Creativity is a critical skill today. Both persistent problems and new problems require innovative solutions.

You’re probably familiar with the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again.” It’s not that hard to come up with a solution.

The second one is harder; the third even more difficult. In order to “try, try again”, you have to be able to think creatively.

Through the eyes of a child

Why is it that many people just don’t seem to be creative? Is it a natural ability or is it an acquired skill? Here’s one expert’s answer:

“When children are very young, they all express creativity, but by the end of the first grade, very few do so,” says Robert Epstein, former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today and author of The Big Book of Creativity Games.

So how do you become more creative? Go back to kindergarten!

Improve your creative thinking skills by allowing yourself to daydream. Don’t force yourself to stay on task.

Ask questions, even if they seem silly. Have you ever grown tired of the incessant “Why” question by a toddler?

Drive people crazy! Act like a toddler again. Ask “Why.”

But don’t stop there. Take a note from Robert Kennedy and ask, “Why not?” Then let your imagination run wild!

Albert Einstein, the person most branded with intelligence, recognized that it was much less important than imagination.

So pour yourself a glass of milk. Pull out a few cookies. Then think like a kid!

Note: The quote above comes from a great article on creativity. It has to be purchased. It’s long. But it’s a great read so we highly recommend it to you.

A child learns a lesson in business

Bill Rosenberg was nine-years old. He often tagged along to work with his dad, who owned a grocery store in Boston.

One hot summer day, Bill’s dad made the boy responsible for selling watermelons. If the nine-year old didn’t sell them, they would go bad.

Bill set up a stand in front of the store. He stood there. And stood there. And stood there.

People weren’t buying! The young man realized he needed to get creative.

He positioned himself by the streetcar stop. He barked out, “Bring a watermelon home! Surprise your family!”

People were impressed with the boy’s enthusiasm. Before long, all the watermelons were gone. Bill was a BIGG success!

What happened to Bill Rosenberg? He went on to start Dunkin’ Donuts, a chain that sells over $5 billion of food and coffee through its nearly 9,000 stores. Source: Time to Make the Donuts, William Rosenberg

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It will probably sound a bit odd, at least at first.

It’s certainly counterintuitive, at least in part.

But it is the shortest distance between where you are now and the BIGG success that you dream about.

It requires you to be able to hold two conflicting ideas in harmony. So what is it?

Eliminate possibilities while keeping your options open.

Eliminate possibilities

When it comes to choosing your path through life, you are inundated with choices.

Every idea seems like a good idea. But most of them aren’t.

The key to reaching BIGG success as fast as possible is to eliminate your choices as quickly as possible.

We learned this from a venture capitalist. He said his job is to “get to no as fast as possible.”

Then you can move on to the next idea. Keep going until you have trouble saying no.

Then you can focus on the few ideas that are truly gems. Did you notice the key term in that last sentence?

Focus. That’s the reason to eliminate possibilities – to allow you to focus your precious resources on a few great ideas at a time.

Keep your options open

Now you’re ready for the conflict. As you develop the idea, you will gain more information.

Just what you needed, right? You did such a good job eliminating possibilities. Now you know more so you have more.

And that’s good news. It’s how you will deal with the unexpected.

BIGG success is about entrepreneuring your life. As an entrepreneur, you know you can’t predict the future. You create it.

You create it. with creativity. Your creativity helps you see new options to get to BIGG success faster.

Creativity. That’s what this second part is all about. It keeps you from hitting your head up against the same wall over and over.

Creative focus will help you reach BIGG success!

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It’s 11.11.11. So we thought we’d share 11 + 11 + 11 = 33 ways to be a BIGG success.

11 terms

BIGG success is life on your own terms. Here are 11 terms that help you take control to build the life that fits you perfectly.

1) Believe:
Belief is hope internalized. Believe you will reach BIGG success. Then let your mind go to work to help you get there.

2) Design: Your purpose is the place where your passions, proficiencies, and preferences all intersect with opportunity. Find your reason for being.

3) Live: Always remember that your career is part of your life, not the other way around. Your career is what you do, not who you are. Work to live!

4) Love: Relationships are critical to a fulfilling life. Love is a verb. So actively show the people around you how much you care about them.

5) Innovate: Innovation is imagination in action. Don’t accept the status quo. Discover ways to make your corner of the world a better place.

6) Act: You won’t fulfill your purpose just by thinking. Action turns intangible thoughts into tangible results.

7) Learn: Action creates advantage. But only if you learn from the situation at hand. The future belongs to the learning, not the learned.

8) Adapt: The whole point of learning is to know when to adapt. In uncertain times, flexibility is critical to your BIGG success.

9) Endure: Most people fail because they give up too soon. Remember that the journey is part of the reward. Press on!

10) Experience: Try new things. Go to new places. Experiences make you more interesting to others and ramp up your creativity.

11) Give: Giving implies abundance. So tell your brain you have more than enough by sharing some of what you have.

11 Quotes

We love inspirational quotes. So here are eleven that resonated with us as we prepared this post.

1) “The greatest strength is gentleness.” ~ Iroquois Proverb

2) “Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.” ~ Dennis Wholey

3) “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” ~ Sun Tzu

4) “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” ~ John Lennon

5) “Do or do not. There is no try.” ~ Yoda

6) Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible. ~ M.C. Escher

7) “I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ~ Thomas Edison

8) “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” ~ Oscar Wilde

9) “Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.” ~ Brendan Gill

10) “You laugh at me because I am different, but I laugh at you because you are all the same.” ~ Author Unknown

11) “A person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” ~ Shirley MacLaine

11 funny thoughts

We often try to be a little lighter with our posts on Friday. So below you’ll find the final third of our 11.11.11 installment. Hopefully, they’ll provide a chuckle or two.

1) Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

2) Warning: Dates in calendar are closer than they appear.

3) After all is said and done, more is said than done.

4) The sooner you fall behind, the more time you’ll have to catch up.

5) If you understand what you’re doing, you’re not learning anything.

6) The only job where you start at the top is digging a hole.

7) Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

8) Never, under any conditions, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

9) Even when you feel poor, you can still pay attention.

10) A smart man covers his ass. A wise man leaves his pants on.

11) Don’t sweat the petty things. And whatever you do, don’t pet the sweaty things.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time, here’s to your BIGG success!

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Bill Rosenberg was nine-years old. He often tagged along to work with his dad, who owned a grocery store in Boston.

One hot summer day, Bill’s dad made the boy responsible for selling watermelons. If the nine-year old didn’t sell them, they would go bad.

Bill set up a stand in front of the store.

And he stood there. And stood there. And stood there.

People weren’t buying!

The young man wasn’t about to give up. His dad was counting on him.

But he realized that he needed to get creative. He thought about it. He looked around. He got an idea. Maybe this would work.

He repositioned his watermelon stand right by the streetcar stop. He barked out, “Bring a watermelon home! Surprise your family!”

More people saw his stand. They were impressed with the boy’s enthusiasm. Before long, all the watermelons were gone. Bill was a BIGG success!

What happened to Bill Rosenberg?

He went on to start Dunkin’ Donuts, a chain that sells over $5 billion of food and coffee through its nearly 9,000 stores.

Creativity is a critical skill in the new economy. Persistence has always been crucial. Put the two ingredients together and you have the recipe for BIGG success.

We all know the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again.”

The first solution often seems obvious. However, what do you do when it doesn’t work?

You have to come up with a second solution. That’s harder to do.

You have to get more creative. And you can’t give up.

Source: Time to Make the Donuts by William Rosenberg

 Image in this post from FrenchByte

George De Mestral needed a break. So he went on a two-week hunting trip in the Swiss Alps.

When he returned, he picked out several cockleburs off of his clothes. Then he proceeded to pull several more out of his dog’s fur.

An engineer by trade, he was curious: What made these tiny objects stick so tightly?

So he put one under a microscope and noticed little hooks that would catch anything with a loop like clothing and fur. He went on to develop a product which simulated nature.

The product became a household name – Velcro.

How can you find your BIGG idea?

Here are three keys we can all learn from the discovery of Velcro:

• Observe
  

  A lot of people think they will get their BIGG idea by brainstorming. However, many of the best ideas are discovered through observation.
  

  It’s so easy these days to jump from task to task – or more likely from multi-task to multi-task – and completely miss what’s going on around you.
  

  You can get so busy that you fly right by your BIGG discovery!
  

• Ask
  

  But observation isn’t enough. Anybody would have noticed the cockleburs.
  

  George De Mestral was curious. He asked a simple question: Why?
  

  “Why” and “Why Not” are two of the best questions you can ask about anything you observe.
  

  Kids do it all the time. It’s one of the secrets to their creativity.
  

• Play
  

  Many people assume their BIGG discovery will happen while they’re diligently at work.
  

  In reality, the best ideas often come while you’re playing. It’s the secret of Nobel Prize winners. It’s when many entrepreneurs get their BIGG ideas.

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