How to Use Your Creativity to Innovate and Rise to Your Challenges

The most important aspect of finding a better way to do things is creativity. If you want to innovate in your work or in your life, you have to first get creative. I spend a lot of time soaking up the latest writing on business, creativity, and entrepreneurship. My entrepreneurial tendencies revealed themselves when I was a child. I made colored, paper candy cane pencil toppers for my classmates. They ordered the colors and patterns they wanted. I drew them, and then they paid me .05 to .35 for them. The more complicated patterns cost more.

It was a great business model. I loved to draw and color, and my classmates enjoyed their pencil toppers. My teachers stopped the practice under the guise of the pencil toppers being a distraction. But I think it was because they didn’t like money changing hands. I also believe it was partially that those pencil toppers brought a sense of chaos and revolution to the classroom. And in public school, teachers have to have order in order to do their jobs. Perhaps, someday, I’ll delve into my thoughts on education and the place for creativity in it but not today.

Oh heck. Why not?

I believe teachers have such constraints placed on them that they simply have no room, time, or energy left for innovation. Unless you’re an art teacher, you often have zero time to allow your students to get curious and explore.  You have too many tests, benchmarks, and rules to make time for ingenuity. In my mind, that’s tragic because it blocks the flow of creative thought and innovation. So, we grow into adults who place little value on our own creative abilities.

Yet, the system rewards revolutionary thinkers. Look at Richard Branson, Elon Musk, or Arianna Huffington. They all pushed the envelope along with Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, and, of course, Oprah Winfrey. They pushed past their limitations into something breathtaking and new. Each accessed a part of themselves that lies in pure creativity to do it.

And you can, too! Want to know how to start? Listen to today’s show, and you’ll get the easiest roadmap, ever!

If you had unlimited resources, what would you create? What problem would you solve? Comment below.

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