(”Mont Blanc - Monte Bianco”; courtesy of Sir Francis Canker Jones)

“We will either find a way, or make one.” – Hannibal Barca

Hannibal Barca was a military commander from Carthage, North Africa, widely known as one of the most talented commanders in history. At the age of nine he accompanied his father—Hamilcar Barca, who commanded the Carthaginian army—to Spain where the elder Barca soon defeated the many tribes of Spain and established New Carthage. At the age of twenty six, after the death of his father and his brother-in-law who had succeeded him, Hannibal was named commander of the army.

Saguntum was a province of New Carthage inhabited by Greeks. The Greeks attacked some of the tribes in New Carthage, and the Romans–who ruled Italy–sided with the Greeks and declared themselves protectorates of Saguntum. Hannibal attacked Saguntum in 218 B.C., thus beginning the Second Punic War. While the Romans prepared to invade New Carthage, Hannibal was preparing his own strategy to attack Italy.

The Mediterranean Sea was the shortest, least treacherous, and the obvious route to take to get from New Carthage to Italy. However, Roman supremacy of the sea was well recognized throughout the ancient world. Therefore, Hannibal crafted a different plan, one that was completely unforeseen by the enemy and which, to this day, is recognized as one of the most famous feats in military history. With thirty-seven elephants, Hannibal’s army climbed through the Pyrenees, across the Rhone River Valley, over the Alps, and into Italy, launching a surprise attack and conquering northern Italy.

Below you will find two examples of people who followed the Hannibal approach to achieving goals and forged their own path toward reaching their objectives, despite facing major hurdles and obstacles.  I hope this will inspire you to create your own path to reach your intended target, despite any roadblocks you may encounter along the way.

Comfort Restaurant Creates Alternative Currency for Renovations

(”Monopoly”; courtesy of unloveable)

Comfort Restaurant, a tiny organic cafe located in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York—decided to expand to a second location in 2007.  Renovations to get the new space ready have been going on for about a year. However, due to the credit crisis, the owner—John Halko—has been unable to raise the cash required to finish the renovations and open the new restaurant. With currency unavailable from traditional sources—namely, getting a loan from a bank—John turned to his community.

John is going to sell VIP cards to people in the local community who love the restaurant’s food and who want to see the new restaurant flourish since it would bring more activity and commerce to the tiny downtown area of the city. For every dollar a customer spends on a card, they receive the equivalent of $1.20 worth of credit at the restaurant. So if someone spends a thousand dollars ($1,000.00) on VIP cards, they get one thousand two hundred dollars ($1,200.00) worth of food.

John gets the cash he needs to open the new restaurant, he gets the money cheaper than if he were borrowing it from a bank, and investors get more food for less money. Also, investors are more likely to eat at Comfort—where they’ve already spent a large chunk of money—than eat elsewhere. Since they feel they’ve made an investment in the restaurant, they’re also more likely to promote it to their friends.

Instead of simply halting the project because he couldn’t get the money to finish the renovations through a loan, John created a local currency to raise the cash he needs.  What project do you have on hold due to a lack of funds?  Can you think of any alternative, non-traditional ways to raise the money you need?  (Source: Comfort Dollars - Boing Boing; October 3, 2008).

The Bodacious Way to Pay for a Trip

When she was in her early twenties, the author SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), who has written books such as “The Bodacious Book of Succulence: Daring to Live Your Succulent Wild Life”, “Living Juicy: Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul”, and “Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper”, wanted to experience living in New York City.  At this time she was living in Minneapolis and she became intrigued by the subject of obscene phone calls.  She ran an ad in the newspaper that read, “If you make obscene phone calls, call me” and  began conducting research for her book by interviewing the callers.

SARK then rode her bicycle all the way to New York, with her best friend in tow, and when she got to New York she managed to get interviewed by The New York Post about her “book”. She also had a meeting with Doubleday’s senior editor to present her book proposal and he arranged for them to stay in empty penthouse apartments while they finished writing the book.  Unfortunately, both SARK and her friend proceeded to spend their time in New York City partying instead of writing, and the Doubleday editor cut them off.  However, even though SARK had almost no money when she got on her bike in Minneapolis, she found a way to have her outrageous adventure in New York.

What adventures are you postponing for lack of money or other obstacles?  Follow SARK’s lead and find creative ways to get to where you want to go, even if it means getting off the well-trodden road.

Conclusion

In what area of your life have you hit an obstacle or a roadblock that you’ve allowed to stop you from moving forward? Here’s a quote from Randy Pausch–author of “The Last Lecture” (YouTube Video)–on hitting brick walls:

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!”

If you want something badly enough, either find a way or make one. In my next post I will list and explain some creativity techniques you can apply to generate alternative solutions when faced with a situation in which you need to respond creatively. Until then, when faced with an obstacle, ask yourself: what would Hannibal Barca do?

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere:

• “5 Creative Ways to Get Around Roadblocks”

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(”Power of Innovation”; courtesy of Stephen Elliot)

Although people’s first instincts during an economic downturn are to play it safe and postpone any goals of starting new business ventures, with a little creativity anyone can thrive even amidst a so-called recession.  Below you will find four outstanding thoughts on creativity and innovation to inspire you to act and take full advantage of your most important asset: your mind.

Know That There Are a Gazillion Ideas Out There

Even though the phrase “Everything has already been done” seems to permeate most people’s thinking, the reality is that everything can be improved upon. The American journalist Lincoln Steffens wrote the following in 1931, which remains as true today as it was then:

“Nothing is done.  Everything in the world remains to be done or done over.  The greatest picture is not yet painted, the greatest play isn’t written, the greatest poem is unsung.  There isn’t in all the world a perfect railroad, nor a good government, nor a sound law.  Physics, mathematics, and especially the most advanced and exact of the sciences are being fundamentally revised.  Chemistry is just becoming a science; psychology, economics, and sociology are awaiting a Darwin, whose work in turn is awaiting an Einstein . . . “

Jump to the Next Curve

Guy Kawasaki–a well-known venture capitalist who started out working for Steve Jobs–gave the keynote presentation at the 2007 Event Marketing Conference. In his presentation–entitled “The Art of Innovation”–Guy explains that there are many companies that compete with each other on the same curve. If they were daisy wheel printer companies, they think innovation means adding Helvetica in 24 points. Instead, they should be jumping to the next curve: laser printing. (You can see a slideshow of the presentation here).  Some examples of jumping to the next curve are the following:

In his post “Random Travel Thoughts” Seth Godin asks: “Why doesn’t the airport have sleeping benches?”

Yotel did him one better: At the Gatwick and Heathrow airports in London you can book a cabin inside the airport terminal buildings, just a short walk away from the departure gates. The capsule-hotel’s cabins are, as described on tripadvisor.com by a guest, “just like a space-age train cabin”.

Small but not cramped, premium rooms feature a comfortable, handmade bed that slides down to full size, a bathroom with a ‘monsoon’ shower, and a small desk. The cabins are available for short-term hire and passengers in transit can have a shower, take a nap and get some work done without leaving the terminal.

In my blog post, “Thoughts to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing” I included a photograph of The Washing Machine/Toilet which stores water after each washing cycle, which is then used to flush the toilet below it. This is another example of jumping to the next curve.

The elliptiGO glide bike offers riders the best elements of running and cycling in one machine. Although running provides a great cardiovascular workout and improves general fitness, many runners are plagued with back and knee injuries due to the high impact nature of the sport. Similarly, bike riders often suffer from shoulder and back injuries and saddle-soreness.

When you ride the elliptiGO you use the same biomechanics of running but the impact is reduced and the upright position is a much more comfortable way to ride a bike. Plus, users of the elliptiGO get the added benefit of the speed and feel of a bike ride. Again, this wasn’t an improvement of the seat of the bike to make it more comfortable or making the handlebars longer to lessen the strain on the back, it’s a completely different product.

An example of a company that tried to move further up the curve–through continuous improvements–when it was time to jump to the next curve is Motorola. Continuous improvement will reach a point of diminishing returns; Motorola made the mistake of trying to stay on the same curve instead of jumping to the next one by insisting on improving analog cellular phones after the market had shifted to digital technology.

Don’t Let The Bozo’s Grind You Down

Guy also explains during his “The Art of Innovation” speech that bozos come in many shapes and sizes, and the hardest ones to spot are the ones that have all of the indicators of success: they’re respected in their field and they’re rich, famous, and powerful.  To illustrate Guy’s point, here are a few famous examples of brilliant ideas that were originally turned down:

• When Fred Smith turned in a paper proposing reliable overnight service delivery, his Yale University management professor responded as follows: “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.”  Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.

• Thomas J Watson, President of IBM, is reported to have said: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”. In a similar vein, Ken Olsen, co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) , is quoted as saying: “There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home.”

• An 1873 Western Union internal memo said the following: “This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.  The device is inherently of no value to us.”

• This was the initial response that Debbie Fields received to her idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies: “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”

Welcome Wild Ideas

Judging shuts down idea generation. The physiological reasons for this shutting down is rooted in the brain. In basic terms, the three layers of the brain are the outer layer, which is the neo-cortex; the middle layer, which is the limbic system; and the inner-most layer, which is the brain stem. Each performs a different function. The brain stem focuses on food, fight, flight, and reproduction, that is, survival. It responds immediately to anything it perceives to be a threat, whether physical or psychological. The limbic section governs emotions and feelings. The neo-cortex controls thinking, speaking, and problem solving.

Creativity occurs at the level of the neo-cortext. Because judging is a threat, the brain shifts from the neo-cortex, through the limbic, to the brain stem to assure social-psychological survival. This shift shuts down the creative process. (Source: Add Creativity to Your Decision Processes).

Instead of allowing your inner critic to hold you back from coming up with wild, crazy ideas, know that even the most outlandish ideas can turn into something very practical. An example that is often cited to show how wild ideas can lead to an effective, practical solution is the following: A telephone company had to constantly send out their repair crews to fix telephone wires broken by ice on the lines. The company initiated a creative session to solve the problem and the session was started off with a random word, “bear”. The first idea was completely nuts: train bears to climb the poles and shake the wire.

They brainstormed on how to coax the bears up the telephone poles and someone suggested getting honey to the top of the poles.  But how would they get honey to the top of the poles?  The suggestion was to use helicopters.  Then the group realized that the solution was that the helicopter propellers could shake off the ice. Criticism at the outset would have turned off the process that led to a practical solution.

Conclusion

If you haven’t seen Guy’s “The Art of Innovation” speech, I strongly recommend that you do.  It’s almost an hour long but it’s entertaining and very informative.  In addition, you’ll find three suggestions on excellent creativity books I recommend you read below my signature.

 
Recommended Reading:

• A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative
• The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance
• Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius

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(”Put Your Feet Up . . . “; courtesy of jelene>)

Take a break from watching the news and reading about the $700 billion bailout; sometimes you just have to tilt back your chair, put your feet up, and simply take a “creativity break”.  The debate on whether the “Community Reinvestment Act” caused the current subprime lending crisis will still be going on when you’re ready to reconnect with the “real” world.

Here are ten web sites to visit when you just want to do some leisure reading, or get some inspiration:

1. The Arrow of Time: On June 17th, every year since 1976, this family photographs each of its members to stop, for a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by.

2. Fresh Logic: An interactive Atlas that allows you to zoom into any place in the world.

3. To Do List: If you’re tired of looking at your own “to do list”, you can look through this collection of other people’s to-do lists.

4. One Sentence: True stories told in one sentence.  Here are some examples:

• “Everyone knows me as Jessica, but he knows me as the girl who actually wept with him when his frog died.”

• “As I woke up from my nap to find written on my feet ‘This is my momma and you can’t have her,’ I realized that my child is very, very strange.”

• “She saw the horror in his eyes as the dentist realized he had just cemented both his thumbs to her lower bridgework.”

5. Neatorama: Random, interesting stuff.

6. Post Secret:  People send in postcards anonymously revealing their secrets.

7. Snarf’d: More random, interesting stuff (an eclectic compendium).

8. Springwise:  Lots of great entrepreneurial ideas.

9. Drawn: An illustration and cartooning blog.

10. Cassette From My Ex:  People sharing memories of mixed tapes from relationships in their past.

A great site that I mentioned in a previous post is foundmagazine.com. There’s also Stuff On My Cat for cat lovers and Stuff On My Mutt for dog lovers. And, of course, you can always find something good on TED.com.

Are there any other interesting web sites or blogs that you visit when you need inspiration or a creativity break?

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(”Popping Up”; courtesy of yoshiko314)

1. We use money to solve problems or meet needs. Before spending money ask yourself: “What problem am I trying to solve or what need am I trying to meet?” Then ask yourself: “What other ways are there to do this?” and “Is there another way to solve this problem or meet this need that will cost me less?”.

2. Practice the “Two Minute Pickup” every time you leave a room or get up from your desk. That is, tidy up and quickly put everything back into its place. The less you have to put away, the less fragmented your life will be when you return.

3. Make time to do the things that comfort you—go for a jog, read a book, take a bath, give yourself a manicure, or simply meditate.

4.  Create a calming bedtime routine to help you sleep better. Here’s the bedtime routine I’ve created for myself (still a work-in-progress):

• 8:30 p.m. Start wrapping up whatever you’re doing
• 8:50 p.m. Grab a basket and walk around the apartment. Pick up any items scattered about and return it to its designated place.
• 9:00 p.m. Turn off television and computer. Wash face, brush teeth, and put on pj’s.
• 9:15 p.m.    Twenty minutes of Spring Forest Qigong
• 9:35 p.m.    Write in gratitude journal.
• 9:45 p.m.    Plan day for tomorrow
• 10:00 p.m. If there’s something bothering me, listen to the Sedona Method or complete an EFT session.
• 10:20 p.m. Read or complete sudoku puzzles until I want to go to sleep.

5. Create checklists or standard operating procedures (SOP) for any repetitive actions that you perform on a regular basis. For an example of a checklist, read my post, Blogger’s Checklist.

6. Make peace with the fact that you can’t do it all.

7. Allow newspapers and magazines to remain in the house only for a specific number of days. At the end of that period dispose of them, read or not.

8.  Drop “when and then” thinking, which is believing that “when” this or that happens, “then” I’ll really start living.

9. When considering any major purchase, wait. Write down the item you’re thinking of purchasing and wait thirty days. If you still want it at the end of the thirty days, and if you’ve found room for it in your budget, buy it then. You can use this template to record items.

10.  Create a to-do list and go through each item and ask: “Why is this on my to-do list?”; “What goal is it furthering?”; and “Does this really need to get done?”  Now start crossing things that really don’t need to get done off of your to-do list.

11.  Follow Randy Pausch’s advice: “Doing the right things adequately is much more important than doing the wrong things beautifully.”

12.  Develop a bad memory.  Constantly thinking about what could have been, or how you’ve been wronged, or what you should have said to the jerk who insulted you at the grocery store is a useless waste of time.

13.  Organize your workspace to the point where you would be comfortable submitting photographs of your workspace to the Unclutterer Flickr Pool of Workspaces.

14.  Have a place for everything.

15.  Create a system so that you empty your e-mail in-box each day.  There’s a great series over at 43 folders.com on how to empty your e-mail box and keep it that way.  Go here.

16. Get a speaker phone so that you can answer e-mails while you’re left on hold.

17.   Create a reading file and take it with you to read while you’re waiting at the dentist’s office, while you’re commuting on the subway or train, while you’re having your hair cut, or whenever you have some downtime.  Brook Noel, author of The Change Your Life Challenge: Step-by-Step Solutions for Finding Balance, Creating Contentment, Getting Organized, and Building the Life You Want, suggests that you glue the image of a clock on your reading file as a visual reminder that anything that you put in there will require that you devote some of your time to it.

18.  Monitor your time by keeping an activity log so that you can identify how much time you spend on low, medium, and high priority things.

19.   Become more productive so that you can spend more time having fun.

20. Create your daily schedule by penciling in the three most important things for you to accomplish on that day. Make sure that your list includes something that makes you healthy, something that makes you wealthy, and something that makes you happy.

21.  Right now get rid of the following four things:

• Perfume or cologne you never wear

• Expired medicine

• Pens and markers that no longer work

• A knick-knack that no longer brings you joy

22. Evaluate all of the papers you’re keeping and ask yourself these questions:

• Do I really need this information?
• Can this information be found somewhere else?
• Is this a duplicate?
• Am I required to keep this information? If so, for how long?
• Can I scan this and throw away the hardcopy?
• Is there some action I need to take? If so, schedule it into your day planner.

23. Create a filing system that’s easy to maintain.

• Make a list of categories that make sense to you. Use general categories instead of selecting very specific categories that will only have one or two papers in them.  Ask yourself: “Where will I be able to find this piece of paper when I need it?”

• Include a “To Pay” manila folder where you’ll put all bills that need to be paid.

• Also create a “To File” folder so that you can store papers you don’t have time to file right away instead of just leaving them on the surface of your desk.  (Leo over at zenhabits.net advices not to have a “to file” folder, but I find that I need this intermediate step).

24. Have an in-box to capture all incoming mail and any other papers that come in. Your filing center should be adjacent to your in-box.  Once a day go through everything in your in-box and do the following:

• Toss junk mail and any other papers you won’t need (recycle or shred as appropriate);
• If the piece of paper requires you to take some action schedule it into your day planner (or consider doing it right away if it will just take a couple of minutes);
• Put the paper into the “to-file” folder, or stick it into the “reading folder”.

25. Use the envelope system for managing your money.

26.   Make your most important task the first thing you do at the beginning of the week.  That way, whatever else happens that week, you got the most important thing done.

27.  Remember that things usually take longer than you expect.  Allow  for some wiggle room in your schedule so that your whole plan doesn’t unravel if something takes longer than expected.

What have you done lately to simplify your life?

Related Reading:

• 100 Tips to Simplify Your Life

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(”Checklist”; courtesy of weddingmusings>)

Here’s a checklist that I created for myself on things to do and things to check for before hitting the “publish” button. I’m sharing it with you in the hopes that you’ll find it useful.

• Write something useful that provides value and will enhance my readers’ life.

• Write something unique.

• Don’t tell them what to do, tell them how to do it.

• Add an interesting image.

• Is my title catchy?

• Does the first paragraph catch my readers’ attention?

• Check spelling.

• Check grammar.

• Make sure it’s concise. Does anything need to be cut out?

• Did I use headers and formatting to make the post easy to scan (bold, CAPITALS, italics, underlining) to emphasize points?

• Have I left enough white space to give my readers a visual break?

• Do any paragraphs need to be shortened?

• Have I written on this topic before and can I link to it?

• Can I link to any other blogs that have written about this (give my readers added value and create goodwill with other bloggers).

• Did I include categories?

• Have I credited sources of quotes and inspiration?

• Are there any facts that I need to check?

• Did I ask my readers a question at the end of the post? Did I invite them to join in the conversation?

• What keywords will people search Google for on this topic? Have I optimized the post for those words?

• Did I check all the links to make sure that they work?

• Did I add my name at the end of the post?

• Did I read the whole post through to make sure it reads well from beginning to end?

What did I miss? Please add your insights in the comments section below.

– Marelisa

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(”Blue Feather”; courtesy of inge helene)

If you run a Google search for  the term “productivity tips” you’ll find everything from “become an early riser” to exercise and get enough sleep, and from develop a method for overcoming procrastination to create a system for tackling every paper that comes across your desk.  From the plethora of productivity tips out there, I’ve chosen the following three to write about today since  adopting these three tips will help move you quickly along the road to becoming awesomely productive.

Tip One: Create Your Own Planner

We all differ on the degree to which we want or need to structure our lives, ranging from those who plan their day in fifteen minute increments, to those who simply write down on an index card the three most important things they will get done the next day.

In addition, there are methods that emphasize a top-down approach, most notably Stephen Covey’s method, while others emphasize a bottom-up approach as, for example, the method set forth in the book “Getting Things Done”. There’s nothing wrong with mixing and matching elements from each of these methods in order to create a personalized method that works well for you.

This leads us to the conclusion that you’re the best person to create a daily planner for yourself.  So purchase a binder or a notebook and begin finding or creating templates in order to create your very own daily planner. Here are some free templates to get you started:

• Year and Month-at-a-Glance Calendar
• Exercise Tracker and Diet Tracker
• A Wants List
• Weekly Master Task List
• Monthly Master Task List
• Important Numbers, Goal Planning Sheets, Priority Matrix, Auto-Maintenance Log
• A Daily Planner
• Another Daily Planner
• Divide Your Day Into Fifteen Minute Increments
• Project Tracker
• Contact Form
• Fly Lady Kit
• Seinfeld Creativity Calendar
• Activity Log
• Simple Mom’s Daily Docket
• Ann at One Bag Nation’s Daily Planner

Tip Two: Master the Art of Saying “No”

Learning to say “no” to others is one of the best things you can do to reclaim your time as your own and to redirect your energy toward the achievement of your goals instead of simply furthering somebody else’s agenda.  In addition, saying “no” will help you reduce the stress created when you over-commit yourself and stretch yourself too thin.  Here are several tips to help you master the art of saying “no”:

• Ask lots of questions before committing yourself. Make sure that you know exactly what you’re committing yourself to and how much time you’re agreeing to devote to the activity.
• Is the activity in line with your goals? Will it further one of your goals?
• Look at your schedule and determine where you’re going to fit in the time to devote to this new activity. If your schedule is full, are you willing to postpone or cancel some other activity in order to fulfill the new activity you’re being asked to commit to? If the answer is “no” then you can’t commit to this new activity because you don’t have the time.
• Make sure that your schedule includes “me” time, time with your children, time for exercise, and other things that are important but not urgent. That way you won’t be substituting time spent on things that are important to you on the needs and wants of others.
• If you can’t do something or you simply don’t want to, then just say so. Do not leave others under the false impression that there’s the possibility that you might accede to their wishes by giving a wishy-washy response.
• Ask for a quid pro quo: “I can help you with this, but I’m going to need your help with this other task.”
• Put a condition on your help: “I can man the desk for one hour, but no longer than that.”
• If you’re willing to help and have the time, but you truly despise the task you’re being asked to do, say you’re not willing to perform that task and offer to help with something else instead.
• If you need a script telling you what to say in different situations where you want to say “no”, read the article “54 Ways to Get Out of Doing Anything You Don’t Want to Do”.

Tip Three: Act in the Way Most Conducive to Achieving Your Goals

In “Simpleology - The Simple Science of Getting What You Want”, Mark Joyner explains that if you want a drink of water there are many different things that you can do. You can set a glass of water in front of you and you can do any of the following:

• Plead with the water;
• Attempt to impress the water by reciting a list of all of your advanced degrees;
• Yell at the water and try to intimidate it;
• Pray to the Divinity of your choice and ask that you be given water;
• Formulate a detailed plan as to how you will get water;
• Take a seminar or complete an online course on how to get water;
• And so on.

Another alternative is to simply pick up the glass of water and drink from it.  That is, take direct and purposeful action toward the achievement of your goal.  You’ll notice that out of all of these methods the only one that created the outcome of putting water in your mouth so that you could drink it was the one that involved the simple action of picking up the glass and drinking from it.

Steve Pavlina illustrates this same point in his article “The Most Direct Solution to Any Problem”.  In this article he advises that whenever you have a problem you should ask yourself: “What’s the clearest, most direct path to my goal or the most efficient way to get around an obstacle?” He explains that the direct solution to a problem will often require courage, self-discipline, creativity, or persistence to implement, so people have a tendency to avoid the direct route and, instead, create a circuitous path toward their goals in order to compensate for laziness or timidity.

As an example, if you want to lose weight you need to increase the amount of exercise that you do or decrease your caloric intake.  However, these options require discipline and persistence, so most people won’t follow through.  In addition, if you’re interested in starting a relationship with someone, the most direct route is to simply walk up to them and find out if they’re interested.  This solution requires a lot of courage to overcome the possibility of rejection, but it’s very simple and straightforward.

As a last example, Steve refers to the popular New Age exercise of intending to manifest a blue feather.  Instead of passively waiting for the Universe to bring you a blue feather, why not simply get up and do a Google image search for “blue feather”?  It’s easy, fast, and creates the result you’re looking for.

– Marelisa

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(”Strawberry Drop 2.0″; courtesy of hermanau)

“It was just one of those things . . .
Just one of those fabulous flings.
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings . . .
Just one of those things.”

– Cole Porter

1. Look to nature for inspiration. Velcro was inspired by nature. The Swiss Georges de Mestral, inventor of Velcro, noticed how the sticky seed heads of burdock plants attached themselves to his pants and to his dog after walks in the woods. This observation led him to invent the product now called Velcro in 1948.

2. Follow Andy Warhol’s lead. Take a “known” image, and turn it into something new and fresh. Anything can serve as inspiration: old photos, pictures of the circus or a carnival, bathroom wall graffiti, a store display, and so on.  Turn the mundane into something special.

3. Write a shitty first draft. Anne Lamott introduced the concept of “the shitty first draft” in her book, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. The basic idea is that you give yourself permission to write a really terrible first draft, without obsessing over grammar, punctuation, chunky descriptions, and so on, and simply get on with the business of writing. You can always go back and edit once you have a rough draft.

4. Collect stuff that catches your fancy. “Whether we call it collecting, scavenging, accumulating, scrounging, gathering or junking, it’s all about the urge to surround ourselves with our stuff, our loot, our stash, our hoard, our mother lode of treasures, and to read the inspiration that these sometimes inexplicably irresistible objects provide. Whether the collected objects are actually used in works of art or merely provide inspiration, the synchronicity between Artist and Object is undeniable.” — Lynne Perrella

5. Persevere.  The Chinese bamboo tree will not sprout for the first five years after you plant it. You water and fertilize it for five whole years and nothing happens.  Then sometime during the fifth year the Chinese bamboo tree sprouts and grows ninety feet in six days.

6. Be a tireless warrior for your project. Davy Rothbart – founder of “FOUND Magazine”–started a website, then a magazine, and now has a book that is a collection of notes, letters, photos, journals, and to-do lists that people have plucked up off the ground, found in alley ways, and picked off the floor of the subway. He advises that you have to be thick-skinned when, for example, someone in Cleveland won’t carry your magazine in their bookstore. His enterprise all started when someone mistakenly left the following note on his windshield:

“Mario, I fuc***g hate you. You said you had to work then whys your car HERE at HER place?? You’re a fuc***g LIAR. I hate you.

Amber

P.S. Page me later.”

7. Improve your visual thinking. Visual thinking is about using pictures to help you solve problems, think about complex issues and communicate more effectively. It takes you beyond the linear world of the written word, lists, and spreadsheets, and into the non-linear world of maps, sketches, symbols, and diagrams.

8. Reframe your mistakes. Edward de Bono suggests that there is a need for a positive word to describe ‘a fully justified venture which for reasons beyond your control did not succeed’. The available words such as ‘failure’ and ‘mistake’ are unfair and squelch creativity.

9. Follow this creativity process (adopted from the different creativity processes presented here):

• Observation of a need or difficulty.
• Analysis of the need.
• Research and survey all available information.
• Apply creativity techniques such as analogies, branching out from a given concept, using a random word, classic brainstorming, and so on.
• Allow time for incubation.
• Formulate all objective solutions.
• Analyze these solutions for their advantages and disadvantages.
• Synthesis.
• Implement: Give physical form to the idea.
• Evaluate: Experimentation to test out the most promising solution.
• Adjust, learn, evaluate, adjust (perfection of the final embodiment).

10.  Think of new combinations of everyday objects. The Washing Machine/Toilet stores water after each washing cycle, which is then used to flush the toilet below it. In addition to its eco-friendly aspects, it is also a good space saver.

11. Break through writer’s block by writing the same sentence over and over again. Michael Mikalko, author of “Cracking Creativity”, “Thinkertoys”, and other great creativity books, uses a simple technique to get started when he has writer’s block. He simply sits down and writes, “O, lend me to some peaceful gloom,” over and over until his own thoughts and words come. Then he just keeps going.

– Marelisa

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(”Purple Cow”; courtesy of juliaf)

Seth Godin is a marketing guru, the founder of Squidoo.com, and the best selling author of several books, including All Marketers Are Liars, Purple Cow, Small Is the New Big, The Dip, Meatball Sundae, and Free Prize Inside!.  He also writes one of the most popular blogs out there, aptly called “Seth Godin’s Blog”.  Below you will find several creativity insights derived from the writings of Seth Godin.

Aim to Be the Best in the World - At Something

There is an endless supply of ideas, a gazillion different things of genuine value, and a million different areas from which you can pick one to be the best in the world at.  Godin advocates that: “I’ve never met anyone… anyone… who needed to settle for being average. Best is a slot that’s available to everyone, somewhere.”  He identifies the following as some of the reasons why you might fail to become the best in the world:

• You get scared.  People who offer something different are often criticized at first.
• You’re not serious about it.
• You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre.
• You focus on the short term instead of the long term and quit when things get hard in the short term.
• You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world, something in which you don’t have the necessary talent.

Know When to Quit and When to Stick

Godin argues that quitting is a vital part of success: he urges us to concentrate all our efforts on the things we’re going to win at, and quit everything else that gets in the way.  Quit ideas that are dead ends, quit time wasters, quit commitments that don’t further your goals, and so on.

The “Dip” is basically “the long slog between starting and mastery”, it’s the time during which you work very hard and see very little results.  Godin cautions that you have to know the difference between a dip and a dead end.   When you’re at a “Cul-de-Sac” situation, no amount of work will lead to success.  In his book Godin provides tips for finding your Dip, taking advantage of it and becoming one of the few players to emerge victorious on the other side.

He adds that losers fall into two basic traps: they either fail to stick out the Dip—when the going gets tough they simply give up—or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.

“Extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny majority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most,” Godin writes. “Extraordinary benefits also accrue to the tiny majority with the guts to quit early [when facing a dead-end] and refocus their efforts on something new.”

Be Unreasonable

Forget the following: “We did everything within reason and we still lost.”  You get beat by the competition–whoever else is striving to be the best in the world in your chosen area–when they do things that are unreasonable and you don’t. As Godin admonishes, the unreasonable competitor always establishes the new benchmark and always ends up as best in the world.  There is a common saying that those who say “It cannot be done” are usually interrupted by someone doing it. Therefore, the only choice is to be unreasonable.

Be a Purple Cow

In his book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, Godin indicates that there is no short supply of boring ideas out there; the world is full of brown cows. If you want to be noticed, if you want to be unforgettable, you have to do something remarkable, the way a purple cow in a field of Guernseys would be remarkable. Be outrageous, test the limits, and never settle for just “very good”. You’re either a purple cow or you’re not, that is, you’re either remarkable or invisible. He urges people to take control of their creative lives by taking responsibility for tough decisions and pushing themselves to make bolder choices.

The early adopters are the people that you need to win first and they’re not drawn to the average. So break the rules and stand out. A remarkable product, one that will make early adopters take notice, will produce “sneezers” who will distribute your “idea virus”. Look for the edges, explore the limits. Find a product that is “too” something for most people, but absolutely irresistible for a small–but big enough to be profitable–group of people, who will in turn convince others to buy your product.  Word of mouth is the most effective way to get others to find out about you, and you encourage word of mouth by making something remarkable.

If you have a blog and are looking for more traffic, Seth indicates that you’ll earn it when you do something daring, interesting, useful, provocative, free, compelling, emotional or urgent.

Target a Niche: Small is the New Big

At the heart of “Purple Cow” is the notion of “Moore’s idea diffusion curve”, which is just a bell-curve that shows innovators, early adopters, early/late majority, and laggards.  You need to target the front of that curve by appealing your remarkable product to them as a niche. A product or service that tries to be all things to all people will be nothing to everyone. The way you break through to the mainstream is to target a niche instead of a huge market. As Godin says in another one of his books, “small is big.” Create a product that dominates a niche: to think big start by thinking small.

Have Your Ideas Spread Like a Virus

Be sure that the early adopters in the niche you’ve identified learn about your product or service, as Krispy Kreme does by providing free donuts when it opens a new store. Those who care will tell everyone they know, which is the “idea virus” concept.  You can download a free copy of Godin’s “Unleashing the Ideavirus” here.

Add a “Free Prize”

Free Prize Inside argues that a series of small incremental changes to your product to add value is better than either a huge marketing campaign or a huge research budget. For example, when Amazon took their large marketing budget and chose to spend it on free shipping they created value, or a “free prize”, for their customers.

Godin’s notion of a “free prize” reminds me of “Lagniappe”, a Louisiana French word which means “a little something extra”, as in, “Enjoy this lagniappe…on us!”. An example of a lagniappe is when you buy a book and the bookstore gives you a beautiful bookmark as a gift, or when you buy a cappuccino and the waiter adds a couple of gourmet wafers. When you give your customers “a little something extra”, they’ll want to tell others about you.

Ask yourself: “What free prize could I provide my customers, my readers or my listeners?”

Tell a Compelling Story

Become a master storyteller; tell an engaging and exciting story that those you’re targeting want to hear.  If you can describe the benefits of your offering–whether it’s a product, a service, art work, your blog, and so on–in the way of an anecdote, then you’ll enable prospective clients to mentally ‘try on’ or visualize what you’re trying to sell.

In addition, your story should fit into people’s worldview: French wine tastes better than California wine, and it tastes even better in a twenty-dollar glass as opposed to a paper cup.  At the same time, sushi tastes better when it’s made by a Japanese chef.  As another example, the person who buys free range chicken and organic milk thinks of themselves as caring about the environment and leading a healthy style, so frame the story around that perception.  Reconnect the buyer to the joy of owning your product.

In his book All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World, Godin doesn’t really argue that marketers are liars, but that they’re story tellers that tell stories that consumers want to believe and that support their values, ideals, and aspirations.  Marketers frame their stories in a way that will appeal to their customers.  So, what compelling story can you tell others about your work?

Conclusion

Have a remarkable idea.  Stick firmly to the idea that will make you the best in the world in your chosen area and get rid of anything that is extraneous and simply getting in the way.  Target your product or service to a small group of early adopters by telling them a compelling story framed in their view of the world.  Give these early adopters the royal treatment by adding a free prize inside.  The small group of early adopters will help break your idea into the mainstream by spreading it like a virus.  Make something happen.

– Marelisa

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– Marelisa

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(”Totally in Love”; courtesy of e3ashig)

1. Remember that one put-down can erase hours of kindness you give to your partner. Follow James Brolin’s advice: “Treat each other like eggs.”

2. It’s OK to disagree: if two people always agree, one of them isn’t necessary.

3. Compliment your partner often.

4.  Develop good listening skills.

5. Keep in mind that we’re all trying to accomplish the same objectives in a relationship: acceptance, support, and affection.

6. Learn to handle conflict constructively.

7. Never say: “I told you so.”

8. Don’t take each other for granted.

9. Serve her breakfast in bed; include a long-stemmed red rose.

10. Have a sense of humor.

11. Be flexible.

12. Understand the importance of small touches and caresses.

13. Massage their feet; and give them a back rub.

14. Learn to tango.

15. Never betray their confidence.

16. Plan a lunch date.

17. Create a scrap book of your first year together.

18. Plan little surprises.

19. Keep a lock of his hair in a heart-shaped locket.

20. Flirt with each other.

21. Share the household chores.

22. Ride a bicycle built for two.

23. Never forget a single anniversary. Create a meaningful anniversary ritual.

24. Watch out for each other’s best interests.

25. Take a horse-drawn carriage ride.

26. Admit it when you’re wrong.

27. Befriend his/her friends.

28. Write each other love letters.

29.  Follow William James’ advice: “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”

30.  Make romance a habit.

31.  Don’t expect perfection.

32.  Share your dreams with each other.

33.  Be best friends as well as lovers.

34.   Hold hands.

35.  Don’t interrupt each other.

36.  Make lots of eye contact.

37.  Make a list for them: 101 reasons why I love you.

38.  Call just to say “I love you”.

39.  Make your partner feel special.

40.  Promise each other to grow old together.  Keep your promise.

– Marelisa

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