The contest…

Sunlight glinted on the saddle and the deep chestnut hues rippled power. Light played brilliantly on the powerful flanks as the animal readied himself to scale the jump that all others in the competition, less potent than he, leaped with relative ease. This round he would easily win. Triumph was a foregone conclusion.

He approached the jump in a full gallop that would effortlessly lift him over. The crowd on the stands waited with bated breath…

As he leaped, rider tightly positioned, his one front hoof caught the top slat and sent both horse and rider crashing to the muddy earth on the other side. In spite of all his power and looks, he simply could not fly high enough…

A lesser specimen proudly trotted off with the laurels.

*****

 It took time and patient coaching to work on his jumping skills. Later he did best his competition.

He conquered more than a jump. He conquered his fear.

 *****

 The inconvenient (and costly) truth…

You not only witnessed a show jumping contest in the example above, gone horribly out of kilter, but a scenario that repeats itself with numbing results whenever there is any kind of barrier between you and true creative thought.

Barriers to creativity are what keep us from those million dollar ideas that will catapult us into true wealth, creative freedom and significant living. Barriers are costly and often we don’t even know they’re there. Because we’re so frequently unaware of them, we settle for half bred ideas and systems that can (and do!) cost us our businesses and livelihoods.

No mere show jumping hurdles these…

 John Adair, action-centered leadership guru, says the following barriers keep people from being creative [and obviously prospering!]:

Negative attitude

The tendency to focus on the negative aspects of problems dwarfs any search of inherent opportunities.

Fear of failure

 It is the fear of looking foolish or being laughed at. Yet Tom Watson, founder of IBM, said: “The way to accelerate your success is to double your failure rate.” Failure is a necessary condition for success.”¹

Of this fear, Micheal Michalko of Creative Thinking says: “…because we fear failure we [do] not act. We avoid taking action. If we don’t act, we can’t fail. If we are forced to take action, we do not do anything until we have a perfect plan which will take into account any and everything that can happen. We make sure the plan details all the human and material resources you need. We will seek the guidance and direction of every expert and authority we are able to approach. If any [person] expresses the slightest doubt, we will not take the risk of failure and abandon the plan.

… if you don’t take action when you need new ideas in your personal and business lives and do nothing, nothing bad can happen and nothing is the result. In our culture of helplessness, nothing is better than even the slightest chance of failure, because failure means we are worthless.”²

Adair continues…

Executive stress

 Not having time to think creatively. The over-stressed person finds it difficult to think objectively at all. Unwanted stress reduces the quality of all mental processes.

Overwhelmed by rules

 Although rules are necessary, it tends to encourage mental laziness. A tendency to conform to accepted patterns of belief or thought – the rules and limitations of the status quo – hampers creative breakthroughs.

Over-reliance on logic

Investing all available intellectual capital into logical or analytical thinking – the step-by-step approach – excludes imagination, intuition, feeling or humour.

Not challenging assumptions

 Failure to identify and examine the assumptions you make about any situation or problem can be preventative in even trying to find a new way of doing something.

He also mentions lack of a starting point, lack of perspective, lack of motivation, lack of consultation and criticism if given too soon or of the wrong kind.

“The biggest barrier, however,” he says, “is BELIEVING YOU ARE NOT CREATIVE… this barrier really stops people in their tracks from even entering the race… Whatever may or may not have been your self-image in the past, this is an unproven hypothesis about you as far as the future is concerned….”¹

Ami Mattison adds even more barriers to the mix of our creativity struggle. According to her we may struggle with overwhelming emotions such as anger or sadness. Deeply embedded emotions… in our psyches can cause a numbness that disconnects us from our creative impulses and may make creativity painful or even impossible.

Furthermore she says, the drive toward perfectionism keeps “us trapped in fear of failure, and the more we strive for perfection, the more failure and negativity we confront as we crush every nascent or tentative effort to create.” She also lists effects like jealousy, self-pity, creative injury and lost faith as culprits that cull our creative impulses.³

Wow!

Last but definitely not least, Prof Robert Harris adds his voice to the choir when he observes that we are prone to believe that we cannot do something. He gives some inspiring examples that make mash of this false belief: “Who were the Wright brothers that they could invent an airplane? Aviation engineers? No, they were bicycle mechanics. The ball point pen was invented by a printer’s proofreader… not a mechanical engineer.

… innovations in industry almost always come from individuals… outside of the area of the invention…”⁴

He lists more obstacles not mentioned here (lack of space!), so you are encouraged to read his full article.

*****

So, what about you?  Has one or more barriers clipped your creative wings?  Fear not! There is more than enough help available to get you flying once more. Like the horse above, you can conquer & scale any barriers with the right coaching, enough time and patience.

Later we will focus on that help, but first join us next week for a look at the myths we believe about creativity. We also look at the characteristics of the creative person. See you there!

© Elmarie Bouwer

1. Adair, John. Effective Innovation. London 1996, Pan Books
2. Michalko, Michael. The seven deadly sins that prevent people from being creative thinkers. 27 October 2011.  Web 9 February 2012. http://creativethinking.net/articles/2011/10/27/the-seven-deadly-sins-that-prevent-people-from-being-creative-thinkers/
3. Mathison, Amy. When creativity goes away: how to unblock your inner artist. 30 March 2010. Par 8…Web 7 February 2012   http://poetrynprogress.com/2010/03/30/when-creativity-goes-away-how-to-unblock-your-inner-artist-part-1/

4. Harris, Robert. Introduction to creative thinking. VirtualSalt. 1 July 1998. Web.      9 February 2012. http://www.virtualsalt.com/crebook1.htm

 Yes, you are.

Even if you deny it, don’t feel it, can’t really care or maybe accept the fact but can’t be bothered with it. Even…

The boring bits…

Mountains of research indicate that everyone is creative. For example, well known creativity guru, Kobus Neethling^1, quotes research done on toddlers wherein 98% tested superior in creativity. However by the time they reached 22 years of age, only 2% still tested as such. Why…? In our next post, we will get to some of the reasons people bury or submerge their creativity.

Another example is Prof. Robert Harris^{2 of} Virtual Salt, a writer and educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience at college and university level, who says everybody is creative to some degree. And so we can quote instance after instance…

The fact however is undeniable… every single human being that is born into this world is creative.  That includes you.

So what?

 Well, consider this…creative urge is what initially generated the swarm of enjoyment avenues we so eagerly embrace; from parachuting, canoeing, rock climbing and going to the movies to country fairs, culinary fests, restaurants, the whole art, literature & music shebang etc. Without that our lives will be incalculably poor let alone boring.

 What does this have to do with any kind of business success? My success…

 Getting the point is the point…

 Firstly, it is only a truly creative idea that is going to furnish you with that much needed Unique Selling Point (USP) or competitive edge that will enable you to sell your products / services successfully. We live in a crowded corner, no matter what your niche is. Everybody is copying everybody else. Only truly innovative products & services will successfully make it out there and only creativity will birth them.         

 Nobody can ever successfully copy your personality, individuality or the creative impulse in your innermost being! All of this sets you apart from everybody else and this fact is one of the winning ingredients in a USP or competitive edge.

Plainly put – the way you cook your food, play with your dog, conduct your family affairs and run your business, is totally unique to you.

It is this creative dynamic in business that will set you apart from everyone else.  Sure, generic business principles will always apply.  But creativity is still the underpinning principle in their successful implementation.  This is ultimately what will send a buyer to you and not the competition.

Creative thought is an expression of the individual. Individuality is what will ultimately sell your offerings…

The foundation that every business function rests on, is paved with just one magic element: creative thinking.

 A USP…? No way around it, period. Crank those lazy creative wheels into motion!

Don’t know how? Your creative impulse buried somewhere or forgotten? Or not quite operating at full throttle?

Don’t worry!  If you find yourself in this category, watch this spot for an upcoming post on exercises and tips that are designed to liberate the rusted cogs of your creative thinking apparatus and help your creativity-wings take flight in the form of barrier-busting ideas.

Because you are twice the debtor, maybe even more…

 Secondly, because you owe it to your Creator. He made you with a complete set of individual skills that just had to be nurtured and developed to flesh you out into the human creation He had in mind. To be any less than that, is to not only live half the life He intended for you, but to seriously short-change yourself and everybody else in the process.

Thirdly, because only you can live your life, nobody else can. You owe it to yourself and everybody else around you to be the best yóú that you can be. That includes all the parts that make up yóú, including the creative impulse that you were born with. Only you can be the best at what you are, do and aspire to do everyday. Your life counts even if you at some point thought, or still think, it doesn’t. Even if there are about 8 billion people on this planet, every single life counts.

A simple, but not necessarily easy, option

It is not optional to live creatively if you want all the mileage out of life’s ride. It is the only rational course of action left open to a human being that wants to feel fully alive. Granted, becoming and remaining creative (the subject of yet another upcoming post) is somewhat like learning to ride a horse, or parachuting, daunting but exhilarating. Those in the know will tell you there’s little else quite like it…

Funny thing about creativity…it never really goes away. It is worth reviving to its full blown glory. Life is simply not much fun without it!

© Elmarie Bouwer

1. http://www.kobusneethling.co.za/
2. http://www.virtualsalt.com/index.htm

*****

 Watch out for our next post on why people bury or submerge their creativity. See you there!

You’ve been doing all the right things and have covered all the basics that are supposed to guarantee business success.  You made certain at the outset that all your important business ducks like market  research and a cash flow forecast are in a row and that your budget tows the line.

After a while though, you constantly phone your partner in a sweaty panic and suffer from seemingly stress related illnesses…still too few sales. Sometimes, no sales at all! You quickly realise … long enough no sales…no business.

You whittle your nails to the bone and the zoo at home thinks you’ve turned into a monster from Mars. Finally you groan in desperation “Now what? How do I fix this?”

The question has barely left your lips before the cold fact hits you… you have nothing unique to offer your customers!  You’ve given the guys & gals with the wallets  little or no reason to come to you rather than go to the competitor next-door who, by the way, is in the same business and is diverting most, if not all, the paying traffic to him with his unique offerings!

So you go back to the drawing board and consult the gurus. They tell you in umpteen ways what you’ve just realised anyway. That you need a product or service that will set you apart from the competition. An offering so irresistible that it will make paying customers only too happy to surrender their hard-earned cash to you in return for it. A competitive edge or unique selling point (USP) the gurus call it.

You toss… you turn… you sweat – but try as you might, that pioneering idea keeps eluding you. That one breath-taking thought that will catapult you ahead of the competition in your niche…

Exhausted, you realise that you are not going anywhere without that USP. And what’s more, to come up with that much desired edge, strategic thinking is required. That in turn calls for creativity. Dumbstruck, you sit down as understanding dawns…

…creativity underlies all successful business actions and you realise that all truly cutting edge products & services only surface where the twin horses of imagination and creativity run wild. Creative thinking is the basis. From there, winning products & services strategy naturally flow.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Look out for our series of articles on the creative process, starting with a hard look at just what creativity really is, who fits the term “creative” and going on to some exercises that’s been designed to kick the creative apparatus into motion and finally ending with how to keep the muse going. See you there!

© Elmarie Bouwer