Then, autopilot is triggered. The wonder and curiosity of the Child within gets imprisoned deep in the psyche, sometimes never to be heard from again.

The drive to learn and discover, however, is a prerequisite to the creative process. When the Child’s innate curiosity—an aspect of any well-integrated adult—and his attraction to learning is re-activated, life’s adventure takes on new meaning. What was once dry and pre-set becomes fun and spontaneous. Our habitual old patterns give way to a renewed sense of inner joy as the discovery process takes hold.

If you’re afraid to break free from social programming and cultural norms—if you resist the creative soul within you—keep in mind what you’re sacrificing. It’s a rare soul who defies convention to truly embrace his or her bliss (in Joseph Campbell’s use of the term).

Your adventure awaits. It begins once you re-ignite the joy of discovery innate to all of us. If you’re already on this path, then perhaps this message is simply a reminder to keep the flame blazing and to reaffirm your quest for higher understanding.

Related posts:

1. Stay Devoted to the Discovery Process
2. Relinquishing Control of the Creative Process
3. Incremental Innovation

The human ego has a constant drive to control its environment. Secretly believing that it is the source of the universe, the ego willfully looks to change everything. From the ego’s perspective, it is the source of creative inspiration.

Consciousness and psychological research, however, has demonstrated that the ego actually blocks creative expression. The more humility you possess, the more you are able to get out of your own way. As the ego’s hold is minimized, your creative potential is realized.

Instead of attempting to control the creative process, let go trying to change anything.

As a Student, your job is to explore the problem from every angle. But then, the Wanderer must step in. In the state of the Wanderer, the creative genius surrenders to the problem to something beyond himself and awaits the Muse’s answer.

When confronted with a difficult problem, seek to understand the nature of the problem. But then, simply allow the problem to be there. Your creative output can soar.

Related posts:

1. The Creative Process Revisited
2. Welcome the Wanderer
3. Creative Geniuses Surrender to the Moment

But for most businesses, innovations can be far less sexy and monumental—yet still lead to positive change. The drive behind innovation is to constantly find ways to improve. The operative word is constantly as the innovation process for businesses is never-ending.

The Japanese have competed brilliantly against American manufacturers over the last several decades, utilizing their concept of Kaizen—“constant improvement.” The Toyota production system had been studied by academia and American businesses for years, and yet American car manufacturers continued to lose ground. (Recently, however, even Toyota fell prey to the seduction of the “rush to grow.”)

Kaizen is a philosophy in action that American workers have a difficult time integrating into their businesses. Why? We’ve been programmed to “swing for the fence” every time we’re at bat instead of trying to hit a single. We expect massive change immediately; otherwise we abandon our strategies.

How many brilliant ideas have we failed to capitalize on simply because we don’t have the discipline to execute?

Learn to honor the creative process, live one day at a time, and commit to constant improvement in both your business and personal life. It’s not sexy or glamorous but it produces sustainable results.

Let go of the programming that says it has to happen now. Most “overnight” successes take at least a decade. Accepting this reality brings tranquility; it also leads to a more mature and disciplined approach to business and our personal lives.

Minor improvements compound into significant positive changes over time.

Related posts:

1. The Secret Behind Innovation
2. The Value of Innovation
3. Becoming Irreplaceable at Work

Fear is a primal emotion associated with a low level of consciousness. Some people think fear is an important part of our survival. It’s not. Caution is what’s important. Caution and fear are not the same. We survive in spite of fear, not because of it.

Fear shuts down our executive functions—our ability to think and make decisions. Fear causes paralysis, kills creativity, and limits our growth.

People who operate from fear are unhappy. Businesses that operate from fear may survive, but they never thrive.

Caution means that you’re aware of potential pitfalls and take precautions when necessary. Caution keeps us alert. Caution doesn’t tangle us up in a web of emotions like fear does. Caution doesn’t hinder our ability to stay relaxed and focused. We can be cautious and still think and act with reason and accountability.

Fear can be pervasive within any person or business. When fear becomes our default position to act, think, talk, and make decisions, we are debilitated.

Caution is used only when needed, like after a fruitful brainstorm where many ideas are created. Caution helps Black Hat your ideas, searching for the potential pitfalls you missed in the idea generation stage of the creative process. In fear, creative ideas are rarely discovered.

Let go of fear and utilize caution when appropriate. The benefits you’ll reap are beyond measure.

Related posts:

1. The Anatomy of Fear
2. Learn to Value Ideas
3. Power versus Force in Business

1) Ask Compelling Questions

Use “what if?” questions to project different scenarios into the future. In A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative, Roger Von Oech, says, “In the imaginative phase, you ask questions such as: What if? Why not? What rules can we break? What assumptions can we drop? How about if we looked at this backwards? Can we borrow a metaphor from another discipline? The motto of the imaginative phase is: Thinking something different.”

2) Explore Context

Many problems arise because we neglect to zoom out from the content of the problem and examine the overall context of the situation. If sales are down, instead of revisiting your sales strategy examine the context of your overall industry. Has your industry changed? Are you disconnected with your customer’s needs? Is your product becoming obsolete? Take an expansive viewpoint before narrowing in on the specific problem.

3) Seek Wisdom

In Mastering the Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success, author Andy Andrews recommends putting together a personal Board of Directors, “advisors” for various areas of your life. Asking an experienced advisor from outside your industry for their thoughts on your problem can yield insightful perspectives. Even better: Instead of asking them what they would do in your situation, ask them what question they would ask.

4) Walk Away

Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to stop trying to solve it. Walking away from the problem brings forth the Wanderer archetype and the potential for hearing the Muse’s Call. The key is knowing when to let go of trying to solve the problem.

5) Mind Map It

Mind mapping is a visually-oriented brainstorming process using free association, colors and illustrations around a central theme. Read this post for a 60 second tutorial.

6) Switch Roles

Our minds tend to get locked into old patterns, leading to what’s called “paradigm blindness.” If you have a marketing-related problem, try putting on an engineer’s hat—or even a gardener’s hat. The idea is to shift your perspective so you can approach the problem from a new angle.

7) Use the Six Thinking Hats

Speaking of hats, de Bono’s Six Hats method provides you and your team with six different perspectives to utilize when tackling a problem. It’s an ideal tool for group brainstorming and problem solving.

8 ) Generate a Plethora of Ideas

As Aaron Shields points out in Creativity in the Workplace, research suggests that the most effective way to uncover the best solution is to brainstorm as many ideas as you can in a nonjudgmental environment before evaluating them.

There are numerous pathways to get to the answer you seek. Some pathways, however, are more effective than others. The key is to experiment with various methods to uncover which ones work best for you.

Different methods will be more effective in different contexts. Here, wisdom and intuition come into play.

Related posts:

1. Use the Six Thinking Hats for Meeting Effectiveness
2. The Creative Process Revisited
3. What’s Your Decision-Making Lens?

You’ve got it. The answer. The solution. A brilliant idea that changes everything. Then, before you can say Eureka the moment vanishes. Ordinary life returns.

Epiphanies, or moments of pristine clarity, insight, and revelation, can feel like rare gifts. It often feels as though the planets have to align and gravity must reverse itself for a single moment of true clarity to emerge.

Epiphanies are treasures to creative professionals. As a writer, I used to sit at my computer late into the night, waiting for that big breakthrough idea or prolonged state of flow. Patience, it turns out, was never one of my strongest attributes.

Here are a few strategies I’ve found helpful in setting the conditions for an epiphany:

1. Get into a centered state. Creativity favors the prepared body and mind. Think about a time when you had a moment of clarity or times when you are generally most creative. Where were you? What were you doing? How were you breathing? What was your posture? What was on your mind? Duplicate the physical and mental state of a past inspirational moment.
2. Play epiphany-evoking music. Music can be a powerful anchor. What music inspires you to explore and to dream? Some of my favorites include Pachelbel’s Canon in D, John Williams’s overture to the Robin Hood soundtrack, James Horner’s Great Governing Dynamics from A Beautiful Mind soundtrack, and Enya’s “May It Be” from the original Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
3. Surrender to the moment. Embrace the Wanderer within. Breathe deeply. Let go of all your worries, concerns, inhibitions, and problems—at least for right now. Trust in something bigger than yourself. You will find the answer. But first you must wipe your mental slate clean of all the tumultuous chaos that weaves its way through your daily life.

We tend to make life more complicated than it needs to be. Many of us live in a state of confusion and uncertainty. Modern life, with its barrage of information and distraction, breeds neurotic tendencies, the antithesis of creative endeavor.

Epiphanies flow freely when we learn to let go and embrace the present moment.

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1. Results Thinking for Clarity and Direction
2. Creative Geniuses Surrender to the Moment
3. Finding a Meaningful World

For example, since 1972 the speed of light (c) has been a fixed value of 299,792.458 ± 0.001 #2 kilometers per second and since 1970 the universal gravitational constant (G) is valued between 6.669 to 6.674.

Gravity and light—two basic components of our world—have their own values as defined by mankind. But as theoretical biologist Rupert Sheldrake points out in his adventurous book, Seven Experiments That Could Change the World, even these two nonchanging constants have changed and will continue to change.

We have a lot of assumptions, don’t we? We assume certain people will act a certain way in certain situations. We assume we know what the other person is saying. We assume the other understands what we are saying. But as we know, our assumptions are often wrong.

Innovative thinkers challenge assumptions continuously. They ask, What if it didn’t have to be this way? Their answers often transform what we think we know and how we live.

I’m not suggesting that we eliminate assumptions; we need them. Without implied constants we would be in chaos, afraid to cross the street. Every game has its rules.

I am suggesting all assumptions should be held provisionally. A degree of adaptability and flexibility serves us well:

• Arguments cease  to ensue because we no longer hold strong emotionally charged opinions about things we don’t really need to hold strong opinions about.
• New ideas present themselves continually because we now have a mindset wired for exploring them.
• We are less likely to get stuck; if something isn’t working, we try something else and continue this process until we build positive momentum.

The only boundaries you have are those you inflict upon yourself. Be flexible with your rules and assumptions. Question everything. Test it out for yourself. You are bound by nothing.

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1. Expand Your Perspective

Learn to dance with the creative process. Listen to the music and trust you will find a way.

Above all else, learn to be patient. This will be the most difficult task for many of us because we tend to want immediate gratification. We demand results now—and may skip steps to get “there” quicker.

The creative process is an elegant dance with no true beginning or end. The beauty and magic of life is in the dance itself—unbridled and always changing.

When we learn to embrace each moment of the dance as if it was our first, we open up to an incredible new world. Only then do we possess the power to create what we want and have a whole lot of fun in the process.

In The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav had this to say about the dance: “This is another characteristic of a Master. Whatever he does, he does with the enthusiasm of doing it for the first time. This is the source of his unlimited energy. Every lesson that he teaches (or learns) is a first lesson. Every dance that he dances, he dances for the first time. It is always new, personal and alive.”

Uninhibited, passionate and playful, we dance onward, reveling in each step, each note and each fluid movement. Our dance partners are faith and intuition; our dance floor is Planet Earth, and the dance itself is our own true creation.

Are you ready to dance?

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1. The Capital of Creativity
2. Is Your Business Killing Creativity?
3. Killing Creativity

Three life-draining words: I don’t know.

We tend to say it subconsciously, not realizing the full impact on our decision-making ability. “I don’t know” shuts down our mind’s creative and intuitive processes.

I’m not suggesting that you pretend to know something that you don’t. I’m referring to internally driven questions that do not require outside information to answer, like, What career path do I want to take? Should I write that book? Do I really want to start that business? What do I want to be when I grow up? Or even What do I want for dinner?

When you respond, I don’t know, you send a message to your brain that says, Don’t even bother spending time exerting energy trying to figure it out—it can’t be done. In a moment of helplessness, the idea generation process ends.

The fact is, you do know. The answer is within you. You possess the internal references and experiences to decide what it is you want—to decide what serves the greater good, to the best of your ability. The inner teacher is within all of us.

Why do we frequently turn off our brains? The answer is simple: Thinking is hard. Most people don’t like to think unless it’s absolutely necessary. Thomas Edison noted, “There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the real labor of thinking.”

As much as we don’t like thinking, we also often avoid listening to our intuition. The Inner Teacher, as it is often called, is a powerful untapped resource for most of us. Combined with hard thinking, the Inner Teacher provides a clear path to discovery.

Next time someone asks you an internally driven question, and you feel I don’t know creep up, say to yourself, Hmmm, what if I did know the answer? When you make this “question reversal” in a playful frame of mind, you delve into the unconscious to pull out an answer that may surprise you.

Adopt the belief that you really do know the answer. When you do, you’ll find yourself saying that devious little phrase much less frequently.

Be conscious of this concept over the next few days, using the question reversal strategy as often as you can. I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Related posts:

1. Is Your Business Killing Creativity?
2. The Death of To-Do Lists and the Birth of Creativity
3. Learn to Value Ideas

If you oftentimes feel like you should listen to classical music more than you do, definitely watch this.

Enjoy!

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1. The Perpetual Student