Today's book club is about creativity. In chapter 5 “How to think creatively” of the book “The Magic of Thinking Big”, Dr. David J Schwartz shares a personal story.

To illustrate the power of creative thinking, in his training sessions, David Schwartz used to have the following conversation:

-How many of you believe we can get rid of prisons?
In the first part of the story, invariably people loudly resist the new idea at a fast pace:
-This way, we would have no safety. We must have prisons.
Some people even suggested that we need prisons so that police officers continue having jobs
And people continue offering good reasons for why we need prisons and they continue creating problems for the new idea. After Dr. David J Schwartz allows the public to “demonstrate” why we can't live without prisons, he continues the experiment by saying:
-Every one of you came with reasons for why we need prisons. Can you make me a favor? Think carefully for several minutes, make an extra effort and tell me why we could live without prisons.
In the second part of the story the responses from the public come at a lower voice and at a slower pace.
-We can reduce crime rate by improving education.
Not long afterwards, the same group that opposed the new idea collaborates with creative solutions for making it happen.
-Reducing poverty might be useful. Many crimes are caused by lack of money…

What would be the message from this brief story?

How can you increase your creativity?

Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing there is a solution paves the way to a solution. Belief releases creative powers. David J. Schwartz

Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are. Successful people are not superhuman. Success does not require a super-intellect. Nor is there anything mystical about success. And success isn't based on luck. Successful people are just ordinary folks who have developed belief in themselves and what they do. Never...yes, never...sell yourself short. David J. Schwartz

• In the first part of the story, we can see how negative thinking can block creative thinking.
• In the second part of the story, we can see how we can stimulate our creativity:

Goals are as essential to success as air is to life. David J. Schwartz

Believe Big. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success. Remember this, too! Big ideas and big plans are often easier -certainly no more difficult - than small ideas and small plans. David J. Schwartz

When you believe something is impossible, your mind goes to work for you to prove why. But when you believe, really believe, something can be done, your mind goes to work for you and helps you find the ways to do it. David J. Schwartz

Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution. Albert Einstein

Your creative mind will offer you creative solutions for achieving your ambitious goals, as long as you allow your goals to stimulate your mind.
You can stimulate your creativity daily by asking yourself questions oriented toward progress:

• How can I achieve more results?
• How can I achieve better results?
• How can I be more effective in what I do?
• How can I improve my results?
• How can I innovate the way I do things?

You can increase your creativity by using your curiosity. You will find creative ideas if you're curious enough to ask yourself questions that demand creative answers. That should be good news, because curiosity is a resource we all have, in unlimited quantities.
Creative ideas are like seeds: the better we take care of them, the more will come to fruition. To be more fruitful, you can write your ideas and cultivate any idea that has potential: draft it, study related information, chisel it and implement it to improve your achievements. When your idea is written, it gains a tangible form and,

• you can better visualize it,
• your mind can find related creative ideas,
• you can see where it needs to be chiseled,
• you can see what other information you need to finish it.
• you can see how you can better present it, so your audience can better see it.

Fortunately, we live in an age in which we have access to information about anything.

The mind is what the mind is fed. David J. Schwartz

David J. Schwartz compares the creative mind with a factory of which finished product are creative ideas, and just like any other factory it needs raw material.
There are self-improvement books that are written with the purpose to stimulate your creative thinking with creative ideas. “The Magic of Thinking Big” is just one example. This kind of books are a good source of raw material for your creative mind.

Studying information is not the only way to feed your creative mind with materials. Learn to ask questions and to listen to other people. Be interested in other people and you'll get raw material for your creative ideas.
In the next exchange of ideas you can find more pieces from the puzzle you create.

This brief story also helps you

Overcome the obstacles of your creativity

First of all, what are the obstacles of your creativity?

Negative thinking can block you from thinking at your ambitious goal. And you can overcome it by allowing yourself to see your ambitious goal as a possibility.

Regressive thinking can block your progressive and creative thinking. Tradition is not necessarily an obstacle for creativity and improvement. Traditional thinking can be an obstacle for creative thinking when it's a form of regressive thinking, when it prevents useful knowledge or progress.

Don't let tradition paralyze your mind. Be receptive to new ideas. Be experimental. Try new approaches. Be progressive in everything you do. David J. Schwartz

History is filled with examples in which traditional thinking prevented improvement.

Let's take for example what happened to Galileo Galilei. The new idea of heliocentrism proposed by Galileo Galilei was considered a dogma by people who believed the dogma of geocentrism. The truth was considered a lie by people who believed a lie. The grip of a lie can be so strong that even today there is a debate between people who believe the earth moves around the sun and the ones who believe other way around. This example also show us how the blind faith in authority can blind us from the truth. Galileo Galilei was convicted of grave suspicion of heresy for

following the position of Copernicus, which is contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture.

What lesson can we learn from Galileo Galilei’ story?

In this case traditional thinking was an obstacle to the truth.

Another example might be Traian Vuia, a Romanian inventor and aviation pioneer who designed, built and tested the first tractor monoplane. He was the first to demonstrate that a flying machine could rise into the air by running on wheels on an ordinary road. Due to financial constraints he searched someone interested in financing his project. And, as incredible as it may seem, his new idea was met with skepticism even by The French Academy of Sciences that rejected it with the comment:

The problem of flight with a machine which weighs more than air can not be solved and it is only a dream.

What lesson can we learn from Traian Vuia’ story?

In this case traditional thinking was an obstacle for the progress of aviation.

History will repeat itself until we learn its lessons. So,
What would the lessons be from our history so far, regarding creative ideas?

Creative ideas that challenge the status quo are not necessarily bad. They can help us innovate the status quo. In fact, history contains multiple examples in which new ideas that initially are considered threats, are actually the way for innovation and progress. A flying machine heavier than air, is just one example. Plus,
How do we innovate the status quo as long as we deny new ideas that challenge it?

The tendency to resist new ideas continues to modern times. You can see for yourself how prevalent this tendency is by offering new ideas to your friends. The resistance to creative ideas goes by the following reasoning:

Things are like this for thousands of years, thus things are ok and this is how they have to remain. Why would we risk changing them?

To increase your creativity, you can consider the suggestions of Dr. David J Schwartz.

Bottom line:

Your creative mind constantly produce finished goods (creative ideas) as long as you constantly feed it good raw materials that stimulate your creativity:

• questions that demand creative answers,
• the next self-improvement book you read,
• the next exchange of ideas,
• new ideas that challenge the status quo.

To increase your creative thinking:

• you can free yourself from the regressive and negative language of regressive and negative thinking: “things should remain the same”, “impossible”, “it won't work”, “it can't be done”, “it's not worth taking the chance”.
• you can welcome the progressive thinking oriented toward future and progress.

What would be some aspects of our lives in which creativity would be more than welcomed?

Let's take for example health. Millions of people die every year from health problems that can be prevented through healthy food. So, there is a lot of room for progress regarding public health.
What would be some creative ideas for the progress of public health?

Creativity is such an interesting subject that it deserves more than just 1 article. A perspective from Reality Transurfing by Vadim Zeland is the subject of a future article.

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This article are part of a book.
See you in the next article. Until then, in the comment section you can share your opinion for the questions of this article. Thanks so much for reading. Have a great day.