Write Down Those Creative Ideas or Risk Dimming Your Creativity.

I just drove in from IL and this sleepy driver is going to have to keep it short. But I did come across a very interesting idea this weekend that I wanted to share with you in the hopes some of you might want to take this easy five day challenge.

On the way to and from my parents, I listened to part of an audio tape called "The Einstein Factor" by Win Wenger Ph.D. It has been very interesting.

One concept the book stresses is that we have oodles and oodles of creative ideas and observations that never get to see the light of day. The author claims we each get between 30 and 50 innovative ideas whether a business idea, an invention, a book idea, an artistic impulse, etc. each day. But we don't take the time to record these ideas and over time, in the simplest sense, our creativity itself becomes dimmed because we don't focus or acknowledge it. There is feedback loop problem. But if we reverse this and pay attention to those impulses, by the simple rule that whatever we give our attention to increases, so will our creativity.

He notes that all the great geniuses and inventors were notorious "scribbles" often leaving behind thousands of notebooks full of thoughts when they pass away. And as I was driving to see my dad and mom, this held special interest. My dad, who is an extremely successful businessman, despite not graduating from high school (he later got a GED in the army) ALWAYS had a legal pad handy in his free time. Growing up, I can remember coming out to the back porch many a night and seeing him with an Old Style beer on the patio table and a page filled with incomprehensible numbers and drawings. And during those years he has built several successful businesses. On this last trip, I saw a stack of about ten of these blank legal pads that Mom must have gotten as a bundle deal at Staples, waiting to be filled with Dad's scribbles.

Thus I have seen for myself the value of noting down all those ideas even if only a small percentage come to fruition.

Mr. Winger's challenge is to write down between 30 and 50 random ideas or creative impulses for five days, keeping pen and paper with you the entire time. He insists at the end of five days, your creativity will be soaring and you'll be amazed at the powers of your own mind.

Sounds like a fun and easy, not to mention cheap experiment. Feel free to join in starting tomorrow. Goodnight all! Eileen

P.S. Committed Recycler - I just stopped over at your blog and saw your business idea for the purses made from recycled fabrics, with the pins, etc. What a GREAT idea! Wishing you lots of success!