Creativity: a Problem Solving Framework

1) Identify The Goal

In order to be a creative person, you must understand how to use creativity from your perspective. We are all different. We all have problems, and we all solve them differently. This is aimed to help you identify your own creativity, and how you can apply it to your methods of problem solving. Start by first identifying some goals that you want to apply creativity to, no matter the size. You might also see your goal as a problem you are trying to solve. It’s best to start with the instinctive answer that pops into your head, and whatever reason brought you to purchasing this guide. Our goals we all have are most likely the area of our mind that leads us to get really excited about something, to feel inspired.

The only ingredient needed for creativity is inspiration, and once you feel inspired to do something, the next step is to act on it. It has to be something that your are passionate about, or this framework alone will fall short of helping you achieve your creative goals. You can’t compete without a competitor, so you need to identify what it is you want to accomplish. You goal can be anything that you want to achieve. Creativity can be applied to absolutely any other topic or subject or goal. It could be something physical, emotional, or psychological thing that is you want to achieve, but you still need to identify the goal that you’re attempting to apply creativity to.

Creativity isn’t something that just magically appears, it must be applied to something. Whatever the goal is, we are going to find an internal way to solve the problem of achieving that goal. It’s all about relating it to something you connect to, and that’s where creativity shows it’s many faces. It’s not about thinking about the end goal, but being more critical of path you take to get there. It needs to be something fills you with burning passion, because that will give you a sense of direction, because the very first step you take in this direction only one it takes to convince you it’s the right way. There is no other choice you have, in order to be happy you must follow your dreams. That passion fuels the energy needed to solve your own pain of not following your creative goals. Forcing creativity out of something that has no passion is impossible.

We all have our own obstacles in our way to creative freedom, and admitting your own problems is step one. Deep down we all can identify what problems are in our way, and it’s usually internal ones. Anxiety, fear, depression, self-doubt, all worthy reasons to halt a human being from being creative. It up to you, and only you, to determine what is honestly stopping you from achieving creative freedom. If you can’t identify that burning passion in your life: because you bought this book I am willing to give you free 1v1 creative consultation to help you find it.

Challenge: Identify the problem or goal you wish to apply creativity to

2) Excuses Become Your Challenges

“I don’t know how”, “I was never taught that”, “I don’t think I could do this”, “Someone told me I couldn’t”, “Someone came up with this idea already”, “I can’t fix this problem”, “I am terrible at..” ... All excuses you should try to view as challenges in your way from obtaining your goal. These beliefs are limiting your imagination and not allowing your creativity to shoot from your fingertips. Imagination is the problem solving tool we use to figure out how to beat these challenges. Replace every internal belief you have that limits your progress with just one idea:

Everything needs to seem like it’s just a challenge now, when you identify your burning passion. Everything that you face as a challenge will have a new perspective once you’ve identified your burning passion. That’s how you start to plan out your strategy, challenge by challenge. Identify the objectives in your way from completing that goal, no matter how many they are or how large they may be. You need to be really honest with yourself, and admit that most of the things that are stopping you from achieving creative freedom are in fact just excuses you tell yourself.

You can’t have emotional walls up, or you won’t be able to break new ground in any manner. It’s one of the most important things about achieving creative goals, is allowing yourself to be wrong- putting yourself out there. Your imagination is at work, even when you don’t realize it. When you face a problem, your mind is using problem solving skills. When you use those problem solving skills, you use some amount of creativity. The amount that is applied, can be adjusted- once you can recognize it for what it truly is. Stop fearing failure, that is just an excuse. You can be a self-made anything, there are lots of ways to self-educate yourself if that’s. If you fail, figure out why and try again- fixing what you did last time.

Why should there be any other option than this? There shouldn’t be- considering we are working off of a complete burning desire to achieve our creative goal. You’re now in a constant mode of “doing”. You need to put yourself out there, and stop making excuses for everything you do, no matter how uncomfortable it is. I have no problem saying it, because it’s something I have done myself, and I continually have to fight. It’s a natural thing for us, but the battle we fight to force ourselves to move on instead of dwell is a key part of the process of achieving creative freedom.

Challenge: Identify your biggest internal beliefs that are limiting your creativity

3) Thrill Your Role

Equally as important as identifying goals, is accessing what you have available to you to possibly get you in the right direction. It could be one thing, or a combination of things from your personality that all work together that fill you with passion. Usually it’s the thing we want to be the most. People often say “they don’t know who they are”, or “they don’t know how” when it comes to something that requires their creativity, and the fact is: neither of them are anything other than excuses. They need to identify what’s they deeply want to be, and start there. Whatever problems/goals you have from step 1, you need to identify what you can do to bring your passion into it. That’s the second step to finding your creative freedom- identifying the route which you will take to accomplish your goals, or solve your problem. If something makes you feel that burning passion, then that is your creativity signals going off. Those are the things you want to foster, and you will start to harness that raw energy. Embrace your passions with your whole heart, and don’t take your passions for granted. Embrace and understand what your role is, the one that fills you with raw energy. Who cares where what other people say your talents are, sometimes that isn’t where our creative hearts lie.

Chase down that dream, and never ever take ‘no’ for an answer. Don’t let anyone tell you that your dream is stupid or unobtainable. Creativity is not talent, nor is it luck. The most successful people in the world believe that luck is created, and this framework has helped me become “lucky” throughout my entire life. It’s about embracing what you have, what you are, and rocking your role the hardest that anyone can rock it. It’s so easy in concept, because who else is better at being you than yourself? It’s not a matter of asking who do you want to be like, it’s a matter of deciding what your convictions are, and what makes your creative energy explode.

Do what you do, and do it well. Don’t just fill your role, whatever it is. Thrill it. Identifying your strengths is equally as important as knowing what is stopping you. These are your weapons when you go into battle vs your enemy. Not everyone has the same weapons, but were all born with one, you might just have never learned how to use yours. No matter what you’ve considered to be impossible, you must convince yourself that you can do it- and the larger your challenge is, the more you can accomplish, not the more you have to. Force yourself to think: I am lucky to have the opportunity for this challenge.

Challenge: Identify the thing you want to be known for, when you imagine yourself accomplishing your goal or defeating your problem.

4) Make Yourself Uncomfortable

Go ahead, start something. Anything. Now that you have your problems identified, your challenges staked out, and your identity locked down.. The only thing to do is face the uncomfortable feelings that come next. It’s not about the goal your trying to accomplish, but instead it’s about the process of thinking that it takes you to push your comfort limits. There is an incredible amount of learning that comes from breaking your own personal boundaries. Start by looking at your challenges, one by one. These are the things that will most likely make you feel uncomfortable, but will cause you to have exponential learning. During that time of uncomfortable, you need to remember what you’re doing this for.

You need to know that the feelings are holding you back from actually accomplishing those goals, and then you need to start to seek out those uncomfortable things. There is no shame in being bad at something. There should be shame in not trying. You must persevere through something that is awful before you can see the benefits of it. Tackle your challenges, one by one, or all at a time. Use your tools to get there, and keep your goal in mind to stay inspired. The very first step at being kind of good at something, is to be really bad at it first. That’s why we are trying to focus harder on those times when we feel uncomfortable, because that’s the areas we should target. It’s where we have the most potential to learn about ourselves. Nothing will push you further to your creative limits than to test them.

You need to go out and start “doing” whatever it is that fills you with passion. You need to start tackling those newly identified challenges, and make yourself feel like you’ve never felt before. It’s not about feeling comfortable, it’s the opposite. When we are uncomfortable, we start to feel those negative feelings bubbling up inside, and we just keep remembering that this is the feeling of progress. That uncomfortable feeling is your creative mind’s way of teaching itself new things, and you need to start to love that feeling.

It’s not going to be nearly as worse as you anticipated, and if it is: just be proud of yourself for doing something that challenging! Loving the feeling of personal growth, in any facet, is one of the most worthwhile creative efforts you can do. It’s so rewarding to finally put myself out there sometimes, where in the past I had been so scared of those uncomfortable feelings. Just because we’ve tried to use creativity as a method of problem solving, doesn’t mean it’s creative. That’s where the next step comes in, so you can start to validate your efforts.

Challenge:Identify the things that make your stomach turn, that bubble in your throat, when you think about doing.

5) Trust Other People

Do not let someone tell you that can’t do something. That is the trick to step 5, is being able to turn those words that used to defeat you into what they are meant to be: feedback. Has anyone ever told you that you suck at something? Or are you like most of the population, and you tell yourself that you suck? Well that’s backwards, because you should get feedback on your problems in order to gain perspective. The lack of feedback is the only thing that should truly scare you. You need to start to hear other peoples words as what they really are- just words.

Listen to what their motivations are for telling you those words, and you can start to identify the really impacting people who can help you on your journey to creative freedom. You will inspire them, if you feel inspired yourself to accomplish your goal. Just as important as putting yourself out there, is trusting that you can handle whatever is going to happen. Handling the outside world internally, and being able to focus on the things that give you an equal amount of focus back. I’ve found it completely opposite of what I initially thought would happen, when I started just “doing” and pursuing my creative dreams: I got a lot of help. You must learn to trust other people, no matter how many times you’ve told yourself not to, or no matter how many times you’ve sworn off trusting anyone else. No matter how many times or how painful another person in your life has been in your past, you need to learn to trust them.

That is the only way you can really find those people who DO want to help you. And even if they don’t, reverse that thinking: it’s just feedback. If you are focusing on feedback alone, you will crumble. If you find that burning passion, have a goal in mind, determine what is stopping you, then start putting yourself out there, the next step is to start to see the human resources that are all around you, waiting for you to use them. Ask for help, and more importantly, be receptive to help. Show those who can help you that burning desire, however you can.

Those who have the internal burning desire can recognize it in other people. It’s not some weird hippy-talk, what I am saying: it’s real. Using creativity in business is how leaders excel. Using creativity in the workplace is how you set yourself apart. Applying creativity to any activity you do, will ultimately product more innovative results. You have endless power with your imagination, and you accept that. So imagination lies within us, right? We have an infinite supply of anything inside of us, then we can infinitely output imagination and have absolutely no loss of energy.

Challenge: Identify the times in your life where you’ve had your trust burned, and what you will do to protect yourself internally if it happened again.

6) Love To Be Wrong

Learn to love finding your flaws, and learn to test your convictions. We can’t walk around with our heads held so high that we can’t see what’s right under our nose. We need to be constantly figuring out new ways to expand our personal growth. Never think you know it all- you’ll become a target for someone else to pursue their creative dreams. The key is to find your passion, and run with it. Never stop moving, and no one will ever catch up to you. Seek the pleasure in being wrong, but do not confuse this idea with assuming you are incorrect. You need to have deep understanding of your beliefs, but you must also be constantly seeking ways to test your convictions.

You won’t have to spend your time constantly spending energy seeking new material to learn from-- you can be living, breathing and accepting new information if you adapt your mind to love to be wrong. Never stop seeking the truth, and never stop questioning your own beliefs. You have to be able to defend everything you believe in: to the death- but you should believe in this saying: “I love to be wrong”- and say it with a sense of humility. You don’t actually love being incorrect in your beliefs, but you love when something you thought to be true is in fact not true.

You should consider yourself lucky, because you have the opportunity for growth. I love to have my assumptions reverse, and my ignorance cured. I find myself awaken to new possibilities every time I find an error in my own thinking. There is a moment of shame, of course, but the benefits of correctly addressing a recognized problem in your own mind set can change your life. Don’t have prejudices about anyone other than yourself. Make yourself work so hard, you don’t have to ever worry about what challenges are going to be thrown at your way. It’s just another thing you learn from, and then make yourself more valuable through the process.

Now, this mind set puts us in a prime situation to do one thing a lot, which is something I often do: Apologize for being wrong, and don’t get mad, just learn from your mistakes. Not only do I apologize frequently for my mistakes (because I always seek to find them)- I do my best to not repeat the same mistake. That is something that has proven a very simple but effective tactic in becoming a better listener, writer, designer, developer, friend, boyfriend, son, and brother.

Challenge: Try to remember the last time you had to apologize for being wrong, and try to think of how you handled it.

7) Be Impatient

It’s only true if you adopt the rest of this mind set: don’t wait for anyone else, just start moving. Stop waiting for anyone, or anything, or even to finish this e-book in order to start. We all waste our time waiting, watching, and wishing. Stop waiting for someone to help you, and help yourself. If something isn’t working out like you hoped it would, move onto something else. Never settle for standing still, in a world full of opportunities. You can now use your imagination better than ever before, because you now realize something most people don’t: Imagination is infinite.

We all have imaginations, therefore we all posses something that is by definition never-ending that we can use at our will. Not enough people respect the power of imagination, and that is just a shame. That’s why I made this e-book, and that’s why I continue my passionate journey. I live by these steps, and every decision I make is strengthened with my imagination, and my creative freedom. Once you learn how to use your imagination to produce results that are external, yo won’t ever be the same again.

Impatience is a virtue. It’s the process that you learn to love. It’s a process of learning through personal discovery, while you move forward on your dreams. Without your burning passion in life, you’re probably going to be very depressed most of the time. I know I was, for right around twenty years. Never settle for anything less than the complete dedication to fueling that burning desire in your stomach. Do not let that fire go out, and do not let anyone put it out for you.

It has to be a forest fire of desire, then creativity is just a product of that effort. Your creative output is measured by your internal input-- how much creativity flows from your fingers is controlled by how you point those fingers at yourself. Invest in your passion. You must move fast and learn fast, creativity is not a slow process. It’s an avalanche of ideas and inspiration that once you figure out how to start that avalanche, becomes unstoppable.

Challenge:: Always be recognizing your goals and problems, and how creativity can help. Never accept an excuse ever again, call them challenges. Be constantly searching for those uncomfortable feelings- they lead to growth. Trust other people, forever. Love to be wrong, and you’ll never stop learning, and most importantly.. Never sit around and wait for something to happen.