|
Creative Thinking
and
Problem Solving
Your mind is one of the most powerful
resources that you have. If you do not learn to master
and control your mind, it will master and control your
life and your time. Is it not true, that you are where
you are in life because of the dominating thoughts that
have occupied your mind? "For as you think in your
heart, so are you."
We send information, objects and
pictures through our senses to our mind, as seen in Fig
6.1. Our mind then influences the way we feel, actions
we take, words we speak and the results we achieve. It
is therefore your responsibility to guard what your
senses pick up and send to your mind. We become like the
thoughts that consistently occupy our mind.
From Fig 6.1 it is very clear that
the results we produce are influenced by what our senses
pick up and send to the mind. We are affected by the:
|
a |
Music we
listen to. |
|
b |
TV
programmes we watch. |
|
c |
Books we
read. |
|
d |
Places we
go. |
|
e |
Information we receive. |
|
f |
People we
talk to. |
|
g |
Environment in which we work and live. |
Fig 6.1 "What have you been sending
to your mind since you were
born and what will you send from today?" |
 |
|
Senses
|
|
|
|
Mind |
|
|
|
Feelings |
|
|
|
Actions |
|
|
|
Results |
|
|
|
Garbage in
garbage out. |
Your conscious mind is the doorway to
your subconscious mind. The conscious mind holds
information that you are aware of right now. Once that
information leaves your conscious mind it automatically
enters your subconscious mind permanently. You remember
things based upon what has already been stored up in
your subconscious mind over the years. If all that is in
your subconscious mind is garbage, then all that you are
capable of producing at that time is garbage.
Be like a prison officer, security
manager, policeman, sergeant-major or 007 agent of your
mind. Stop unwelcome, unpleasant and wicked intruders
from entering through your senses into your mind. Your
mind is the most sophisticated, baffling and complex
living computer ever conceived, it has the ability of
producing whatever you feed into it. You have been
warned! I share this information with you because I care
about you.
Because of the amount of garbage that
I had stored up in my subconscious mind by the age of
twenty-two, I was incapable of achieving great results.
It was when I took control of what I was sending through
my senses and replaced the garbage with positiveness
night and day, that my change started. If you want to be
great, send in great thoughts. If you want to be an
expert, listen to the experts. Remember, your mind is
the only thing that you have control over, so control it
or it will control you.
Allow me to share with you the twelve
secrets to mind control that have assisted me over the
years. I have gained many benefits from using them and I
hope that you will too.
Conformity
Do not conform to bad customs
and practices but rather "be transformed by the renewing
of your mind".
To conform is to adapt, adjust or to fit into a certain
way of thinking that has a negative or positive
influence. By conforming to bad habits you destroy your
creativity, initiative, growth, independence and wealth
and imprison yourself.
Thinking sometimes is like an evil
disease that does not want to go away. Every now and
then the mind wanders off uncontrollably to some
negative or positive occurrences of the past, present or
future. You may have been abused sexually, physically or
mentally by a loved one or someone you trusted. Maybe
you were raped or you lost a loved one and your home is
left empty. You may be going through other circumstances
in your life that no one seems to understand or even
care about. You feel mentally trapped and imprisoned as
in Fig 6.3.
Fig 6.3 reminds me of people who gave
up on life at eighteen but were buried at seventy and
lived a lifetime being imprisoned. From the age of
eighteen to seventy they lived below their greatness.
Are you living in this position right now?
Fig 6.3 "Do you feel
mentally trapped and
imprisoned
with no route of escape?"
I write to
tell you that you can be set free from this mental
distress, torture and anguish. Just attend this course and your mind will be
renewed and go from strength to strength. If you remain
in this prison or "hell", as one person described it,
your life will get worse.
This is the reason why in so many
cases the sufferer loses their family, friends,
business, work and becomes less confident, less
motivated and often suicidal. No one is immune from this
type of thinking. I know about it because I have been
there and I will never go back. My mind is now freed and
renewed and I now control how and what I think about. I
am not controlled by my circumstances, family, friends,
radio, environment or the television. Conform only to
good thoughts and get your mind freed and renewed.
Fig 6.4 "Do you feel
mentally trapped and imprisoned even
though the cover has been removed?"
And now my friends, as I close this
section let me say this one more thing: "Fix your
thoughts on what is true, good and right. Think about
things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine
good things in others. If there is any excellence and if
anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these
things."
Regular
Brainstorming Sessions
Most of
us spend more time thinking about our problems than we
do about the solutions to our problems. If you spend
your time thinking about your problems, they will appear
bigger. On the other hand, if you spend more time
thinking about the solutions, you will find different
ways to respond to your problems. Winners look for
solutions while failures dwell on and cry about their
circumstances all day long.
Your mind was not put together
by
man or by a lesser force than you
but by the all powerful, all
knowing, infinite creator.
You are His best.
Brainstorming is a technique that I
use regularly with my family, individuals, organisations
and in training sessions. It is a unique way of coming
up with different ideas to resolve complex situations.
This works best with small groups of around five to ten
people for approximately twenty minutes. I brainstorm
with a group of five people that came up with 100
different ways to raise funds in ten minutes. From those
ideas we raised thousands of pounds.
In any organisation, cleaners,
caterers, security personnel, caretakers, directors,
managers and others all have ideas. Their ideas could
earn or save your organisation hundreds, thousands or
even millions of pounds. Your children and other members
of your family could come up with new and creative ways
to save and enrich your family.
In small groups for approximately
twenty minutes, pose a question of your most challenging
situation such as: How can we improve our family? How
can we improve customer care in this organisation? How
can we make money? How can we improve sales? What can we
do to stop crime in our community? How can we as parents
work together to improve our school?
For the group to work effectively and
the ideas to flow smoothly, introduce the following
guidelines:
|
R |
Record the Ideas |
|
E
|
Eliminate Judgement |
|
L |
Let Ideas Flow |
|
O |
Obtain Quantity Not Quality
|
|
A |
Avoid Ridicule |
|
D |
Do Not Edit |
It is important that every idea is
recorded. The idea that you did not record might be just
the one you were looking for. Eliminating judgement of
other people's ideas will cause others to let their
ideas flow. Encourage the group to let ideas flow as
quickly as they enter their mind, without hesitation.
This method may help to spark another idea which helps
to spark another idea and so on. Let the group
concentrate on quantity and leave the quality to the
end. If group members are allowed to ridicule others,
they will not contribute. Editing should only take place
once the group has exhausted all possible ideas. My most
creative moments were in brainstorming sessions with a
small group of people that I met with every week, for
several years. When your family, organisation,
country or community are faced with complex situations,
RELOAD and move on.
Encouraged Self Imposed Barrier
More than 70% of the things
some people think about themselves are negative. "I will
never be able to achieve." "I am not good enough to do
that." "I could never be as good as..." "I am rubbish
and I am not fit to live." Have you put up barriers to
stop yourself from achieving greatness, because of the
way you think? If so, why?
I came across an inscription on a
prison wall that helped to change my whole life. It
read, "Your worst enemy is yourself!" I quickly wrote it
down and asked my friends what they thought about it but
no one would accept that they were their worst enemy.
Somehow, deep down inside, I knew that it was true about
me. It was my own thoughts that imprisoned me.
Fig 6.5 "Writing on the
wall."
Are you a poverty mentality thinker
or a millionaire mentality thinker? I was brought up in
a poverty mentality environment. I was always told:
"Errol
Williams, you are no good."
"You will
never amount to anything worthwhile."
"You will
never be able to achieve your dreams."
"You will
fail in school."
"Errol,
you will go to prison."
"You are
worth nothing!"
Looking back at those days makes me
feel like crying. My friends, teachers and enemies told
me these dreadful things. Before long, I believed
everything that was said about me, as they began to come
true in my life. I stopped believing in myself because
others did not believe in me. I thought this was the way
I ought to think about myself. I sank very deep into a
mentally degrading ghetto that was not fit for any human
being. I became mentally sick and reached the lowest
state that any human being could reach. I was the man in
Fig 6.3 and Fig 6.4.
I lived in this mentally degrading
ghetto for six long years.
If you find yourself in this ghetto
my friend, it is like trying to escape from a top
security prison. I served my poverty mentality ghetto
prison sentence, but now I am free. I am a millionaire
mentality thinker. I have clearly defined goals and
values for every aspect of my life, and a detailed
action plan of what needs to be done. I am totally
committed to putting my plans into action without
procrastinating. I have also set review dates to modify,
change, learn and move to the next stage.
My mind consistently thinks, "I
will", "I can", "I have" and "I am". Let the concept of
yourself be continually positive and tell yourself every
day and every time you feel low:
|
a |
I am a genius. |
|
b |
I am an achiever. |
|
c |
I am God's wonderful creation. |
|
d |
I am wonderfully and beautifully
made. |
|
e |
I am a winner and I refuse to
allow anyone to put garbage into my mind. |
|
f |
I was not born for defeat or
failure. |
|
g |
I refuse to be influenced by the
words of death. |
|
h |
I am a lion, not a lamb. |
You can become the next heavyweight
champion in your chosen field. No one is better than
yourself, but if you do not arise and shine you will
always remain in darkness. You have all the resources
that it takes inside of you, therefore awaken that
sleeping giant and get to work. Every day the creative
work of many geniuses surrounds us like an ocean.
Do not look at greatness and put
yourself down. As I was passing McDonalds, I saw an
advert of Michael Jordan in "Space Jam". My thoughts
flashed at how great Michael had become and how
financially comfortable he must be. Within seconds of
those thoughts, I smiled with myself and thought, "I too
have the seeds of greatness in me."
Listen to me my friends, Einstein was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (1921) for his work
in explaining the photoelectric effect. Was he also
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? Did he receive gold in
the Olympics or was he known as the fastest man on
earth? Was he awarded the best entertainer of the year?
Did he step foot on the moon? Did he win the masters in
golf at 21 years of age?
My point is this, Einstein and all
the others found an area that they loved and mastered
it. They were not concerned with mastering other areas.
They found their true love, stayed with it and mastered
it. Do not try to become a master at everything, find
your true love, stick with it and master it. Allow me to
repeat myself, "Do not look at greatness and put
yourself down." You too are a great somebody.
Always Challenge the Obvious
If I
influence what goes into your mind over a long period of
time, I will be able to control the way you think, feel,
speak and act. Such influence can be dangerous. The
chains of slavery have been removed from the people's
wrists, ankles and necks and placed on their minds.
I was told of an experiment that was
done some time ago whereby they tied a chain to one foot
of a baby elephant and the other end to a tree. Month
after month the elephant would pull and pull and pull
without getting to freedom. Until one day the elephant
gave up and did not pull any more.
Fig 6.6 "Have you also given up
like this elephant?"
Soon after, they removed the chains,
but the now grown up elephant continued to operate
within the confinements of the twenty yards. He still
believed the chains were on his feet, so he did not pull
anymore. No! it was now on his mind. Are you like the
elephant who has given up trying, because of
circumstances, or what others think, say or do? Are you
failing to challenge the obvious, because of pain,
embarrassment, guilt or the past?
Never give up because you deserve the
very best. Keep seeking for you will find. Keep knocking
for the door of opportunity will open for you. Keep
asking and you will receive. Be persistent, do not
procrastinate. Do not stop pulling towards your dreams.
Maximise your time and potential. Refuse to be
conditioned by the thoughts, words and actions of
others, unless you want to. Remember, 90% of failures
are quitters. A winner never quits and a quitter never
wins.
Two Types of
Thinkers
 |
 |
|
Analytical thinker, one
way. |
Creative thinker, many
ways. |
|
Fig 6.7 "The analytical and
creative thinker." |
There are
two types of thinkers, the analytical thinker and the
creative thinker. The analytical thinker looks for the
one right answer but a creative thinker challenges their
ability to look for more than one answer. Some
situations require analytical thinking such as
mathematics, whereas conflicts can be resolved using
more than one possible way.
Condition yourself to look for more
than one possible answer. A conflict with your spouse,
child, friend, colleague or employer can be resolved in
many different ways. You could say you are sorry, you
could give a bunch of flowers or submit, the list is
endless. In our SCHOLAR training programmes we ask
delegates to list all the uses of a paper clip. The
average number of responses we get is 5, yet there are
in fact well over 100 uses that a paper clip could be
used for.
I am convinced that if you lift
weights every day you will become stronger. Therefore if
you practise creative acts every day, your creative
muscles will get better. If I were to ask you to give me
different ways of how to hurt your enemy, the list may
be endless. It seems that many of us are more creative
towards evil than good.
Improvements
Creativity means improvement.
Any improvement you make to yourself, your family, or
organisation is a creative act. The improvements that
you have made over the years are a clear indication that
you are a creative genius. It is through the powerful
creative ability of the mind that so many improvements
have been made over the centuries. It is worth noting
that every idea started at first in the mind of one
person.
Fig 6.8 "Even a homeless person can
make an
improvement to his/her life."
Improvements in technology, religion,
architecture, science, music, education, and more, are a
clear indication of our creative ability. There is so
much more that we do not know, that is just waiting to
be revealed to us. Reach out and aim for the moon
because if you miss, you will be among the stars. Go
after that unlimited untapped knowledge because you are
a genius.
You are God's greatest
creation. You are wonderfully
and beautifully made, able to achieve your
greatest potential.
The human mind is great, powerful and
more sophisticated than the most advanced computer. It
is very complex. Every achievement has been accomplished
through creative minds. The more ways that you find to
improve your family, organisation, relationship or your
community, the more creative you are. The more creative
you are, the more powerful and confident you are. The
world needs you and your creative ability. It is always
too soon to sleep, we need you and we need you now. Too
many people have been buried at seventy years old but
died at eighteen. For fifty-two years they lived
fruitlessly and made no improvements to their lives but
got worse. Do not be a contributor to this way of life.
Get up, multiply, subdue and fill the earth with
goodness, you are a master of the birds, fishes and all
the animals. My family and I look forward to benefiting
from your mastery.
Vision
Thoughts are like seeds that a
farmer sows in fertile ground. He sows these seeds in
the hope that at harvest time he will be rewarded with
the fruit. Be careful what thoughts you dwell on or sow
in your mind, because the thoughts that you sow you will
reap. If you sow a bad thought, you will reap from a bad
thought. If you store garbage into your mind, you will
produce garbage. The wise man Solomon wrote, "Without a
vision the people perish: but happy are they that keep
the law." What law? The law is this, if you do not have
a vision you will perish. This is a law within itself.
The law of gravity states, "every time you let go of
your pen, it will drop to the ground".
The law of a vision states, "if you
do not have a vision, you will perish". If you break
this law you will pay the price. (This is just one
interpretation of that thought.)
If you have an intense burning
desire for your vision,
it will enable you to become more creative.
Nothing fuels creativity like an
intense burning desire to achieve something. Write down
your vision and make it clear. Your vision is for an
appointed time, though it lingers, wait for it, because
it will surely come. The more you think about your
vision and dream about it, the more you will be able to
see, smell, touch, hear, taste and be creative in
achieving it. How is it that you are over seven years
old and have no written vision? Do you not know that
those who have a vision shape the future and those who
do not are controlled by those who have! Millions of
people have been born but have never exhibited their
true greatness because they had no vision. If you need
more help in this area, please go to
goal
setting.
Evaluating Too Quickly
You may have heard the
phrases, "patience is a virtue", "think before you
leap", "a person who answers a matter before hearing the
facts, it is folly and shame to him". Evaluating too
quickly is a fantastic waste of time, money and effort.
A creative thinker always obtains the facts before
arriving at a conclusion. A creative person is patient,
"quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger".
What justice would there be if judges
and members of the jury, were to evaluate cases
prematurely? What chance have children got, if parents
refuse to listen, but jump to conclusions all the time?
How can a relationship improve if one partner or both
keeps on evaluating too quickly? How can an employee
survive in an organisation if the boss evaluates too
quickly every time?
Stop! Listen! Think!
Understand! Act and Evaluate!
This is the mark of a creative person.
Memory
Techniques
Most people say to themselves, I
have a terrible memory. Even if you are mentally sick,
you have the most powerful, complex and beautiful
resource in your human body, called the mind. It has
been, it is and it will always be more advanced than any
computer.
Nothing in the past, present or
future will ever be more powerful than the human mind.
The mind has the ability to store an unlimited amount of
information and recall it whenever it is needed.
Do not tell yourself that you have a
bad memory because this will result in you suffering
memory losses. You have a powerful memory that has
already stored up millions of pieces of information.
From the day you were born, every thing that you have
seen, touched, smelled, heard and tasted is stored in
that beautiful memory of yours. If your memory was poor,
you would not be able to remember very much at all. One
of the best memory techniques is to tell yourself every
day, "I have a mega memory."
Rejuvenate your memory every day with
physical exercise and sports of your choice. Challenge
yourself to more complex tasks and games such as chess
and backgammon. This will bring you into a new dimension
of yourself. Boldly go where you have never been before.
For some, reading a book a month, starting a business,
learning a new language, playing golf, chess or cooking
a meal is a new challenge. Be bold as a lion and do
something new, challenging and exciting.
Just as your body needs exercise to
stay fit, so must you exercise your memory, in order to
remember more perfectly. I memorise verses from the
Bible most mornings while I am in the bathroom, ironing
or eating. Practising this technique every day for ten
minutes will improve your memory and sharpen your
concentration.
Before I give any presentation, I
always spend time rehearsing and picturing myself in
front of the audience, while I am in the bathroom,
walking or driving. I have used this method for over ten
years and found it extremely beneficial. Not only has my
memory improved, but my confidence and knowledge has
increased. When the moment arrives to give my
presentation, I feel on top of the world, because I have
given the presentation several times before. When I
stand on the stage to give my presentation I feel at
home.
Picture yourself in that important
interview, a meeting with your boss, a sales
presentation or resolving conflicts. When the actual
time comes, you will be a winner.
Here are some memory techniques that
are available for you to use:
|
S |
Story Telling and Picture
Forming |
|
A |
Acronyms |
|
R |
Repetition |
|
A |
Association |
Telling stories and forming pictures
in the mind of my delegates enables them to remember
with pinpoint accuracy. Acronyms are words made up of
initial letters of other words. SARA above is an
acronym. Repetition is
repeating something over and over until it sticks in the
mind. This method is the most commonly used technique.
Association is linking things together. In school we
were taught, 1-bun, 2-shoe, 3-tree, 4-door, 5-hive,
6-sticks and 7-heaven and so on, this is association.
When I use the above techniques, I can remember anything
I wish, whenever I wish, and so can you.
As I was walking down the road, I saw
a big door running away in horror, being chased by a
colony of bees. The door looked back in horror, slipped
on a bun and went crashing into a tree. Before the
colony of bees could attack the door, out of the sky
came a gigantic stick and kicked the bees with its shoe.
Off flew the bees into the heavens.
This story is told so as to remember
the telephone number, 451 3627. The big door running is
4. Colony of bees is 5. Slipping on bun is 1. Crashing
into tree is 3. Stick is 6. Shoe is 2 and heaven is 7.
Many people use imaginative stories like this to pass
their exams. You too can use memory techniques to pass
your exams all the time. In the above example, I have
animated the story, made it crazy, unreal, funny and
very imaginative. In this way it becomes easier to
remember.
If you wish to find out more about
these techniques, I have recommended reading material at
the end of this chapter.
Imagination
Imagination is the act or
power of forming a mental image or concept in your mind.
The telephone number example in the last section is a
fantastic example of imagination. You can use your
imagination for evil or for good, the choice is yours.
Any vision, idea, or problem
that you hold continually in your
imagination will inevitably cause your entire
being to move towards it.
We all have a conscious, subconscious
and superconscious mind. Our conscious mind holds the
things that we are aware of right now. It is also the
area where we make our day-to-day decisions. Our
subconscious mind is the area where we have stored away
millions of pieces of information since we were born.
Although you may not be able to remember everything
straight away, it is stored up in your subconscious
mind. It is also the area where we store our values,
beliefs and attitudes. Our superconscious mind is the
area of imagination.
It is through the imagination of the
superconscious mind that so many discoveries have been
made. Keep on dreaming for your dreams will come to
pass.
I believe that the fastest known
thing to man is not the speed of light but rather the
speed of thought. One of our biggest problems with the
mind today is our lack of understanding and training,
and our inability to control this most powerful, complex
and fast resource.
While a person is talking, your mind
has the ability to take frequent side trips to places
you have visited, or consider a pressing matter. This
uncontrolled way of thinking is time consuming and can
be frustrating. I have on many occasions caught myself
thinking of things that I did not consciously decide to
think about. Do not let your imagination control you,
but rather let it serve you.
Nervousness and Fear
Everyone has a mind that is
operating every hour, minute and second of the day, year
after year. Dreams indicate that even while we are
sleeping the mind is still fully active. Nervousness and
fear have a crippling and paralysing effect upon their
victims. Many people do not understand that fear
produces torment, extreme pain and suffering. Many
sicknesses can be linked to the way we think and the
fears that we consistently hold in our mind. Fear is
like a living demon inside its victims, seeking only to
completely kill and destroy.
Ask yourself the question, "Why do I
fear this situation or person?" Look for different ways
to wrestle with these demons called "Nervousness and
Fear" then eject them from your life. You can do it. Be
careful because the thing that you fear may come true in
your life. "For the thing which I greatly feared is come
upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto
me."10 The
death of a loved one will leave us in tears, sorrow and
grief. However, if we change the way we think about our
circumstances, we automatically change the way we feel
and act and the results we receive.
Develop Your Skills
It is said that we use less
than 10% of our potential. What has happened to the
other 90%? How do we get our full potential successfully
developed and functioning? If your mind is given the
right training, it will develop and flourish.
Find the career that you wish to
master and do everything in your power to become the
best in the world. Spend up to eight hours a day
learning about it. The time you dedicate to it daily is
an indication of how serious you are to reach the top.
Do not skip a day because every day that you skip puts
pressure on you. Anything that you consistently focus on
will become easier to do. If you use these three methods
you will develop so fast you will surprise yourself:
|
A |
Action what you learn
|
|
R |
Revise every day |
|
T |
Teach it to others |
Finally, one more thing
before you take a break. The best thing that you can do
for your children is to guard their minds from being
polluted with garbage.
Fig 6.9 "Is this the
environment that your child lives in?"
|
a |
Help them every day to think
highly of themselves and others. |
|
b |
Tell them about the good things
that they do and help them with the other things
that do not seem as good. |
|
c |
Tell them every day that you love
them and that they are the most special people
in the world. |
|
d |
Let them know that you would not
change them for anyone or anything. |
|
e |
Help them to write down their
goals and plans for the future. |
From a young age my daughters have written down their
goals and values together with a plan of action and a
deadline to attain their goals.
|
©