To change your position in life, which includes your financial condition, you have to change what is going on inside of you. – Quote by, Joan Sotkin

1. Develop goals that you are passionate about, then work to make them real. Imagine all the things you want and dream about everyday. You can program your subconscious mind for the happiness, health, creativity, and riches that you deserve just by focusing on what it is you desire to happen.

2. Discover and develop your creativity. Think outside of your normal way of doing, acting, and being. You may surprise yourself into discovering the next invention, the next form of entertainment, or the next wave of technology.

3. Set goals with specific conditions and values. Structure them around positive actions. If you think your goal is impossible – it will be. Instead, entertain thoughts that are worthy of your natural skills and talents.

Planning can help us move towards the goals in our life, but often the process of making a plan and tracking our progress is so overwhelming that we find it hard to even start a plan, let alone carry one out. I have therefore developed a quick and easy planning tool that anyone can use. It will help you get started on your goals, as well as help you track your progress.

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Are you one of those people who says, ‘I’m not very good at coming up with ideas’? Do you find it difficult to free your mind up to be creative and think outside your usual patterns?

Here are five really quick ways to get your brain working in a different way. Whether you want to solve a problem, or just come up with a new approach to something in your life, try these tips.

Tip #1 – Get the blood flowing. Your brain thrives on a healthy flow of blood, so before a bout of heavy thinking, you should try some heavy lifting. Any kind of exercise such as jogging, working with weights or some basic cardio will start your heart pumping and feed your neurons with a life-giving supply of well oxygenated blood.

How much of your life do you spend simply killing time while waiting for others?

And at the same time feeling you really could be getting on with something more creative..?

We all seem to have busy lives these days and anything that can help us to make better use of our time is usually gratefully welcomed.

The act of creating each day and getting into this rhythm and discipline is one way we can begin to work towards this.

Even if we do this however, many of us find we still “waste” much time in waiting around for others.

Some everyday examples are waiting in queues in shops, or waiting for a train that’s late. These situations we can’t do much about.

One of the oldest questions and dilemmas for artists and creative people is the consistency of their output.

Is it better to maintain a steady output, write/ paint/ compose a little each day, even if it’s just for ten or fifteen minutes?

By developing this kind of “everyday creativity” habit we create an ever-open channel for our creativity to flow steadily through.

It never becomes intimidating or disheartening if we create a little less some days because we know that the next day, or the day after that, we’ll return with something amazing again.

Alternatively there’s the inspiration of the “artist’s muse”.

We sit and wait for that elusive inspiration to strike and bless us with the ability for glorious fresh creative expression. And then watch it disappear again for days, weeks or months on end…

The more glamourous or romantic notions around being creative suggest the “Hot Flash” approach just described is the ONLY way for the true creative.

We live in a physical, dualistic, relative universe. The concept of relativity is what allows us to experience the physical and the non-physical, the spirit and the ego, the seen and the unseen. To use this powerful tool of relativity and to experience what we know ourselves to be, spirit children of God with all of God’s abilities, we must first come to know the opposite.

When God created the physical world and the physical concept of relativity, he had to bring into existence the opposite of those aspects that define God. Love is at God’s core. This is what God is. In order to experience love, God had to bring into the relative world the concept of the opposite of love.

God knew that only by the existence of fear could she experience what she really is, which is love. You cannot just tell yourself you are pure love and experience that. That method is a concept. God knows conceptually that she is pure love. Her longing is to know it experientially.

Finding your creative groove is another way of saying finding your creative voice, expressing yourself in a way that’s purely and honestly you, sharing the things you’re compelled to share with the world through your art and creative work.

Another, equally important, part of your creative groove is creating in a style and a rhythm that works well for you and allows you to create as freely as possible. This includes having (take a deep breath here) habits and systems in place that allow you to be as creative as possible.

You know when you’ve found your creative groove because you create without thinking, completely lose track of time when you’re creating and have a head absolutely bursting with ideas that you can’t bring to life quickly enough.

You feel happy, often ecstatic, that this is what you’re supposed to be doing, it’s what you’re here for, your raison d’etre.

You may have heard and read much in the last few years regarding creativity and innovation.. Or you may even have attended a creativity workshop that you found interesting, fun and helped you come up with some new ideas. Now your current employer may be requiring innovative input. However, you find that your suggestions are mostly ignored or frowned upon. This is mainly because nobody has told you the ‘the secret’.

In the case of creativity and innovation, not only do managers have different ideas of what they mean, but they find it difficult to express them in a consistent manner. This results in resorting to clichés such as out-of-the box thinking, or ideas producing bottom-line results. If there is such a variety in opinion, what can you do as a potential or current employee to provide the required creative and innovation input?

7 SIMPLE STEPS TO DEVELOP CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE THINKING SKILLS

Last time, I talked about creativity in general,
discussed creative ‘blocks’ and provided strategies for Generation as a
way of being more creative.

This month, I’d like to focus on the second broad area I identified in the field of creativity – Synthesis.

The word ‘synthesis’ is derived from the ancient Greek and
describes an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which
results in a new creation.

Using the creative process of Synthesis results in
modular thinking – “What if I took a feature from this thing and
added it to that one?” The process is one of breaking something down
into its component parts or features and then combining some of those
with elements from elsewhere.

This approach is often used in mechanical engineering,
electronics and other processes which arrive at tangible, practical
solutions in response to an established need.

Inventive Synthesis

One of the keys to being more creative is BELIEVING you can be more creative.

If you have the belief and the mindset that your creativity is limited, and that someday – maybe today even – it’s going to run out and you’ll never create anything worthwhile or interesting again, what kind of effect will that have on how you create?

Here are some likely ways this will have an negative impact on your creativity:

- You’ll feel you have to make your creativity last, you’ll have the rationing mentality. This means you’ll only allow yourself to create in small bursts, or only work on small projects, just in case you “run out of fuel” half way through.

- You’ll prevent yourself from accepting new ideas. Subconsciously mostly. You won’t allow these ideas to form and develop in your mind, cutting them off before they have a chance to become something you want to invest time and creative energy in.