Dare to Think Big
5. Creative Thoughts and Dreams
First, let’s clear up the common misconception
about what “creative thinking” means.
Despite the lack of logic,
many people still believe
that only jobs related to science, technology,
literature and art are creative.
Most people equate creative thinking
with things like discovering electricity,
finding a polio vaccine,
writing a novel
or inventing color television.
Of course,
these achievements are the result of creative thinking.
Just like every human step forward in the conquest
of space is the result of creative thinking and much more.
Creative thinking is not limited
to certain professions
or to those who are particularly intelligent.
What is the essence of creative thinking?
A family with a low income but figuring out how to get their son
to attend a top university.
That is creative thinking.
A family that transforms the ugliest lot in town into one of the best.
That is creative thinking.
A pastor succeeds in his plan to double the number
of followers in his church.
That is creative thinking.
Find a way to simplify record keeping,
sell to difficult customers,
assign useful and interesting tasks to the kids,
spark a passion for work in employees
or discourage them,
a heated but pointless debate,
all of which are concrete examples
of the creative thinking we see in everyday life.
Creative thinking simply means that you find new,
logical,
and more progressive ways to do something.
When you find new ways to deal
with things more effectively whether at home,
at work or out in the world,
that is the reward for success!
Now, let’s see what we can do to strengthen
and develop our ability to think creatively.
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Step 1: Believe that everything has a solution!
Here’s a basic rule: to do anything,
you must first believe it can be done.
The belief that “discovering a solution to every problem”
will motivate the brain to work and find the right solution.
During training courses,
I often ask students:
“how many of you here believe we can wipe out prisons within the next thirty years?”.
Invariably, they were all confused and bewildered,
wondering if they had heard wrong or not,
even wondering if my mind had a “problem”?
After a pause,
I asked again:
“How many of you here believe
we can wipe out prisons within the next thirty years?”.
By the time I was sure I was taking this topic seriously,
someone was bound to sneer;
“Do you want to release all thieves,
murderers
or rapists so that they can roam the streets freely?
Why do this, then none of us will be safe.
No, we need a prison.”
Then many others chimed in:
• All order would be disturbed if we didn’t have a prison!
• Some people are born with evil!
• We even need to build more prisons.
• Did you read the news about the murder in the newspaper this morning?
And then that group of practitioners went on
to give a bunch of good reasons to prove
that we need to maintain the prison system to keep criminals.
One friend even gave a reason to have a prison
so that the police force and prison guards still had work to do.
I spent nearly ten minutes with that group
of practitioners “proving” why we can’t get rid of the prison,
and then I said,
“Now I’ll explain why in today’s class
I want to discuss on the topic of abolition of prisons.
Each of you has given quite a few reasons
to justify the existence of the prison.
So can you do me a favor?
Take a few minutes to imagine the prisons disappearing, okay?”
After clarifying the spirit of the experiment,
the group agreed:
“Okay, we’ll try it,
but it’s just for fun.”
Then I asked,
“Now let’s assume we can delete it,
clean the prisons.
So what should we start with?”.
At first only a few ideas came up.
A person who hesitates to voice an opinion;
I think crime will be reduced if more youth scouting centers are established.
The group of practitioners
who had been vehemently opposed about ten minutes earlier
gradually became genuinely excited about this fascinating,
challenging topic.
– Let’s work more to eradicate poverty.
Most of the crimes are rooted in low income status.
– Conduct investigations to detect potential criminals,
thereby taking measures wrinkle blocking timely.
– Let’s further improve the effectiveness
of crime prevention communication.
– Training more law enforcement staff,
with many forms of positive reform.
That’s just some of the nearly one hundred ideas practitioners came up
with to accomplish the goal of eliminating prisons.
This proves a principle:
when you have determined that a certain problem needs to be solved,
then you will “strike” to find a solution!
The above test aims to show a single point;
If you think something is impossible,
your mind will work to prove it is indeed impossible.
But when you really believe
that something can be solved,
your mind will work to help figure out the solution.
*****************
Step 2: The mind will open a way if you put your faith.
About two years ago,
a young man asked me
to help him find a more promising job.
At the time he was working as a clerk
for a credit bureau in a postal delivery company,
lamenting that his future would go nowhere if he kept doing it.
We discussed his previous accomplishments,
the work he really wanted to do.
After getting to know him a little more,
I said:
“I really admire his ambition to find a better job,
with higher responsibilities.
But let’s be honest,
if you want to start in a field he loves,
you’ll have to have a college degree.
But he said that he only attended three semesters.
So he should finish his studies,
if he studied during the summer,
it would only take him about two years.
Once you graduate from college,
I believe you will get the job you want at a company you want.”
He replied;
“I know getting a college degree will help me a lot.
But I can’t go back to school to continue my studies.”
Surprised,
I asked; “Impossible? Why so?”
He told;
“Because I am now 24 years old,
and in just a few months,
my wife and I will have a second child.
Family life is quite difficult with the meager salary that I earn.
Therefore,
I have no time to study
because I have to work to earn money.
In fact,
for me,
going back to school is impossible.”
This young man convinced himself
that it was impossible for him to finish college.
I said to him,
“If you think you can’t continue studying,
then it becomes impossible.
But as long
as you believe you can go back to school,
then you will automatically find a way to fit in going to school
and still secure a job now.
Now, I want you to do this.
Make a firm decision to go back to college.
Pay attention to each thought,
let it control your mind.
Think, think a lot,
carefully consider how you should study
and help your family at the same time.
Come back in a few weeks,
and let me know what you think.”
Two weeks later,
the young man came back to me.
“I thought a lot about what you said.
I have decided that I must go back to school.
I don’t look at one side of the problem,
but I’m sure
I’ll find a reasonable solution.”
And he made it.
He applied for a scholarship from a trading company.
With that scholarship,
he does not have
to worry about tuition fees,
books,
materials
and other miscellaneous expenses.
He arranges his work schedule
so that he can still come to class fully.
His enthusiasm and promise
to create a better life have earned him the full support of his wife and family.
Together, they arranged their time
and spent money in the most effective way.
Last month, he received his diploma.
The very next day,
he was accepted as a manager at a large corporation.
That’s right,
if you have a will,
you should!
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Step 3: Believe that everything is solvable!
It is the basis of creative thinking.
Here are some suggestions
to help you develop your ability to think creatively,
with strong convictions:
1. Get rid of the idea of impossible completely in your thoughts and in your vocabulary.
Impossible is a word that leads to failure.
“Thinking” this is not possible will lead to a series of other similar thoughts.
2. Think of a very special job that you’ve wanted
to do for a long time but thought you couldn’t.
Try to list all the reasons that show you can do it.
Many of us often neglect our own dreams,
just because we are so focused on impossible reasons,
when the only condition to do is to focus on possible reasons”!
I recently read an article that states
that the states in the United States are composed of too many counties
(an ancient administrative unit),
most of the boundaries between counties were established many centuries ago,
before the advent of automobiles.
Steam, horse and carriage became the most popular means of transportation.
But today,
with the advent of highways and high-speed cars,
there’s no reason why we can’t combine three or four counties into one.
This will help reduce overlapping services which means
that people pay less taxes but receive better services than before.
The author of the article said he interviewed 30 people
to see their reactions to the idea thought above.
As a result,
not one of the 30 people believed in the feasibility of the idea,
although if implemented,
people would have better run local governments, at less cost.
It is a clear demonstration of traditional thinking.
The minds of people accustomed
to traditional thinking have been paralyzed for a long time.
They give their own excuses:
“People have been doing this for hundreds of years,
it must be right,
we should continue to do it.
Why risk change?”
“Ordinary” people are afraid of change,
so they rarely agree with progress.
Many people have spoken out against the use of cars,
they want to maintain walking
or horseback riding.
Airplanes have also faced similar fierce resistance,
from the idea that humans have no “right”
to encroach on the space reserved for winged species.
Even now, there are still many people
who insist that humans have nothing to do in space.
Dr. Von Braun,
one of the leading rocket scientists,
offers an explanation for this kind of thinking:
“people belong wherever they want to go”.
Around 1900,
a certain manager came up
with a well-known sales management principle
that was even written down in school textbooks.
That principle is stated as follows:
“There is only one best way to sell a product.
It’s about finding the best way and never deviating from it.”
Fortunately for the company run
by this antiquated director,
new leaders promptly replaced him
and saved the company from bankruptcy.
This principle contrasts sharply with the philosophy of Crawford H. Greenewalt,
president of E.I.du Pont de Nemours,
one of America’s largest trading companies.
In a lecture at the University of Colombia, Greenewalt said:
“There are many different ways to solve a problem well.
Everyone who is assigned the same task has their own way
to complete the task well.”
No tree can grow if it is surrounded by ice.
If we let traditional thinking freeze our minds,
creative ideas will not arise.
Please conduct the following test as soon as possible.
Give someone one of the ideas below,
and watch their reaction.
• Privatize the postal system,
which is a government monopoly.
• Presidential elections should be held every 2 or 66 years,
not every 4 years as today.
• Working hours at offices should be adjusted
from 13:00-20:00 instead of 8:00-17:00 as at present.
• The retirement age should be raised to 70.
Whether the above opinions are reasonable or factual,
is not important.
The key point here is how each person will respond to those suggestions.
If after hearing that idea,
he laughs and doesn’t think about it anymore
(95% of people will laugh),
he is probably the type of person who adheres
to the traditional way of thinking.
But if anyone is willing to say,
“That’s an interesting idea.
Tell me more,”
he can be a rich thinker.
Traditional thinking is the first obstacle for those
who want to succeed through creativity.
Traditional thinking freezes your mind,
hinders progress,
and even prevents you from opening up your creativity.
Here are 3 tips to beat thinking freezes:
• Be always welcoming and open to new ideas.
Get rid of thoughts that hold you back like:
“it won’t work”,
“it won’t solve anything”,
“it’s useless”,
or “this is silly”.
A friend of mine who currently holds a senior position in an insurance company
once said “I don’t think I am the smartest in the business”.
But I believe I am the fastest learner in this insurance business.
I always try to listen and absorb all the good ideas
that I have never heard or known.”
• Always try new things.
Try to break all the usual habits.
Try going to a new restaurant,
reading a new book,
going to a theater in a new theater,
making new friends.
Try a different route to work,
take a vacation to a new place,
or try something new and different on the weekends.
If you work in distribution,
try to learn other fields such as manufacturing,
accounting, finance…
this will help you get a more holistic view,
ready for new positions of responsibility. higher duty.
• Always have the will to move forward,
never give up.
Instead of thinking “this is how we’ve always done it,
so let’s just do it,” think,
“why can’t we do better than what we have?”.
Look forward, towards progress,
not backward.
In the past, you used to have to get up at 5:30 a.m.
to deliver milk or deliver newspapers,
that doesn’t mean you now ask the kids to do the same.
Let’s imagine what would happen to Ford Motor Corporation,
if the board of directors allowed themselves to think,
“This year we have built a very strong foundation in the automotive industry day.
There can be no further steps than that.
Therefore, the experimental activities in design,
and armoring must be stopped forever.”
Even a giant corporation like Ford will soon decline if it thinks this way.
Successful and successful business people are always concerned
with the question:
“how to improve service quality?
Is there a way to do better now?
Humans cannot achieve absolute perfection in everything,
whether it is raising a child
or building and assembling a rocket.
That means never and can’t put limits on improvements.
Successful people realize this,
they are always trying to find better ways
(Note that successful people never ask themselves:
“Can I do better?”,
because they know they can.
What they care about is:
“How can we do better?”).
A few months ago,
a former student of mine opened her fourth home appliance store,
just four years after starting her business.
In such a short period of time,
it’s really a miracle for a young girl to have an initial capital of no more than $3500
and face stiff competition from other stores.
Before the opening of the new store,
I went to congratulate her on the great achievement she has achieved.
I asked how she managed to effectively run all three stores
and manage to open a fourth while most other merchants had
to struggle to effectively create all three.
She honestly replied,
“It is true that I worked very hard.
But if I just stay up late and get up early,
I won’t be able to run all four stores like this.
Because most of the traders in this field also work hard.
I think the key
to success lies in the weekly “Improvement Program” in my own right.
I asked,
“The weekly improvement program?
It sounds interesting.
How does that program work?
“Ah, nothing too complicated.
It’s just a plan that makes me work better every week.
To stay on the right track,
I divide my work into four basic elements:
customers, employees,
merchandise,
and sales promotion.
During the work week,
I just jot down points to note and ideas
to improve the business situation.
Every Monday morning I review the ideas
I’ve recorded for the week,
looking for ways to apply those ideas
to my business more effectively.
The weekly improvement program has been effective,
By always asking:
“How to make things better?”.
It’s very rare that the first Monday
of the week doesn’t come up with a new plan
or technique to make the business better and better.
I also learned another thing about successful business
that anyone starting a business should know.”
I asked curiously:
“What is that?”.
“It’s very simple,
when you first start a business,
you don’t know everything,
but that’s not the point.
What you learn is how practice,
when you do it,
really matters.”
Great success comes only to those
who constantly set higher goals for themselves
and their associates,
always looking for new plans to increase work efficiency,
to achieve higher revenue at low costs more,
to do more with less effort.
The leaders are always the ones who believe in me-can-do-better.
General Electric Corporation has set for itself a motto:
“Always improving is our most important product”.
The I-can-do-better philosophy is surprisingly effective.
When you ask yourself,
“How can I do my work better?”,
your creativity kicks in
and a whole host of ways to do things better automatically emerge.
Here are a few daily exercises to help you discover
and harness the power of your I-can-do-better idea.
Every day, before starting to work,
take ten minutes to think,
“How can I work better today?”.
Ask yourself
“What can I do to boost the morale of my employees today?”,
“What special offers should I give my customers?”,
“How can I improve my performance? How?”/
It’s a simple exercise,
but very effective.
Just give it a try,
and you’ll find countless ways to achieve better results.
Almost every time my husband
and I sit and talk with the S couple,
the story will also turn to the topic of “working wives”.
Before getting married,
Ms. S worked for a few years
and was really passionate about her work.
But after getting married,
she took a break at home.
She explains,
“Now I have to take care of two school-age children,
take care of the house,
and have to prepare three meals a day.
I don’t have time to go do more”.
Then one Sunday morning,
the entire S family had a traffic accident.
Ms. S and the children were fortunate to have minor scratches,
but her husband suffered a severe back injury
that left him permanently disabled.
At that time, Ms. S had no choice but to go back
to work to support her family.
A few months after that accident,
we saw her again.
We were surprised to find that she has made a lot of adjustments
to herself to accommodate the larger responsibilities.
She said:
“You know,
six months ago I never thought of a day
when I would work all day
and take care of my family at the same time.
But after the accident happened,
I was determined to find a way
to arrange a reasonable time.
Believe me, I have reached my full potential.
I realize there are times
when I have wasted my time doing a lot of unnecessary things.
Then I also understood,
the children were old enough to be able to help me with the housework,
more importantly,
they really wanted to help their mother.
I’ve found dozens of ways to save time:
less picnics, less movies,
less ‘chatting’ on the phone,
less time-killing in general.”
We can draw a lesson from this story:
Capability is a state of mind.
How great we can be depends on how much we believe in ourselves.
When we dare to believe we can do more,
the mind will generate more creative ideas,
leading the way to better results.
At work, at home or in society,
success comes from a combination of two factors:
do better at what you do
(improve the quality of your work)
and do more of what you do what you are doing
(increased workload).
Doing more and doing better always brings you well-deserved rewards.
Use the following two-step process:
• Be excited about every opportunity
to be able to do more.
When you are asked to take on another task,
it is a compliment for the work you have done so far.
When you dare to accept greater responsibilities,
you make yourself stand out
and worth more than others.
When your neighbors ask you to represent them on an issue,
agree immediately.
Chances are this will help you become a neighborhood leader.
• Next, focus on the question
“How do I get more work done?”
Creative ideas will come to you,
maybe it’s a more thoughtful arrangement
and planning for your current work,
maybe it’s a more time-saving method to handle everyday things,
or It can also be to combine less important tasks at once.
But, allow me to repeat it again,
solutions for you to regulate your work time will soon appear.
So far,
I have always kept in mind that:
If you want the job to go smoothly,
give it to a busy person.
Therefore,
when I have to work on important projects,
I often avoid collaborating with colleagues who are too idle.
From my own valuable experience,
I realize that people
who are too free are often extremely inefficient.
All the brilliant,
successful people I know are constantly busy.
When I start working on something with them,
like working on a project,
I always know for sure that it will be completed successfully.
Through many collaborations,
I have discovered that I can put my trust in busy people,
and free people,
those who have “all the time in the world”
only let me down.
Effective managers often ask the question:
“What can we do to increase output?”.
Similarly, let’s ask ourselves,
“What can I do to improve my performance?”.
At that time, your mind will show many creative ways to do it.
After interviewing hundreds of people
with different jobs and positions,
I discovered one thing:
the more successful people are,
the more likely they are to encourage others
to voice their opinions.
On the contrary,
the more petty and insignificant people are,
the more they like to preach or teach people.
Successful people always listen.
Mediocre people just like to talk.
One more thing to keep in mind:
leaders (in any area of life)
often spend more time taking advice than giving it to others.
Before deciding on an issue,
top leaders often ask their assistants
or employees questions such as:
“How do you feel about this issue?”,
“What suggestions do you have?” no?”,
“in such cases,
what would you do?”,
or “what do you think about that?”.
Look at it this way:
every leader is a decision-making machine.
To start production first,
he needed raw materials.
Before making an innovative decision,
that raw material is taken from many opinions
and suggestions from people around.
Never expect others to give complete solutions for you.
Because that’s not something you need to ask
and hear from them.
The purpose of gathering ideas is to help you formulate your ideas,
thereby making your mind more creative.
Recently,
I participated in a 12-session conference for managers.
One of the most notable activities was a 15-minute talk by a manager,
with the theme:
“How did I solve the most difficult problems in the management process?”.
On the 9th session,
a manager who is a vice president
of a processing company called for help at the conference:
“I am facing the most difficult problem in running the business.
We look forward to your help.”
He briefly recounted his problem
and asked for everyone’s opinion.
To make sure he didn’t miss any ideas,
he had a stenographer write them all down.
At the end of the discussion,
I went to the vice president and was full
of praise for his unique approach.
He smiled and explained:
“Most of the participants in this seminar are experienced managers.
My aim is to gather as many opinions as possible.
From what they say in the discussion,
I will find the best way to solve my problems.”
Note that these managers raise their problems
and listen to the opinions of others.
In doing so, on the one hand he gathers the raw materials
for the decision-making process;
on the other hand, the administrators below
also feel more interested in the discussion,
because they can directly contribute ideas.
Large businesses often invest a lot in customer research.
They study the preferences,
tastes and needs of customers in terms of product quality,
size,
and style.
Listening attentively
to those things will bring many specific ideas about the product,
helping you to consume the goods more easily.
The obtained factors also help manufacturers know how
to advertise to hit the customer’s psychology,
making customers pay more attention to their products.
The process of producing popular products is
to collect as many opinions from people around as possible,
listen to the opinions of target customers,
then design products and plan advertising
so that meet their needs to the fullest extent.
The ears are the tools to help you listen and gather ideas.
Through our ears we will obtain raw materials
from which can be transformed into creative power.
We won’t learn anything from telling stories.
What we can learn,
through asking questions
and listening to answers,
is limitless.
Try a three-step coaching program
to boost your creativity,
through question and answer,
suggestion,
and listening.
• Encourage people to voice their opinions.
In individual or group meetings,
encourage people with gentle prompts such as:
“Tell me about your experience…”,
“What do you think we should do?” about?”,
or “What do you think is the point here?”.
Encourage others to come up with ideas,
and you will reap two benefits:
one, your mind will gather the raw materials needed
for creative ideas later,
the other will be more many new friends.
In order to get people to like you,
there is no easy and quick way to get them to talk to you.
********************
• Check your own opinion with questions.
Let the people around you help “sharpen”,
so that your opinions become more relevant and reasonable.
Use this what-you-think-a-thought approach.
Don’t be dogmatic or guessing.
Do not rush to assert that the new idea you come up
with is completely correct.
Try conducting a small survey first.
See how your colleagues react to the idea.
Then you’ll come up with a much more compelling opinion.
********************
• Pay real attention to what others say.
Listening does not mean sitting silently.
Listening means “channeling” the flow
of other people’s opinions into your mind.
People often just pretend to listen to others,
when they really don’t care at all.
They just wait for the other person to stop and steal the word.
Listen to people’s opinions and rate them.
That’s how you get great ideas.
Currently, more and more leading universities hold regular training
and improvement programs in management skills for senior business executives.
According to the organizers,
the goal is not to help young managers learn the available formulas
to run the business.
In fact,
the greater benefit that managers receive is a forum to present,
exchange and discuss new ideas.
There are even programs
that require administrators
to live together in school dormitories,
thereby encouraging informal exchanges between small groups.
A year ago,
I had lecture for a week-long sales management course in Atlanta,
sponsored by the National Association of Sales Managers.
A few weeks later,
I met a friend who was now a salesperson
for a manager who had taken that course.
My friend said,
“In that course,
you must have taught my sales manager many interesting things,
so now he runs the company much better.”
To my surprise
I asked him to elaborate on the changes he just mentioned.
My friend then mentioned a series of changes,
which is to amend the welfare regime,
to meet the sales staff twice a month
instead of once as before,
which is to change business cards and new office supplies,
what redefining the scope of sales.
I was even more surprised that none of the things my friend
just mentioned were mentioned in the training in our course.
That sales manager,
as such,
did not stop at learning existing tricks,
but instead he learned more valuable things.
It was an incentive to come up
with new ideas that directly benefited his company.
A young man who is currently an accountant
for a paint manufacturing business told me about
a rather successful business of himself.
The interesting thing is that his success comes from the fact
that he knows how to manipulate the opinions of others.
He said: “You know,
I never paid much attention to real estate.
I have worked as an accountant for many years
and just focus on my work.
Then one day a friend of mine,
a real estate professional,
invited me to a luncheon organized
by a city real estate group.
The speaker who spoke that day was an elderly man
who had witnessed the entire development of the city.
His talk was ‘Future Perspectives in Twenty Years’.
He predicts that in the next twenty years,
the urban area will continue to be expanded further
towards agricultural lands in the suburbs.
He also predicts that the demand for high-class farms,
ranging from two to five acres,
is huge,
because they are large enough for businessmen
or celebrities to build swimming pools,
raise horses,
grow gardens
or satisfy their other space-demanding preferences.
The talk got me excited,
he mentioned what I wanted.
A few days later,
I suggested to some friends
to buy a piece of land about five acres.
To my surprise,
they all replied,
‘oh, okay.
This sounds good.”
Then I kept thinking about how to turn that idea into a profit.
The answer suddenly came to me one day,
while I was on my way to work.
Why don’t I buy a farm and divide it into small plots?
Many small pieces of land will certainly be worth more than one large piece of land.
That’s right.
I found an abandoned farm about 50 acres,
20 miles from the city center,
for sale for $8,500.
I decided to buy the land,
pay 1/3 of the money upfront and mortgage the rest.
Then I planted pine trees in the open ground.
Because I once heard an extremely skilled real estate professional say:
‘People often prefer plots of land with lots of trees these days,
the more trees the better’.
I want my potential customers to see that,
in just a few years,
the land they buy will be covered with green pine trees.
I hired a land surveyor to measure
and subdivide that 50-acre piece of land into ten smaller plots,
each 5 acres wide.
Everything is ready for sale.
I found the email addresses of several young entrepreneurs
and planned to send them letters.
In the letter,
I specifically emphasized that with just $3,000,
they can own a large estate,
while with the same amount of money,
they can only buy a very small plot of land in the city never mind.
I also show them that,
if they buy my land,
they will have the opportunity to enjoy a fresh space
and relax in the midst of nature.
Within six weeks,
trading only in the evenings and weekends,
I sold out all ten lots.
Total revenue up to $30,000;
while the total cost,
including land purchase,
advertising,
surveying
and other administrative costs is only $10,400.
The profit I made was $19,600.
“I make a profit
because I know how to listen
and absorb other people’s opinions.
If I hadn’t accepted the invitation to the luncheon of people completely unrelated
to my profession that day,
I would never have been able to come up with such a brilliant plan,
making a quick profit. so dizzy.”
There are many ways to mentally stimulate.
Here are two ways that you can apply regularly in your daily life.
First, join at least one group of co-workers,
meeting with them regularly.
Then you will get useful information
or excitement in your daily work.
Regularly talk and interact
with people who have a forward-thinking desire to succeed.
I used to be many people say,
“At the meeting this afternoon…,
I heard a very good idea”,
or “During the meeting last afternoon,
I suddenly had an idea….”.
Remember,
if the mind is nourished only by its own thoughts,
it will soon become stunted,
weak,
unable to come up with creative ideas.
Encouragement from others is great nourishment for your mind.
Second, join at least one group
that is different from your profession.
Interacting with people in other fields will help you open your mind,
have some more holistic perspectives.
You won’t be able to imagine how frequent contact with
Other People will help you in your day-to-day work.
Ideas are the result of a thought process.
Ideas are only really valuable
when they are properly and thoroughly exploited and used.
Each year an oak tree bears a lot of fruit,
enough to cover a large area.
But out of many seeds,
only a few can grow into a tree.
Most of them were eaten by squirrels,
the rest because the soil below was too barren to grow.
The human mind is like an oak tree.
Very few trees can bear sweet fruit.
Ideas are also very perishable.
If we don’t pay attention,
the squirrels (those with negative thoughts) will destroy them.
Ideas need to be taken care of,
from the moment they sprout
until they turn into possible ways.
Use the following 3 ways to exploit and promote your ideas:
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• Don’t let ideas slip away.
Let’s record them.
Every day,
countless ideas are born,
but then they immediately disappear
because they are not recorded.
Your memory is very poor at storing
and taking care of new ideas.
Always carry a small notebook
or a few cards with you.
Whenever new ideas come up,
write them down.
A friend of mine is often away,
so he always has to carry a clipboard
so he can jot down ideas,
as soon as they come up.
Creative people always have one important thing in mind:
new ideas can appear anytime, anywhere.
Don’t let the idea go away,
or you’ll sabotage the fruits of your own thinking.
Please protect them.
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• Then review the comments you have gathered.
Keep them in a safe place:
a desk drawer or even a shoebox.
Check in with your own ‘concept warehouse’ regularly.
When scrutinizing ideas,
if you find some ideas that,
for some reason,
have no value, delete them.
And if you see any ideas that have the potential to grow,
keep them.
• Let’s ‘plant’ and ‘nurture’ your ideas.
Let’s make it grow.
Think about it.
Contact other relevant comments.
Read any book or document
that is written about an aspect that is close to your idea.
Study every aspect.
Then, when the opportunity is ripe,
apply to help rich for yourself,
your job,
and your future.
When an architect comes up
with a new idea for a new building,
he sketches out preliminary drawings.
When an advertising agent comes up
with a good idea for a TV commercial,
he builds it up in the form of a series of visual cues
that show what the idea will look like when it’s done.
As for writers,
when they come up with an idea for their work,
they will write it down in the draft.
Shape your ideas on paper.
There are 2 reasons you should do this.
First, when ideas have a concrete shape,
it’s easier to see realistically,
see weaknesses,
gaps,
and see things to complete.
And the second reason is,
once you have your idea,
friends, club members or investors.
If they ‘buy’ then your new idea is really valuable.
Otherwise,
it has no value at all.
One summer two life insurance agents contacted me.
Both wanted to convince me
to buy insurance so promised to bring a blueprint of interesting changes.
The first employee gave me a lengthy presentation about what I needed.
But then I quickly got confused
but different concepts like taxes,
options,
social security
and other technical details in the insurance program.
Indeed he was unconvinced
and I refused his services.
The second employee used it in a completely different way.
He made a chart of what to recommend.
I quickly and easily grasped what he was saying,
and I could see it very clearly on paper.
He convinced me.
Turn your ideas into persuasive forms.
Remember that an idea when written down, redrawn,
or charted is many times more persuasive than an idea presented orally.
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USE TOOLS TO HELP YOU TO THINK CREATIVELY
• Believe you can get the job done.
When you believe you can accomplish something,
your mind will find other ways manner to perform.
Believing in a solution will pave the way to the solution.
Remove words like ”can’t”,
”doesn’t work”,
‘can’t do’.
or “it’s no use trying”…out of your mind.
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• The way for traditional thinking to paralyze your mind.
Always be open to new ideas.
Try new things,
new approaches.
Always aim for progress in everything you do
• Ask yourself every day:
“How can I do better?”.
There are no limits to self-improvement.
When you ask yourself,
“How can I do better?”,
wise answers will appear.
Try it, you’ll see the effect in no time!
• Ask yourself:
“how can I do more?”.
The ability to essentially be a mental state.
When you ask yourself the above question you have your mind working
to find quicker
and more direct ways to get it done.
To be successful in business,
it takes a combination of 2 factors:
Do better at what you are doing (increasing the quality of work)
and Do more of what you are doing (increasing the workload).
********************
• Practice asking questions and listening.
Asking and listening will give you the raw materials
to make sound and rational decisions.
Remember: successful people listen attentively,
and mediocre players just like to be new.
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• Open your mind.
Be always excited.
Associate with people who can help you find new ideas,
unique ways of doing things.
Make friends with people of different social status and jobs.
