Want to significantly increase your personal and professional contributions, value, success (however you define success) and legacy?  Harness and indulge regularly in focused creative thinking!

Annette Moser-Wellman, author of The Five Faces of Genius states “The most valuable resource you bring to your work and to your firm is your creativity.  More than what you get done, more than the role you play, more than your title, more than your ‘output’ – it’s your ideas that matter.”

Many people incorrectly perceive creative thinking to be “original thinking” or “inventing something totally new from thin air.”  Therefore, most of these people perceive that they are not good at creative thinking… and therefore don’t spend sufficient time and energy developing this critical life-changing tool and skill.  In chapter 3 of his book, How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, John Maxwell makes an excellent and very important point.  “Creative thinking is not necessarily original thinking.  Most often, creative thinking is a composite of other thoughts discovered along the way.”  Maxwell points out that, even the greatest artists in history learned from their masters and from others and then developed their own style, incorporating and integrating many other styles to create their own unique style. 

And so it is with creative thinking.  We must take the time to assimilate great ideas, information, concepts, and better and best practices from others.  Then we must use our minds and our ability to THINK… to create new, different or unique programs, produces and services that are valued, wanted and needed by others.  Almost all creative thinking is the convergence of ideas, information, concepts, and better and best practices learned from others.  Creative thinking is purposely building on what we have learned and experienced in the past.

The author discusses characteristics of creative thinkers such as:

• Value ideas
• Explore options
• Embrace ambiguity
• Celebrate the offbeat
• Connect the unconnected
• Don’t fear failure

Maxwell also discusses and provides great examples regarding how to discover the joy of creative thinking:

• Remove creativity killers
• Asking the right questions
• Develop a creative environment
• Spend time with other creative people
• Get out of your box

 Here is the kicker.  You have a different set of experiences, background and learning than any other human being who has ever lived!  Therefore, you are already positioned to leverage your unique experiences, background and learning in order to think creatively in a way no one else has, or ever will be able to do.  Now that is astounding!

Take a couple of minutes to let that statement sink in!  You have a different set of experiences, background and learning than any other human being who has ever lived!  Therefore, you are already positioned to leverage your unique experiences, background and learning in order to think creatively in a way no one else has, or ever will be able to do.   

I agree with Vince Lombardi, NFL Hall of Fame Coach… “The joy is in creating, not maintaining.”  Buy the book.  Spend some quality time in chapter three.  Harness Creative Thinking!

Copyright © 2009 by Dan Nielsen