experiment, my eardrums and the SPL1000 sus­tained a prolonged assault during a play date with another set of twins. The combination of cymbals, shrieks of joy, spontaneous rain dances on the hardwood, maracas and a bouncy musical zebra made it "pneumatic hammer" time.

 On Day 2, a dispute over a plastic triceratops registered 95.2 deci­bels. A misunderstanding over leftover St Patrick's Day cupcakes - I thought my wife said it was okay for them to have one before dinner, which now clearly makes no sense, so my fault - hovered in the high 80s but hit 98.2 when the baked goods were placed atop the refrigerator and two plates of broccoli appeared.

That's one finding of my experi­ment: it's not just that children are loud - a fact known to anyone who has taken a long-haul flight or ambled past a Toys'R' Us on a Sunday afternoon - it's that chil­dren are unpredictably loud.

A 4-year-old is impulsive, giddy, demanding, histrionic, tactile and curious abut the world. There are no unspoken thoughts, only charming soliloquies bookended between moments of acute joy and acute frustration.

The default punctuation mark is the triple exclamation point.

"Come here and look at this pine cone!!! It's beautiful!!!" (88.9 deci­bels). "I can't put these boots on my Polly Pocket!!! Help me!!!" (92.3 decibels). Even when children are quiet, they demand noise. (On Day 4, as we drove home listening to "Wavin' Flag" at a volume deemed suitable by the safety-seat pas­sengers, the SPL1000 registered 102.8 decibels. The interior of our minivan was now "a 747 preparing for landing.'')

What all of this all means, I can't be sure. It's tough to think when your ears are ringing. But near the end of my experiment, I arrived at a conclusion: It may not always be pleasant, but these howler mon­keys have filled our home with the sound of life at its fullest.

On Day 6, during bath time, the SPL1000 suddenly registered 92.3. The girls were dumping cups of water over their heads and laugh­ingfor no apparent reason.

"What's so funny?" I asked, which only brought more splashing and high-decibel hooting.

The silence we sometimes miss was never this golden.  

* * *

Source: TORONTO STAR, Living Section, March 25, 2011  vmenon@thestar.ca

By Alan Graner

The following is from A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, & Warrior to Be More Creative by Roger von Oech (1986). It’s available from Amazon.com and other bookstores.

Disclosure: we are not affiliated with any bookstores and don’t get a dime for recommending books. We should. But we don’t.

**************

The four roles

Things are changing quickly. What worked last week may not be the best way to solve today’s problems or take advantage of next week’s opportunities.

The hallmark of creative people is their mental flexibility. Creative people are able to shift in and out of different types of thinking depending on the needs of the situation at hand. From this I’ve concluded that the creative process consists of our adopting four main roles, each of which embodies a different type of thinking: Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior.

Explorer

The creative thinker needs the raw materials from which new ideas are made: facts, concepts, experiences, knowledge, feelings and whatever else you can find. You can look for these in the same old places, but you’re much more likely to find something original if you venture off the beaten path.

Artist

The ideas you gather may form a pattern, but if you want something new and different, you’ll have to give them a twist or two. The artist experiments with a variety of approaches. You follow your intuition, rearrange, ask what-if questions and look for hidden analogies. You may even break the rules or create your own. After all of this, you come up with a new idea.

Judge

During your evaluation you critically weigh the evidence. You look for drawbacks in the idea and wonder if the timing is right. You run risk analyses, question your assumptions, and listen to your gut. Ultimately you make a decision.

Warrior

You implement your idea. If you want your idea to succeed, you’ll have to take the offensive; take your idea into battle. You develop your strategy and commit yourself to reaching your objective. You may have to overcome excuses, idea killers, temporary setbacks and other obstacles.

Usually there’s a fair amount of shifting back and forth between the roles. There’s no one right way to be creative.

The maxim “use it or lose it” applies as much to creative thinking as it does to any other activity.

Equally important to knowing your creative roles is knowing when to use them—timing is paramount. You need to pay attention to the type of thinking required for each situation and then shift into it.

Some people have trouble shifting because they get stuck in a particular role. To achieve high performance, develop your creative roles and make sure that you use them at the appropriate time.

How do you keep your creativity flexible?

Image: Anonymous

Alan Graner is Chief Creative Officer at Daly-Swartz Public Relations. He needs a kick in the pants just to wake up. If you’re looking for a creative solution to your PR problems, email Jeff jeffreyswartz@dsprel.com

Source: http://dsprel.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/the-four-roles-of-the-creative-process/ 

Daly-Swartz PR Marcom Digest
October 14, 2010

by Jan Marie Dore

To stay competitive in the world of work today, you must use your imagination and creativity. These innate gifts have the potential to give us an edge in business and in life, yet we are often blocked and fail to accomplish the projects we intend to.

Creativity is one of the most essential of human talents. You have all the creativity you need to accomplish your goals. Your creative ideas provide you with tools for meeting challenges and coping with adversity.

Creativity means, by definition, change. There is often strong resistance to change, so it is natural that barriers would be in our way. There are inner and outer obstacles eclipsing your creative process and projects. How do you unblock the creativity within you? Here are ten specific obstacles to creative success in business, and some ideas to overcome them.

~ROADBLOCK 1 – Lack of Vision
Many people think too small about what they can potentially accomplish. They stay inside the comfort zone of what they imagine is currently possible for them. They fail to use their imagination to think bigger about possibilities, and don’t expect a positive outcome.

Solution
Think Big! Sharpen your visionary skills. Take time to dream, to visualize a positive outcome, and to develop a strong compelling vision for what you want to create. Write our your vision as if it were happening right now in the present, and get in touch with the emotions and sensations you feel once you imagine your vision accomplished. Make a mind-map to capture all your big ideas. Create a ‘Vision Canvas’ – a collage that represents your vision - by placing images and words on paper.

~ROADBLOCK 2 – Lack of Inspiration
Many people say they are waiting for inspiration before they start a creative project. It’s often a long wait!

Solution
Surround yourself with inspiration. Be open to the inspiration that is all around you, moment to moment. Savor everyday wonders, and carry a journal with you to capture random ideas. Go places that spark your imagination, for example, art galleries, museums, or live theatre, music or dance events. If you’re stuck looking for a solution, go do something completely different. When Einstein got stuck on a difficult concept, he would often go into another room to play his violin. A solution would often come to mind when he returned to the problem. Exercising his mind in a different way boosted his creativity for the work he was doing.

~ROADBLOCK 3 - Procrastination
Procrastination, the habit of putting tasks off to the last possible minute, can be a major problem in business. Missed opportunities, frenzied work hours, stress, overwhelm, resentment, and guilt are just some of the symptoms.

Solution
Thinking of a task as one big whole that you have to complete will virtually ensure that you put it off. Break your projects into small tasks, and take action on those. Thinking that you absolutely have to do something is a major reason for procrastination, so give yourself permission to not do anything you really don’t want to do. Even though there may be serious consequences, you are always free to choose. Procrastination becomes less likely on tasks that you openly and freely choose to undertake.

~ROADBLOCK 4 – Over-committed & Overwhelmed 
Overwhelm can be described having too much to do, or perceiving that what you have to do is too much. Distractions rob us of the productive use of time and contribute to the feeling of overwhelm. Saying yes to every request made of you and taking on too many responsibilities can quickly lead to burnout.

Solution
Creativity needs time and space to flourish. Slow down and reduce your commitments. Learn to say no. Make a short list of what is important to you that you will say yes to, and say no to everything else. Give your mind time to wander.

~ROADBLOCK 5 - Clutter
Clutter is often a symptom of unfinished business, indecision, procrastination, and disorganization. It represents the past. Creativity is in the future.

Solution
Maintain an inspiring, uncluttered environment that is supportive of your work. Create a space for your creative work separate from where you pay your bills and have responsibilities so that your creative imagination can flourish.

~ROADBLOCK 6 – Unbalanced Thinking
Men and women create differently. Men typically create in a linear, step by step fashion, while women create in a more holistic, spiral fashion. Men tend to start with A and end at Z, while women see the whole picture all at once, then sort out the details in a random order.

Solution
Become aware of your preferred style of thinking and creating. Balance linear thinking with holistic thinking. Balance imagination with strategy. Balance left brain thinking with right brain activities.

~ROADBLOCK 7 – Confusion and Indecision
Too many ideas, so little time! Often we have competing ideas or goals. Many times, we have conflicting intentions which tend to cancel each other out – for example, wanting to have more business while also wanting more free time. The effect is that nothing happens, and we can’t decide which one to choose.

Solution
Focus your intent and energize your will to make clear choices, prioritize, and get into action. Train your mind and wise inner self to find the answers you already have inside. Trust your intuition; it will always lead you to the next right action. Prioritize, choose, act.

~ROADBLOCK 8 - Isolation
Creative people are often alone with their vision and ideas. Creativity can’t exist in a vacuum.

Solution
When you feel alone on your path, remember that you can share your journey. Support from others is key for brainstorming, inspiration, encouragement, and accountability. Share your ideas with positive people. Connecting with other creative souls jump starts your creativity faster than anything else.

~ROADBLOCK 9 – Negative Mind Chatter
Doubts, fears, anxieties, worries, and other negative thoughts hinder the creative mind.

Solution
There are many strategies to get unstuck when the inner critic comes knocking on your door. Befriend this negative voice in your mind. Replace negative or unconscious thoughts through practices designed to tap your creative forces. Try to release self-judgment or criticism while in creative moments. Give yourself permission to fail. Shift your thinking from ‘I’m not a creative person’ to ‘I bring creativity and imagination to everything I do’.

~ROADBLOCK 10 - No Clear Plan of Action
Vague thinking or no thought given to a plan or project timeline or to the small goals that could bring you closer to your big creative goal will stop creative action in its tracks.

Solution
Create a simple plan of action, give yourself a deadline, and hold your self accountable to the commitments you make to yourself.

You can learn to rely on your creativity to improve the quality of your life and business. Taking action on any one of the above items will get you on the path to completing the things that really matter to you and to finishing your most meaningful, creative projects.

Copyright © 2005 Jan Marie Dore. All Rights Reserved. Newsletter publishers are most welcome to reprint this article provided it is published in its entirety, without change, including contact and copyright information. Please send an email to admin@janmariedore.com advising the ezine’s name & URL, and the date the article appeared. _______________________

Jan Marie Dore, Master Certified Coach, Speaker, and Writer, publishes articles like this one in her free ezine designed to inspire, challenge, and support you in creating a life that is meaningful, authentic, and a joy to wake up to every day. You can sign up for your own subscription by sending a blank email to subscribe@janmariedore.com . For free resources and programs on living a purposeful life, visit Jan Marie's website: www.janmariedore.com 
 

Always do whatever's next.

At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.

Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.

Electricity is really just organized lightning.

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.

I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.

I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer's disease where they slowly began to recover other people's lost memories.

I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam.

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.

I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.

_____________________________________________

BIO - George Carlin

born
May 12, 1937 in New York, New York, The United States

died
June 22, 2008

gender
male

website
http://www.georgecarlin.com/

genre
Biographies & Memoirs, Nonfiction, Humor

influences
Lenny Bruce

George Denis Patrick Carlin was a Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and philosopher.

Carlin was especially noted for his political and black humor and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public airwaves.

Carlin's mid-2000s stand-up routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often took on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture.
...moreGeorge Denis Patrick Carlin was a Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and philosopher.

Carlin was especially noted for his political and black humor and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public airwaves.

Carlin's mid-2000s stand-up routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often took on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture.

A disciple of Lenny Bruce, he placed second on the Comedy Central cable television network list of the 10 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live. 

Published on 3/31/2009 under Cool Objects - by Gracie Murano - 587,977 views

Talk about a cool bed. Designed by Dutchman Janjaap Ruijssenaars, this magnetic floating bed has enough magnets to keep 900 kilograms (1,984 pounds) floating in the air. To make sure that the bed doesn't float away because of hard wind or weird movements, it's tethered to the walls by four cables. Technically, the magnetic floating bed is for sale, but at a price of 1.2 million euros ($1.53 million), you're not likely to find it in your local mattress store.

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