Expanding Your Creative Mind

If you’ve ever watched little children you know they are always curious, seeking excitement, adventure and even fearless when it comes to escaping boredom. But something happens to them as they journey into adulthood that robs them their spontaneity. They become adults and settle into patterns of expected behaviors.
Which isn’t all bad—but it isn’t all good…
They take residence inside comfort zones. They seldom have breakthrough ideas. And expanding the mind is replaced by an expanding waistline.

I know this because I’ve been there. I was on the wrong road. The nice thing is I didn’t stay on that road. I took an exit…
A creativity exit.
Most entrepreneurs, small business owners and solo professionals who left the corporate world to “do their own thing” find doing their own thing a hard thing to do. They have the skills and have acquired some resources, but lack the creative mindset that enables them to make consistent money every single month.
But there is good news…
Creativity can be learned. And expanded. As long as you are open and are not jaded with decades of negative programming.
Here are some ideas you can apply immediately:
1) Positive affirmations. Repeat to yourself that you are a profit powerhouse. A money magnet. Or a success superstar. But not only that, believe and visualize you in that role. What would you say, do or behave differently than you do now?
2) Take creative action. Solve sudoku or crossword puzzles. Catch a Comedy Night show. Eat at exotic restaurants. Dress more colorfully. Drive the scenic route. Enjoy a massage. Sign up for online dating. Try bungee jumping. Dive into snorkeling. Step away from yourself to perform a random act of kindness.
3) Learn a new skill. Take an art class. Join a speech workshop. Become a writer. Hire a coach. Drive a stick shift. Enroll in leadership courses.
4) Invest in yourself. Attend seminars. Listen to self-development CDs. Read how-to books. Enjoy progressive music concerts. Look into alternative healers. Go to a favorite spot to people watch. Search for deeper truths when watching movies.

5) Begin a personal journal. Record personal success stories. The failures also. Write exactly what you’re thinking in the language you normally use. Don’t worry: this won’t be graded.
6) Model successful ideas. Adapt and apply successful marketing campaigns from TV, radio, newspapers, mail and Internet. Learn scripts from a sales guru.

7) Start a mastermind group. Let the creative juices flow. Accept and record every idea. Don’t criticize. There is nothing too wacky, off-the-wall, bizarre, silly, impractical, impossible or inappropriate. Nothing.
You have the power to awaken and expand your creative mind. You can learn to become more spontaneous while unlearning predictability. Just take the next exit. People will never see you in the same way again.