"Just For Kicks..."

One of my favorite books is "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David J. Schwartz, Ph.D. where he dives into our most valuable asset for our personal success: our thoughts. One of my favorite parts of his book is where he unravels the secret to creative thinking. But first, what is creative thinking? Let's start there...

Think of someone who you'd call "creative". Who comes to mind? I'm pretty confident that this person you're thinking of is in the field of art, engineering, science or writing. Maybe you thought of J.K. Rowling, Picasso, Thomas Jefferson or that one kid you went to college with who won the hack-a-thon. Traditionally, we think that creativity is reserved for occupation or profession. Schwartz challenges this idea by saying that "creative thinking is simply finding new, improved ways to do anything." Dang, how cool is that? Creativity has just been expanded to all human beings trying to improve some aspect of their life in one way or another. Nice!

But how do we start the process?

The first step is to believe it can be done.

One of the best personifications of this principle is Roger Bannister. At the start of the 1950's, the four-minute mile was a myth, but not to him. He knew that the human body was capable. On May 6, 1954 he ran the mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. After he broke the 4-minute mile, there were many people after who beat his time again and again. Why? Because they knew it could be done! They believed that if he could do it, surely they could too. With new and improved training regimens, more accurate timing devices and improved running techniques (i.e., more creative ways to train), more and more people started to run a sub-4-minute mile.

Dr. Schwartz said:

"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."

The mind is an amazing gift! In my opinion, you can't simply wish yourself to success and improvement. You can't just flip a "belief switch" and become the next Roger Bannister overnight. Human nature tends to get in the way of bigger and better things because we want to stick to what we know. It's easier that way, isn't it? It's easier, but there are times when we feel restless, anxious and wanting for better.

But what happens when we think we've reached our creative limits and there's no better way to do whatever it is we're doing? How do we kickstart our creative minds to find new and improved ways of running our lives?

Here's a simple phrase to get the juices flowing and kickstart your belief:

"Just for kicks..."

Here are some examples:

"Just for kicks, what would need to happen for me to buy my dream home?"

"Just for kicks, how could I improve my relationship with my spouse and make our marriage more fun?"

"Just for kicks, how could I earn more money to reach my financial goals?"

"Just for kicks, what could I do to have more energy?"

"Just for kicks, what could I do to feel closer to God?"

Notice that these are all things that most of us deal with on a daily basis. The majority of the population isn't trying to run a 4-minute mile or become the next Elon Musk. BUT, the majority is interested in improving their lives and those of their families.

After asking yourself these kinds of questions, take time to write down all the things that come to your brain. The ideas will start to trickle in, but the more you embrace those ideas, more will start to flow in until you've got a whole list of steps you can take to improve!

The final step, and this is sometimes the hardest, is to put those ideas into action.

Finding a side-hustle to earn extra money is creative thinking.

Planning a fun date with your spouse or significant other to shake things up is creative thinking.

Finding a way to eat less sugar and more fruits and veggies is creative thinking.

Trying new methods to positively influence your kids is creative thinking.

Creativity and our ability to come up with new and improved solutions is one of the greatest parts of being human! The only limit to our creativity (and, in turn, our next step to improvement, growth and increased happiness) is our own thoughts.

So, just for kicks, what would you do next to improve your life?