James Smith’s Info Serv

Author: Robert Palmer

The first time Doug Wallace, author of the bestselling memoir, Everything Will Be All Right, saw a library; he was awed by the presence of thousands of books stacked floor to ceiling. His young mind couldn’t grasp the concept of one person reading all those books, yet he couldn’t stop thinking about that possibility. Getting his hands on a book was an impossible challenge during those early years.

He was born, the third oldest of eight children, into an impoverished Tennessee family—a family that had been locked in the stranglehold of poverty for generations.

Lacking access to books can affect your life in so many ways. The first research assignment, his third grade teacher asked the class to write a report on the galaxy. “What’s a galaxy?” Wallace asked. The teacher replied, “Do your research.”

For two weeks he worried himself sick over the report. The two room school didn’t have a library. This wasn’t a subject that had been discussed in the classroom. So, he asked his mother about the galaxy—no go. Ditto for his father. His older brother and sister knew nothing about it either.
On the day the report was due, he turned in a blank page except for the following words, “I can’t find anything.”

Predictably, the teacher gave the grade of an “F.” Then, she sent him to the principal’s office. “There was an article in Time Magazine recently. If nothing else, you could have looked at that,” admonished the principal.
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Copyright (c) 2009 Michael A Jones

Creative thinking activity comes naturally to a brain that is alive and energized. As explained below, your five senses provide an amazing set of tools to get your brain out of a rut and into productive, creative thinking territory.

Aerobic exercises get life-sustaining oxygen into parts of the body often starved. Aerobics for your senses have the same effect, enlivening them, waking them up, which in turn leads to a higher level of creative thinking activity.

Our five senses of taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing bombard the brain every second with millions of pieces of information. To bystanders, the children may be making a terrible din, but the mother is hardly aware of it until a friend says: “How do you put up with it!” The lesson? We quickly get accustomed to our environment so it becomes the norm, which means we fail to take notice of detail and the seeds of creative ideas.

The Challenge

So here is our challenge - to get the senses to break out of the box so we start noticing things again.

Here is an “aerobic brain exercise” to get creative “oxygen” to those senses:

Select in your mind something familiar. To illustrate what we mean we will choose a simple common object, A BOOK. Think of a familiar book you enjoy reading. Now close your eyes and wrap your 5 senses around this object in your imagination and really live the experience.
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Want to change your results this year? Want to reach a new goal? Want to get a promotion, be healthier or happier? Want to improve your work performance?

Give me 2 minutes to read this article and 30 minutes a day and you can achieve any of those things - guaranteed.

You read it right; you can change your life in just thirty minutes a day. What you do in those thirty minutes depends on what you want to achieve, but let me give you ten suggested ways to spend those 30 minutes . . .

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How many times have you caught yourself saying that there could be no other solution to a problem - and that that problem leads to a dead end? How many times have you felt stumped knowing that the problem laying before you is one you cannot solve. No leads. No options. No solutions.

But rejoice! There might be some hope yet!
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Many great things have started as a simple, creative idea. Consider donating some of your best ideas to help others. The more creative you are, the more ideas you will be able to create. You can be creative even if you don’t think you are.

I have known many people who were scared to use a computer for the first few times. However, after diving into it they became more comfortable. They were willing to take a risk and make some mistakes. The result was an ability to learn and do things they would never be able to do without the use of a computer.

Being creative and thinking up world-changing ideas occurs in the same way. Everyone can be creative but they have to be willing to start. The creative process will then become more natural over time.

Try the following tips to help you on your journey to be more creative:

1. Record your ideas on whatever is comfortable and convenient at the moment. What is important is that you record your ideas. In the past, I have forgotten ideas that I thought of when I was on a walk. Now I carry a digital recorder with me on those walks. At other times I use my computer, notepad or journal. Choose what will work best for you and make sure you have a way to record your ideas at all times. You never know when an important idea will surface.

2. Don’t limit yourself to ideas that seem possible. Capture all of your ideas. Even those that seem impossible to implement are important for a couple of reasons. First, what seems impossible to you may not be impossible sometime in the future or for someone else. Second, impossible ideas encourage further creative ideas that might be more likely to be implemented.

3. Change your scenery or location. A change in scenery can stimulate the creativity inside you. A change might be as simple as looking out a window. You can also visit someplace new like a park, beach, or mall. The new environment can foster new ideas.

4. Read on many topics. It is amazing how many things in a totally unrelated subject can prompt new ideas. By broadening your knowledge into more areas, you make your creativity potential grow.

5. Go for a walk. Some of my best ideas have happened when I was on a walk. This applies to any form of moderate exercise. I have heard of others who have written articles and speeches while walking or jogging.

6. Focus in 10-15 minute increments. It does not take a significant amount of time to brainstorm some potential ideas. In fact, brainstorming works best when done for short periods of time. Concentrate for a few minutes on generating as many ideas to address a specific area or problem. Then capture anything that comes to mind throughout the rest of the day (see tip #1). You will have several ideas for consideration for little investment of time. One of those could become something tremendous for helping others.

7. Think big. What question are you asking to prompt your ideas? The larger the question, the larger the impact those ideas may have on the world. You can start by addressing smaller problems, but don’t limit yourself to those. You have unique experiences, knowledge and talents that should be applied to helping others on a grand scale as well.

Follow these tips and you will be on your way to generating ideas that have the potential to change the world. Don’t let your previous lack of creativity keep you from developing and donating your ideas. Get started today.

About the Author:

To learn more ways to give to others, sign up for the free Everyday Giving ezine at http://www.everydaygiving.com. Roger Carr is the founder of Everyday Giving. His life purpose is to help people help others.
Read more articles by: Roger Carr