WorldWide Drilling Resource

31 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® OCTOBER 2013 The Un-Comfort Zone II by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. Surprise: Creativity is a Skill not a Gift! Part 2 Talking about how you can reac- quire your natural creative ability, if you can add a monetary motivator to solv- ing something that irritates you - say your company is suffering from sluggish sales - you will have found the second most popular way people are likely to be creative: to make money! You’re probably wondering how you can think more creatively. One way is to observe innovators and emulate their characteristics. All creative thinkers have three primary traits. Of those, first and foremost, is the belief they are creative. Ninety percent of being creative is think- ing you are, and with this comes the confidence you'll come up with the right answer when the need arises. The second characteristic of inno- vators is they are flexible in their think- ing even when they don't have to be. Innovators readily abandon traditional ways of viewing things and go off in new directions. In other words, they are will- ing to take risks and break the rules. Try selecting two objects and try to come up with a new product. One definition of innovation is the combination of two or more existing ideas into a new one. In fact, some research and development departments employ people to sit around and do just that. The third and most important trait of creative thinkers is exposing them- selves to new experiences and different viewpoints. By opening their minds to new stimuli, they literally lay down new neural pathways in their brains, opening new channels of thought. So, when they are confronted by problems, they have the extra brainpower ready. Sometimes, however, we have to force ourselves to try something new. Why is it we exercise our muscles, but let our brains languish? It’s because most of us have worked hard to learn and establish the comfortable patterns of life we follow every day. For example, can you imagine reinventing your rou- tine each morning from the moment you step out of bed until you step into your car? No way, you’d never get to the office! Many of these patterns of life are short- cuts and time savers that reflect previ- ous efforts of creativity on our parts. Innovation means there could still be an even better way just waiting to be dis- covered. Baseball great, Branch Rickey, said, "To succeed, preparation has to meet opportunity." Will you be ready when opportunity knocks? You will be if you're expanding your brainpower by experi- encing as many new things as possible. The strength of your desire to solve a problem is a key factor in how quickly and effectively you will succeed. An im- portant first step in coming up with a new idea is to initiate the discovery process. You do this by identifying and stating the problem as specifically as possible. Then you give it some focused attention (time and energy). If your desire is great enough, and you’ve put some effort into the solution, your subconscious mind will continue to work on it 24/7. Many times " ; # 511-,(2 0) 20'5&43 %9 4+(3( ,/( $/5)$&452(23 ; 08 029'0/ # ! : : $8 $,- 3$-(3 *,6(/3,/4(2/$4,0/$- &0. "(% ,4( 777 *,6(/3,/4(2/$4,0/$- &0. Wilson cont’d on page 32.