40-Day Creativity Challenge

Richard Leider of the Inventure Group speaks of Three Hungers that people are trying to feed throughout their lives.

The First is to connect deeply with the creative spirit of life. The Second Hunger is to know and express your gifts, and talents. The Third Hunger is to know that our lives matter. Fulfillment comes from feeding these three hungers.

Does the First Hunger about connecting with the creative spirit of life make you curious? It did me. When I thought about it as a creative raised by two creatives, here’s my conclusion:
Creativity is the highest form of thinking. What I call “Intuitive Creativity” flows out, fluid, expanding, and mercury on the move. Catch it quick. It won’t wait for you, ever! It’s the music of your mind, but “must needs” listen, as the Indians would say.

Effort comes about by tightening, concentration, full focus on a result. Not wrong, just not “Intuitive Creativity,” which invites you to let it be of service, rather than become its indentured servant.

“Intuitive Creativity” is what Garro’s 40-Day Creativity Challenge is all about. I am inviting you to devote three hours to “Intuitive Creativity” every day during the week, taking weekends off. That is eight full weeks, or fifty-six days. If you are thinking, “Three hours; I don’t have three extra minutes!” I say, “Yes, you do, because I found them and you can, too.”

I am getting up three hours earlier every day during the week and am so excited about what I am accomplishing. If you cannot do that, devote three hours at the end of your day. “What, and give up television, my friends at the bar, sports, the gym?” If you cannot do a three-hour block, break it down into an hour earlier in the morning, an hour at the end of the day, and a quick lunch and time in the middle of the day.

Remember, I said it was a “Challenge.”

To create products and services for tomorrow’s customer’s needs, you must discipline yourself to remain teachable and open to developing a creative mindset.

Which Creative Personality most fits you?

• Personality No. 1 – Idea after idea constantly popping into your mind that you wish you had the time to act upon and develop.
• Personality No. 2 – Can’t seem to find the time to come up with new ideas you could act upon to solve problems and create profit opportunities.
• Personality No. 3 – I look at problems in broad terms first, break the problem down into segments. So I have history and its effect on a variety of people and processes. Then, I blast it with a variety of possible solutions. Even when I solve the problem, I continue to seek improvements, never stopping.

Consider this, men and women in business who don’t actively cultivate and practice creativity are like a frog that dies when the water it is in boils, because it fails to jump out when the water gets uncomfortably hot. Or, they are like the grown elephant that lets a little peg in the ground keep it tethered, because the peg held it when it was a calf.

Not honing creative skills keeps you stuck in outmoded ways, like the elephant, or can cause a slow death of your viability like the frog.

If your mechanical mind kicked in and you are wondering how to make “Intuitive Creativity” work for you, here are:

Nine Steps to the Power of Creativity

1. Intended Outcome—know what you want to be creative about.
2. Information Gathering—what new do you need to know?
3. Information Analysis—how can organizing what you learned help?
4. Incubation—never underestimate the power of sustained thought.
5. Insight—the sparks of insight will amaze you in this process.
6. Inspiration—this is when your creative spirit kicks in.
7. Implementation—now it’s time to put your creativity to work.
8. Integration—make it into a harmonious implementation.
9. Incarnation—now you get to live in the new way/s you created.

Incarnation becomes your result after motivation meets inspiration to power “Intuitive Creativity.” The “Intuitive Creativity” process works. Creative vision sees beyond what is now and looks forward into new territory to what could be. Creativity begets an idea to satisfy a need. Innovation gives the idea the form or process that makes it a product or service. Implementation takes the sellable idea to market or incorporates it into in-house administrative processes.

Here are the words of Doug Hall, founder in 1986 of The Eureka Ranch, “Innovation is a journey, not a destination. It is a quest to understand how, as individuals, and a collective team, we can think quicker, smarter and more creatively.”

Wouldn’t you like to know exactly how to tap into your “Intuitive Creativity” at will to generate those new ideas you desperately need to solve your business problems and maintain a competitive edge?

To leap into uncharted territory you need to suspend your disbelief and overcome creativity-killer attitudes of perfectionism, judgment, ego, control, and subjectivity, as well as the temptation to deny you have any creative abilities.

You know creativity and its by-product innovation are crucial to sustain profitable sales volumes over the long term. It’s probably no surprise to you that two of the top five big problems for small business are weak sales and competition from large companies. For big companies it is sustaining to increasing sales while sustaining to increasing profitability. This economy challenges businesses of all sizes and scopes.

So, why do many business owners resist creative change? Consider that successful businesses can end up trapped like the frog. It really is too easy to tell yourself that you can do it this way forever because it is working for you right now. By the time reality sets in that a company has been operating under a false sense of security, significant customers have moved on. You have read and heard these stories time and again in the news.

You can learn to be more creative than you think you are right now. Ready for a User-Friendly Creativity Kit?

• Something to jot down thoughts everywhere you go: on your person when outdoors, in every room you use wherever you are, including car, truck, boat, plane, camper, train.
• Penlight or high-tech device for night flashes of creativity: in pocket or purse during recreational activities and by your bedside.

When you understand how to power up your “Intuitive Creativity,” you develop your own personal creativity process. Then, you can depend on your “Intuitive Creativity” to generate ideas, develop ideas, and problem-solve every day on and off the job.

Are you with me taking Garro’s 40-Day Creativity Challenge? I’ve already begun. My results have been exciting.

Are you thinking Garro’s 40-Day Creativity Challenge sounds interesting? How about jump-starting with some Intuitive Creativity Coaching? Coaching is available in private or group sessions mostly by telephone. Reach me at 518-587-9999 and let’s see what can work. You already know I’m up early.

My three extra hours every workday have me flying! So far, I have totally redesigned and re-written my website. Take a look. Let me know what you think. Have I told my story? Have I told it well? Have I made it user-friendly so you have the information you need to understand what we do and how we can help you?