Life's greatest thief.

Creativity flourishes in the right environment. Even from those who declare “ There’s not a creative bone in me” – wrong. A positive environment has wonderful affect on your ability to discover, develop character and personality, and even generosity. On the other hand negativity, stress, depression, and materialism breeds discontent and kills your ability to succeed. When your environment feels safe, positive and encouraging the brain acts on it’s own to produce creative thoughts that will ignite your passions. You won’t be able to contain yourself. Why do you sing in the shower when you had rather die than sing in public? Ever stepped out of the shower and a glorious, creative stroke of genius pop into your head and you exclaim, “WOW did I think of that?” A creative spark has just been struck and only needs the right environment to fan it’s fire of excitement.

TELEVISION IS A TUB OF COLD WATER THROWN ONTO YOUR SPARK OF CREATIVITY. It’s a wet blanket; it’s a depressant and a major success thief. When the sun goes down and fatigue raises its head, television snoops around in the shadows of your mind to dampen your creativity with discontentment, your courage with anxiety, and your optimism with negative thinking. Hollywood is miserable and misery loves company. Some people have been led to think this is an escape – it’s a pit. Ask the guy who bought 345 pocketknives at three n the morning, or the woman who neglects it all for 2 hours of broken hearts, and cheating lives; tell me the news channel that finds the good and wholesome side of life, walk in and find your 6 year old absorbed in a bed scene. And many of the commercials are the worst culprits.

TELEVISION IS LIFE’S COURSE OF LEAST RESISTANCE AND THAT SPELLS TROUBLE. It communicates defeat, worry, and discontentment while fostering thoughts of immorality and dishonesty in a tired brain. I’m no doctor, but can’t those feelings, day in and day out, cause illness? Negativity builds up in your system like poison and before long, unknowingly, you filter reality through the free filters, compliments of your television. Does anything good come from television? Yes, but very little in comparison to the colossal amount of stinking thinking, that it spews out. Just like the morsel of cheese in the rat’s trap, there’s a small pinch of good to bait and lure you into hours and hours of negative brain shaping as you Drink The Cool-Ade.

Television is not the road to an abundant life. Can I suggest a more productive path in life, one that leads to success, adventure and contentment, one that builds courage, confidence, inspiration, motivation and happiness – YOU BET I CAN! Make a list of 6 books you want to read this year. Biographies that teach success and fosters passion, fiction that takes you to other lands, back in time, into the future, and how to do books that teach you a better way – all of these will make you a better person, a more interesting person, and a more successful person. Your creativity will amaze you; your accomplishments will amaze your friends and your mate. There’s a good chance your health will improve and you’ll begin to sleep better. You’ll look forward to your evening quiet time and before long you will become less self-focused and more considerate of others. Negativity always brings fatigue while inspiration always brings energy. Start teaching your kids early that there is more to life than TV; they’ll thank you for it later.

Our inner man hungers to be more than we are, accomplish more than we have and leave this earth a better place. Your Creator means for you to enjoy life more abundantly. Learn more about your Him. He sends his love and wants me to tell you that His thoughts toward you are peaceful and not evil, and to give you a future and a hope.

Think outside the cubical to succeed.

For so long, I felt trapped in my 8 to 5, 6 X 6 cubical and was going bonkers. I guess I have too much of a hobo gypsy mentality. To tell you the truth, a good employee I would not make. That’s not to say I’m lazy or irresponsible and you’re not either, but too many controls and I implode. Most days I work 10 to 12 hours, I can do this because I'm free to work where and when I want. Also, I love what I do. I wake up excited and bursting with ideas.

Everyone is creative when theyre placed in the right environment, an environment that allows you to express your ideas without fear of rejection and where you’re passion is allowed to play out. You’ve know the cliche “Do what you love and the money will come”. There are a 6 simple rules for playing this game that you should know.

FIRST - Don’t set your heart on becoming rich. Riches can’t buy happiness. Obviously, we all need a certain amount of money for living this wonderful life. Just don’t make money the reason you get up every morning else you will loose focus of what truly makes you happy. If along the way you happen to become “rich” be extra careful, be generous.

SECOND – Start a savings account, develop a budget and stick to it; pay cash for most things and do not accumulate bills. Live within your means. You’ll never be able to pursue your wanna be’s if your always worried about your debt. Nothing kills creative thinking like bills. Save at least 6 months of living expenses. You may need this to help get through the wanna be learning curve.

THIRD - Research your wanna be ideas. Wanna be a dolphin trainer, rodeo rider, matador, sommelier, chocolatier, circus actor or a bounty hunter? The more you know, the more you can make the correct decisions. Each time you learn something new about your wanna be goal your next step will begin taking shape and before long your well on your way to accomplishing your dream. To quote another cliche, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Great performers did not become great overnight. Hard work and discipline is the sure road. To quote Beverly Sills from the top of my February 19th Franklin Covey day timer page, “ There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” There may not be any shortcuts, but the trip is a whole lot faster if you’re not backtracking. Do your research. Research can take many shapes. Google is a good place to start, books, magazines, new articles from Fast Company and BNET, Internet magazines. Collect all the free information you can before making decisions that cost. Visit schools, if they are too far away email or phone them. Schools will be glad to give you much free advice. Have thoughtful questions ready ahead of time in order to get the most from your interviews. Keep a journal and let your progress inspire you.

FOURTH – It will take courage to pursue your dream, but if you’ve prepared yourself courage will become your friend. Each step you take in this direction will teach you future steps and before long you will look back and wonder how you came so far.

FIFTH – Learn to be generous. Help others and share ideas. None of us can make it alone. Remember the golden rule. By the way did you know that it comes from the Bible?

SIXTH – Never give up. There will be plenty of reasons along the way but ignore them.
If it was easy, everybody would do it. Remember you’re not everybody you are a special creature that God has given many talents and passions to in order to accomplish great things.

Check out the schools and jobs in this blog for out of the cubical thinking.