Unlocking Your Powerful Creativity

For anything to be truly successful, Walt Disney said, it must have three things, which are a unique factor, a “word of mouth” factor and a flair factor. In other words, do it so different that people will talk about it and, finally, do it big, do it right and give it class.

Creativity means creating new things or arranging old things in a new way. It could mean more than “thinking out of the box.” It could mean tearing “the box” apart.

A short parable, written by George McDermott explains this process.

Creativity Likened Unto a Coffee Bean

One day…a long time ago…in, say, a million B.C. somebody figured out that you could put things in water and boil them, then throw out the water and eat the things.
(Somebody also figured out that that was called cooking, but that’s a minor-league creativity.) Well, Cooking was very nice, but it was still a relatively new invention, and they hadn’t worked all the bugs out yet. For instance; coffee beans, even after people cooked them, still tasted crummy. So everyone gave up on coffee beans…at least until some genius had a flash of inspiration. “Hey, maybe Cooking doesn’t always work the same way, “ he said. “Sure, the beans taste lousy, but we haven’t tried drinking the water we cooked them in.”
If that doesn’t sound like significant genius to you, ask your self these questions: Have you ever-tried eating coffee grounds? Would the taste inspire you to drink the water?

The creative process consists of five steps:
1. Gather raw material, i.e. previous work done by others but given up on.
Talk to others who have solved similar problems. Unleash your curiosity.

2. As these raw material pieces are absorbed, start the “kaleidoscope” process. Turn these pieces over and over in your mind. See how these pieces keep repositioning themselves in relation to the others. Look for the coming together like a jig-saw puzzle.

3. Drop the whole subject. Relax. Put the whole project out of your mind. Don’t worry because your subconscious is effectively working on it, even if you go to sleep.

4. Eureka! Wow! Bingo! The idea appears at the most unexpected time. Say to yourself: “But don’t forget there is a fifth step.”

5. Verification. Is it suitable for the situation? Is it feasible? Will it be acceptable to those who use it? When Thomas Edison’s laboratory team had a break through he always challenged them by saying, “There’s always a better way. Find it.”

The best way to sum this up is with this piece from Apple Computer’s “Think Different” campaign.

Here’s to the crazy ones,
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently

They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
Disbelieve them, glorify them, or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them

Because they change things,
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

And it’s these people who are crazy enough to think
That they can change the world, and they actually do.

(Used with permission and blessings of Apple Computer Co.)

FEAR VS COURAGE

"Once when Marshall Ney was going into battle, looking down at his knees which were smiting together, he said, 'You may well shake; you would shake worse yet if you knew where I am going to take you.'" Orison Swett Marden

What or who builds self-imposed barriers? A stonemason named Fear, one who is highly skilled in building powerful barriers from nonexistent stones. Where does this craftsman live? In our minds. He's always there, but it's up to us whether he lives in the back of our minds or the front of our minds.
Fear is the sworn enemy of adventure, which is perhaps the most exhilarating force driving no-limits achievement. And Fear goes exactly where we tell him to go.
We move Fear from the back of our minds to the front of our minds by shifting our concentration away from our own courage, and choosing instead to focus on that which frightens us. Not only does that action change Fear's location, but through the process of concentration, it means we actually start to strengthen Fear. Fear has no strength of its own; its only strength is that which we choose to give it.
When Fear defeats us, it does so because of our own mental focus. And unfortunately, the strength we pass along to Fear is the very strength we need to overcome it! If, on the other hand, we choose to push our goals, wrapped in courage, to the forefront of our minds, then barriers break.
You already possess sufficient courage to initiate this process and see your personal adventure through. A person may not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she will certainly possess all the courage needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent that is there. Long after passing on to the next world, we will be remembered by family and friends, not necessarily for our inborn talents, but for the amount of courage we used, especially during our times of trial. The strength and vividness of the memories our loved ones and friends hold of us after we are gone will be directly proportional to the amount of courage we have chosen to use.

Immediate Action: Starve your fear! Feed your courage! Embrace your adventure!

Point to Ponder: "Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there." (From above the fireplace at Hinds' Head Hotel, near London.)

Excerpted from Danny's book, "There Are No Limits: Breaking the Barriers to Personal High Performance."

The Courage of a Five Year-Old

Some people are content with just wishing for things hoping that the Fairy Godmother will drop it in their laps but she never does. Then these “wishers” get depressed because once again, the Fairy Godmother has let them down. But it wasn’t her that let them down, was it?

Like me, you’ve probably walked in to a sales office and there’s a salesperson reading the local sports page or perhaps doing something that is really mentally taxing such as playing Solitaire on his computer. Hanging above his desk is a picture of a Rolls Royce.

When I ask him what’s the purpose of the picture, he answers proudly, “That’s my goal!”

At this point I like to ask the “wisher” this question, “What do you have to do extra today to make sure that it is in your driveway someday?” The answer is generally, “I …I don’t know. Somebody just told me to hang that up there and one day it would be in my driveway.”

High achievers know that you have to work hard and smart. You have to step out courageously, with creativity, and perhaps sell others on helping you achieve that important goal.

My Grandson, Rex, was five and in Kindergarten when he was overtaken by a serious case of Spring Fever. He walked in to the kitchen and said to his mother, “Mom, it’s too beautiful a day to go to school. Let’s go to the beach!”

She said, “Look, Rex, I’ve got to go to work and you’ve got to go to school.” The little salesman decided to up the ante. “Then let’s go to Disneyland. Think of the fun we could have there today.”

Frustrated with his persistence she said, firmly, “Rex I’ve got to go to work and you’ve got to go to school.”

Good salespeople hang in there, always ask good questions. He looked up at her and said, “Why?”

She decided to appeal to his sympathies. “If you don’t go to school, they could put me in jail.”

He looked at her for about two seconds, put his hands on his hips, tilted his head and asked, “For how long?”

Rex knew to achieve a goal you have to pay a price. And that’s the same for all of us.

The best is yet to be!

Danny

P.S. Take a look at the "Fearless Leader Kit" on the Home Page of my web site. Scroll down for link to my web site.

A Rags to Riches Record Breaker

Jackie Cochran’s life is a come from behind journey that would inspire anyone. To prove the point, take a look at the following:

• Orphan (she never knew her parents). She was not sure within two years of when she was born. Later made up a birth year and birth date.
• Lived in abject poverty, had no formal schooling.
• Foster parents put her to work full time in a mill in a southern town five years before becoming a teenager.
• At approximately eight years of age she received her first pair of shoes.

A few of her accomplishments:

• Founded a worldwide cosmetics company
• Recruited over 1.000 women to start the W.A.S.P.S. (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots) during WWII
• Flew a young Lyndon Johnson to a hospital and saved his life
• First woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic
• First woman to fly a jet across the Atlantic
• First woman to break the sound barrier
• First woman to fly twice the speed of sound
• First woman to win the Bendix Air Race against a field of men
• In one year set nine international speed, distance and altitude records. The altitude record was over 50,000 feet.
• Won the Harmon Trophy as "Outstanding Woman of the Year" 16 times!
• Talked a retired general and close friend into running for President. His reluctance gave way to Jackie’s persistence. His name? Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower.
• At her death in 1980, she held more speed and altitude records worldwide than anyone else––male or female. This still remains the case.
• When asked later in life how she had accomplished so much, she smiled and said:

“I didn’t have shoes, but I had dreams”

The best is yet to be!

Danny

P.S. There is a great deal of information on her on the Internet. Whether you’re a female or a male you won’t be able to put down her autobiography called, “Jackie Cochran.”

STAYING POWER

Timeless wisdom is tested. It's hidden treasure and just as valuable, if not more, today.

William Ellery Channing, who wrote "Staying Power" that you see below was a popular minister of a church in Boston.

He was born in Rhode Island three years before the Revolutionary War ended. His grandfather was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. When Channing was 32 the War of 1812 began. That was the war where the English burned the White House. It was also the war that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner."

This eloquent and wise man who lived through such tumultuous times passed "Staying Power" along to us. You'll see why I describe it as timeless wisdom.

Whom do you know that needs a copy of this?

The best is yet to be!

Danny Cox

STAYING POWER

Every condition, be it what it may, has hardships, hazards, pains. We try to escape them; we pine for a sheltered lot, for a smooth path, for cheering friends, and unbroken success. But Providence ordains storms, disasters, hostilities, sufferings; and the great question whether we shall live to any purpose or not, whether we shall grow strong in mind and heart, or be weak and pitiable, depends on nothing so much as on our use of the adverse circumstances. Outward evils are designed to school our passions, and to rouse our faculties and virtues into more intense action. Sometimes they seem to create new powers. Difficulty is the element, and resistance is our true work. Self-culture never goes on so fast as when embarrassed circumstances, the opposition of others or the elements, unexpected changes of the times, or other forms of suffering, instead of disheartening, throw us on our inward resources, turn us for strength to God, clear up to us the great purpose of life and inspire calm resolution. No greatness or goodness is worth much, unless tried in these fires.

Wm. Ellery Channing

What Is Courage?

You possess sufficient courage to initiate the process to see your personal adventure through. A person may not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she certainly possesses all the courage needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent that is there. Long after passing on to the next world, we will be remembered by family and friends, not necessarily for our inborn talents, but for the amount of courage we used, especially during our times of trial. The strength and vividness of the memories our loved ones and friends hold of us after we are gone will be directly proportional to the amount of courage we have chosen to use.

If you ain’t got a choice be brave. Old Ozark sayin’

I believe that it is everyone’s sacred duty to be prepared to do the biggest thing possible that needs to be done at any given moment. That’s not to say that doing the big thing is always easy—but doing the big thing is always necessary.

The legendary actor Hume Cronyn once told a story about meeting Orson Welles in the late 1930s: “I was lunching at Sardi’s one day and Orson came over to say hello. I had just seen his Julius Caesar. He had given it in modern dress. It was the only time I had seen that work as a comment on fascism, and [it was] very stirring. I said to Orson, ‘What I admired about your production is your sheer courage.’ ‘Courage?’ [Welles replied.]...‘Courage! That’s going to the edge—because you have to be good.’”

Going to the edge can be scary, but it’s a consistent habit of no-limits achievers. As you approach a self-imposed barrier, you may hear a voice saying, “This far and no farther.” It’s not the barrier’s voice that you hear. Listen carefully. Do you recognize it? It's your own!

DC Train Crash takes Great Leader, Great Friend

As a full time speaker and seminar leader for three decades, I’ve worked with many kinds of companies and met many interesting people. Some who said they learned a lot from me but I’d say it was the other way around. Such was the case with one who became a client as well as a close friend. His name was David Wherley.

Our first meeting was at a full-day leadership program I did in Washington, DC for business leaders in the early 90’s. He was a Lt. Col. then. He sat in the front row center. At the lunch break we discovered we had much in common.

He called me a few weeks later and we set up the first of what turned out to be several full day programs I would do over the next few years for the Washington DC Air National Guard.

In late July 2001, my wife accompanied me to Washington where I did two more programs for his squadron. The bonus for me was flying the F-16 with Dave who was then a Major General.

As we lined up on the Andrews AFB runway in that F-16 Viper, off to my left standing in the grass right beside the runway was Tedi, my wife, and her two escort officers. I gave her the double “thumbs up” sign from the cockpit and then BOOM! We were headed into the blue––fast!

He let me fly it through the sound barrier and do aerobatics. He asked if the supersonic Voodoo that I flew over 1,000 times could fly vertical. I said “Almost.” He said, “Watch this.” He brought the nose straight up and lit the afterburner. We were gaining airspeed going straight up! What a memorable day.

Six weeks later the terrorists hit the Pentagon. Within minutes Dave “scrambled” his F-16 squadron into the skies above Washington with a “free fire” order.

Last Monday, June 22, David and his wife, Ann, boarded the train for Walter Reed hospital to visit a former squadron member who had been seriously wounded in Iraq. It was something they often did after David retired.

This past Tuesday morning I heard on Fox News that he and Ann had been killed in the DC train crash. After what he had lived through––to die that way! But Ann was with him. She was always behind him supporting him in his many accomplishments.

Sitting out in our garden the next day, I thought Dave should make one more high speed pass down the Andrews runway. In my mind, Tedi and I were standing next to the runway where she had stood during the take off in July 2001, In this fantasy flight I could see that F-16 getting closer by the second.
Over the end of the runway David pulled up into vertical flight. The burner was lit and he was picking up speed doing vertical rolls as he went out of sight in the bright blue sky.

The “Big Controller in the Sky” cleared them for landing and of course Dave “greased” it in. After parking, he stood up in the seat and extended his hand out to help his “backseater” out. Ann who was always behind him flashed him a smile and a double thumbs up. She took his hand and said, “David it’s been quite a ride.”

David, my friend, this poem is for you. It was written by Navy Captain Jerry Coffee while a POW for seven years in Hanoi.

We’re gently caught by God’s own hand to reign with Him on high;
To dwell among the soaring clouds we knew so well before –
From victory roll to tailchase – at Heaven’s very door
And as we fly among them there, we sadly hear their plea,
“Take care my friend, and check your six. Do one more roll for me.”