How To Develop Your Creative Side

Everyone has a creative side although sometimes it is hidden and does not come to the surface quite as quickly as it does to others, however you can develop creativity by digging deep and practicing, searching for your creative side and bringing it to the forefront. Here are some top tips for helping you to draw out your creative side and expand on your creativity.

• Create lists – you can expand your creativity greatly and get that side working by making up a list whenever you have a problem which needs some creative thinking, list down as many ideas as you possibly can for solutions and let your creativity flow.
• Make changes in your life – sometimes we can get a creative block if we are stuck in a rut, make some changes to your daily life to get the channels flowing again.
  Work on the bad ideas – even if you are only coming up with bad ideas you are still being creative so work on the bad ones and develop them, whose to say it is a bad idea anyway, it could turn into a great idea and solution to your problems.
• Work in a great – working in a group and brainstorming together is a great way to develop creativity.
• Challenge yourself and others – if you challenge yourself by telling yourself you can’t do something the way you always have done it, you will then have to think of new ways to get around the problem which can lead to some very creative suggestions.
• Doodle – if you are stuck for ideas to a solution then keep a pen and paper handy and let your imagination clear and doodle ideas on the paper, it’s surprising what you will come up with if you free your mind this way.
• Encourage the thinking side of your brain – the right side of your brain is where the creativity starts so give it a jolt and wake it up by activating using the left side, try breathing out using only your left nostril a few times.
• Hire a life coach – if you feel your creativity is truly depleted then consider hiring a life coach to help you find it, a life coach can help you to establish the areas where your creativity is lacking and work with you to strengthen it.
• Think like a child – let go of all your adult obligations, stresses, strains and worries and go back to your childhood, children have the best imaginations and their creativity knows no bounds, think like a child when you are stuck for creative ideas and they will soon flow freely once again.
• Relax – creativity can often become depleted if we are under great stress, learning a relaxation technique not only makes you feel better but can help to clear your mind, give you a fresh start and get your creative side flowing again.
• Use some mind games – keep a few mind games to hand such as logic puzzles, by taking your mind off your problem and solving a puzzle you are using your brain and using your brain leads to positive and creative thinking.

“Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” - Albert Einstein

I have always been a big fan of Tony Robbins.  Here’s a funny Clip I came by during my lunch break today.
Enjoy!

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. - Tony Robbins

You can accomplish anything you set your mind to, the sky really is your limit, and providing you follow a few simple steps, you are able to accomplish anything in life. The key to success is, being absolutely committed to achieving what it is you want, set your mind to taking whatever steps needed to accomplish what you want and you change your approach and stick with this new approach until you achieve what you want. The steps are relatively easy to follow and changes can be made easily to determine your success in anything that you want to achieve in life, let’s take a closer look at the above steps.

Commitment
You should take positive action and decide exactly what it is you wish to achieve in life and set your goal, once you have set your mind on what you want you should go into it with utter conviction and commitment. When you are planning and setting out your goal you have to have firm conviction that you will achieve your goal whatever it takes, you should visualize your goal from beginning to end and see yourself achieving whatever it is you set out do.

Take whatever steps are needed
Once you have decided to go for it and have made the commitment then the next step is to start taking action towards reaching your goal, taking the first step is actually the hardest part because it means going out there and actually doing something. Thinking about what it is you have to do is the easy part as is saying you are committed to doing, but doing means facing the unknown and putting your plan into action and this stage is very often where most people fail, because fear stops us from moving forward.

Sticking with it
When you have made the commitment and taken the plunge into making your dream or goal a reality you have to have perseverance and be willing to change your approach until you finally reach your desired goal. Depending on what it is that you set out to do this could take some time but it essential that you stay as committed to seeing the project through as when you first started out, it can help to keep a journal of your project from start to finish, this way you are able to see how far you have come and keep your mind focused on the outcome you wish to achieve. Life has many unexpected quirks and can throw anything at us so it is important that you continue pushing yourself through any unexpected hard times continually onwards towards your goal. Once again fear is the main problem and the biggest reason why most people fail to achieve and give up what they set out to do, if you give in to fear it will only continue to put bigger blocks in your way until eventually it overcomes you and you give in. The sky really is your limit if you attempt set out to accomplish with perseverance and determination to overcome anything that is thrown into your path.

“Success is not to be pursued;it is to be ATTRACTED by the PERSON WE BECOME“. -Jim Rohn

Having a Positive Attitude is the key to being happy and leading a successful life.

Our thoughts play a huge role in how we feel and positive thinking leads to a confident person happy in life, while negativity leads to low self-esteem and you missing out on so much in life. We so often talk ourselves out of things without even realizing we are doing so, everyday hundreds of negative thoughts drift freely through our mind, we put ourselves down too much and sow the seeds of doubt. There is a small simple tool that you can use throughout the day to help to change these negative thoughts and instill a more positive way of thinking; using daily positive affirmations can change your life drastically for the better. They can make you more confident, more aware, more sure of yourself and change your life in many more aspects for the better.
What Are Positive Affirmations?
Positive affirmations can be used throughout the day anywhere and at anytime you need them, the more you use them the easier positive thoughts will take over negative ones and you will see benefits happening in your life.

An affirmation is a simple technique that is used to change negative self-talk that we are rarely even aware of doing, into looking at your life with a more positive attitude. Most of us have for many years bombarded ourselves with negative thoughts so changing your thoughts and the way you think won’t happen overnight but if you stick with affirmations they will work once you have retrained your way of thinking. There are many different affirmation techniques for dealing with different situations in life and the most popular and successful are listed below.

The Mirror Technique
This technique helps you to appreciate yourself and develop self-awareness and self-esteem, you should stand in front of a mirror, preferably a full length one in either just your underwear or better still naked. Start at your head and working down your body say out loud what it is you like about areas of your body, for example you could say “I like the way my hair shines, the slight differences in color where the light hits it” or “ my eyes are a lovely shade of _ _ _ _. They sparkle and glint; my eyes are a wonderful feature” take the time and go slowly over all your body building up a more positive image of yourself.

The Anywhere Technique
This technique can be used anywhere and whenever you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, when you realize you are having a negative thought think of yourself turning down a volume knob inside your head so that you turn it down low enough so as not to hear it any longer. Then think a positive affirmation to replace the negative and turn the volume back up repeating it to yourself.

The Trashcan Technique
If you have negative thoughts write them down on a scrap of paper, screw the paper up into a ball and throw it into the trashcan, by doing this you are telling yourself these thoughts are nothing but rubbish and that’s where they belong.

The Meditation Technique
Find somewhere quiet where you able to relax for 5 or 10 minutes close your eyes and let your mid empty of all thoughts and feelings. Begin to repeat your affirmation to yourself over and over again while concentrating on the words you are repeating and believe in what you are saying.

“Repetition Is The Mother of Skill” - Jim Rohn

Focusing The Mind On The Positive

We all go through some tough times in life, that’s just life; it can’t always be a bed of roses. However life is what you make it and by staying positive through the bad times as well as the good can make all the difference and gets you through the tough times with a smile.

But the big question is “how do you stay positive when things get tough?”

Staying upbeat at times like this is the last thing on your mind, but it should be the first, you need to think positively now more than ever. The key to staying positive is to take your mind off your problems and worries and re-energizing your mind, this is especially true when you are having a bad day and you feel sorry for yourself and want to sit down and cry.

Here are some excellent tips for keeping a positive outlook in life no matter what’s going around you.

• If you find yourself around those who are negative then break free from them, negativity has a way of passing from person to person and they will drag you down with them.
• Don’t sit in front of the TV for hours at a time, the news is depressing, cop shops feature violence and death and negativity in some form is found on almost every show. If you do watch TV go for the more positive program such as a nature documentary showing the wonderful world in all its glory or a comedy.
• Spend as much time as you can with your family and loved ones, do something together which you all enjoy and aim to have a family night at least once a week where you can spend quality time together.
• In times when you are feeling particularly low and negativity starts to creep in, listen to a motivational CD or repeat positive affirmations to yourself to bring back a positive attitude.
• Take time out each day to just do something that you enjoy doing that doesn’t require you to make choices or decisions, something which relaxes you to the fullest.
• Try doing something that you wouldn’t normally do, something that is totally unlike you and out of character, take up a new hobby or sport that you would never have dreamed of doing.
• Get some exercise, this could be something as simply taking a walk in the fresh air and is totally free or go to the gym or taking part in activities such as yoga.
• Set yourself goals in order to get ahead and when you accomplish a goal give yourself a small reward for doing so.
• Learn techniques that allow you to bring your attention and focus back to the task on hand quickly.
• Use affirmations throughout the day to instill self-confidence and positive thoughts and feelings.

Always look for the best in bad situations, while things might not be what we expect if you look hard enough you may find they are not as bad as they seem to be.

Remember that the situation won’t last forever, this is only a temporary stage you are going through and it will get better.

“Every Adversity,  Carries With It The Seed Of An  Equivalent or a Greater Benefit.” -Napoleon Hill

Self-Esteem

Realizing your self-worth has nothing to do with checking your bank balance, it is about you, the person you are in life. We give others respect, love and consideration but how often do we give ourselves what is due?

How you value yourself is based on the self-esteem you have, your self-esteem shows you how much you truly value yourself. Healthy self-esteem leads to independence, happiness, flexibility, the ability to adapt easily to change, co-operation and a positive outlook on any situation. Unhealthy or low self-esteem on the other hand leads only to irrational thoughts, unhappiness, fear of the new, rigidity, defensiveness and a negative outlook on life in general.

How we see ourselves has a lot to do with how others see us, if we are happy, smiling and full of confidence then others see us as someone they want to be around, if we respect ourselves and portray this then others will respect you too, after all how can you ask for respect from others if you don’t even respect yourself? So finding and developing your self-worth is all about developing your self-esteem, so let’s take a look at esteem

High self-esteem

If you have a high self-esteem you will see certain traits in yourself and how you see yourself, traits linked with a high self-esteem or self-worth are

• You are secure about who you are and have confidence in your abilities
• You allow yourself to show your true feelings to others
• You don’t have intimacy problems in relationships
• You are able to recognize and take pride in yourself for your achievements in life
• You are easily able to forgive yourself for mistakes and also forgive others

Low self-esteem

Similarly if you have problems with self-worth or low self-esteem then you will follow a certain pattern in your thoughts and ways, if you have problems with low self-esteem then you will see the following points in yourself

• You lack belief in yourself and are very insecure
• You have problems showing and accepting intimacy in relationships
• You never let your true feelings show
• You never recognize and give yourself credit for your accomplishments
• You have the inability to forgive yourself or others
• You resist change at every opportunity

Developing your self-worth

There are plenty of ways in which you can boost your self-esteem and change to a more positive and healthy outlook about yourself, here are some tips for developing and boosting your self-worth.

• Don’t take other peoples criticism to heart, instead listen to what they are saying and learn from it.
• Take some time out for yourself everyday, meditate, look inside yourself and realize all your good points and imagine changing your bad ones into more positive.
• Celebrate and pride yourself on even the smallest achievements that you accomplish.
• Do something everyday that you enjoy, such as talking a walk in the sunshine or soaking in a bubble bath.
• Never deprive yourself of something you enjoy, if you know you shouldn’t be doing it, then do it anyway and stop chastising yourself about it.
• Talk positively to yourself, repeat affirmations to chase away all of the negative thoughts and feelings.

The benefits of using positive self-talk

One of the biggest influences that we can use to our advantage in life is oneself.  In particular, we can use our thoughts because they in influence our feelings and therefore can have a profound effect on how we deal with life in general. By learning to control our self-talk and turning it into positive self-talk rather than negative, which most people do unconsciously throughout the day, you can begin to gain more control over every aspect of your life and make essential changes.

Your ability to succeed in life largely depends on how you deal with life, a positive mental attitude leads to a confident and ultimately more successful person than one full of negativity which leads to a lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. By taking a positive attitude you look at life in a different way to one of negativity, a positive attitude leads to seeing good in people and the world which leads to optimism and success. Your quality of life is based on how you think and feel from moment to moment and changing the way you think can drastically change how you see life and deal with life.

The person who goes through life optimistically with a positive attitude is better able to deal with life and the problems which it sometimes throws at us, they are able to bounce back and recover from problems or set-backs in life. The optimistic person will see the problem for what it is, nothing but a temporary set-back which they can overcome and move on, when looking at life in this optimistic way the person is able to take full control over their thoughts and feelings and turn a negative situation into a more positive one by simply altering the way they think. Since thoughts can either be positive or negative and you can only have one thought in mind at any one time then choosing positive will keep your thoughts, feelings and actions optimistic which leads to a happier person who is able to achieve their goals much easier.

Using positive self-talk in your daily life

You should use positive self-talk throughout the day in order to establish a new thinking pattern, you will probably have established a pattern of negative thinking for many years and this will take time to overcome, to start with you should aim to repeat positive self-talk around 50 times throughout the day, this can be achieved by repeating positive statements quietly to yourself or out aloud. Positive self-talk can be used for many different aspects in your life, it can help you to overcome difficult situations, gain more confidence in yourself, help you to quit habits, recover quicker from illness or make changes to your life in general. Popular phrases or sentences that can be used in positive self-talk include.

• I have an interesting challenge facing me – this could be used when a problem occurs in life or there is some difficulty, rather than looking at the situation in a negative way and thinking I have a problem, thinking of it as a challenge is a much more positive way of dealing with it.
• I like the person I am – this could be used to bolster self-confidence and gain respect about yourself and the person you are, similar statements could be “I am the best”, “I am a good person” or “I have many excellent qualities”.
• I know I can do this – this could be used if you are faced with a certain task that you would previously doubt yourself capable of conquering, similarly you could say “I have the ability to conquer this” or “this doesn’t pose a problem for me”
• I am full of health, energy and vitality – this can be used to encourage good feelings about your health either after you have been sick or while recovering from an illness.
• I am fulfilled as a person – this can be used to encourage good general positive thoughts about yourself and the world in which you live.

Please make sure to check out my previous article in this series: “A Positive Outlook for A Positive Life“

Not only does how you think and feel affect you, it also affects those around you, in short our mood affects our day. Developing and keeping a positive outlook is essential if you wish to lead a positive and fulfilling life.

There are many ways in which you can develop a more positive outlook and begin to change how you think and feel about many situations that you encounter in day-to-day living. Changing your attitude and not slipping back into negative thinking will take time but eventually the new outlook will become second nature. The five main key points to remember when changing your outlook are

1. Turn your way of thinking into positive thinking and practice on a daily basis thinking positively. You should set your mind on completing one task at a time and think only of a positive outcome and how good you will feel when you have completed the task. Never give in to doubt and let yourself believe that you have taken too much on and just keep going.
2. Don’t let your conversations turn negative, when in a conversation it is easy to let others discourage you, particularly if they have a negative outlook on life. Don’t be tempted to fall back into your old ways, turn negative talk into positive and look for the good in everything and any situation.
3. Look for the positive in those around you and point it out, this way you can encourage a positive attitude all around you.
4. Whatever you are doing in your day-to-day life always look for the good in it, although it might be a boring task which you usually hate doing and one which leaves you feeling negatively, try to find something about it that turns it into a more positive situation.
5. Never let yourself become distracted or hoodwinked into going back to negativity, it takes time to change the way you feel and think and if you have been down on yourself and the world for a long time then your new outlook will take a while to register and stay around.

You will find over time that many areas of your life can be changed just by changing your outlook from a negative one to a more positive. You will find that your self-esteem improves, you become more popular, you feel happier and are more confident than before, you are able to tackle the tasks you once hated without them causing you stress and anxiety and your relationships improve.

These are just a few of the areas where you can self-improve and gain a more positive outlook and thus lead a more positive life

Benefits of being motivated

People who are motivated are happier, more creative, have more energy, are flexible, are more optimistic, are more apt to stay healthy, these are just a few of the benefits of staying positive.

What is Motivation?

The dictionary definition of motivation is: “forces acting either on or within a person to initiate behavior”. So in short it’s the ability of taking action. People often know everything that needs to be done in order to succeed but never take action.

There are probably hundreds of ways of staying motivated but here are five that I apply on a regular basis in my life.

1. Setting goals - I’ve talked before about the importance of having goals. We often think that goals are for big companies, but you should remember that your life is your business. Ask anyone who is successful if they have goals and I’m sure 99% will say yes. We should be setting short, medium and long term goals in five areas: family, financial, spiritual, career and physical.
2. Find positive people to hang around with- I have once heard this expression “The rotten Apple spoils his Companion”. If you hang around positive people you will be happier and they will also inspire you to stay motivated.
3. Smile - I’m sure you have heard that smiling is contagious. When you smile at someone and they smile back at you this is an incredible motivational force.
4. Talk positively- Like smiling, using positive word not only makes you feel better but will also be beneficial to the people around you. Having an enthusiastic tone of voice and smiling when you talk will bring forth a positive reaction in every case.
5. 5. Read inspiring books and listen to motivational programs. - This is my favorite way to stay motivated. I was once asked how I could always see the good side of things while everything around me was falling apart. My answer was simple, on my way to work I don’t listen to the radio instead I listen to audio books or personal development audio programs. Today with the internet you can find tons of good audio program, free ebooks, newsletter, etc. You can also go to your public library.

Final Thought

We all have bad days, and being motivated is not just saying positive affirmations. Being positive is being able to take action towards our goals even when everything around us seems to be falling apart.

To Your Success.

Pierre