CREATIVE IQ Your Five Step Path To Creativity by © Judith Tramayne-Barth What do Bill Gates, Thomas Edison and John D. Rockefeller have in common? CREATIVE IQ No, not genius although history does promote this image after a person becomes successful. No what these men have in common is Creative IQ. Each was able to amass a fortune because they used their Creative IQ to come up with workable ideas and then followed through on those ideas. Sure they had other important attributes as well but the first and most important attribute was their ability to use the right (creative) side of their brains as well as the left (logical) side. In other words, they became whole-brained people. This booklet is going to explain in five easy steps how you too can increase your Creative IQ. What you do with this knowledge is up to you. Will it increase your income? Only if you apply the knowledge. Will it enhance your life? Yes, if you apply the knowledge. The steps outlined in this booklet are only a tool. You, and only you are responsible for using the tool to your benefit. To get the most from "Creative IQ - The Five Step Path to Creativity", you should read through this booklet quickly in one sitting then go back and reread each step, digesting each slowly. Human nature being what it is you'll do this anyway so go ahead. It's what I would do. But please don't be misled by thinking any of the steps can be ignored, all are equally important to increasing your Creative IQ. The steps are simple yet effective. The old adage "Keep It Simple Stupid" was applied when writing this booklet. You don't have time for a lot of psychological babble and you won't get any in this booklet. Each step is written concisely to increase their impact on you. Step One - Make Lists and Relax Yeah, I know you've heard this one many times before. But guess what, this is not about goal setting. These lists you need to make are for clearing your mind. Yup that's right clearing your mind. Think about the number of times you have gone to bed and lain there with a mind so active, sleep was impossible. If you had cleared your mind by writing down everything that bugged you during the day and what you needed to do the next day, sleep would not have eluded you. So if it will work when you have insomnia, why not clear your mind every day? How do you suppose you're ever going to get a creative thought if your mind has a lot of stuff running through it. Writing things down means you don't have to waste your energy remembering. Your lists will do it for you. Which leads to the second part of this step. Relaxation. No, this isn't meditation. If you're like me, everytime you try to meditate you fall asleep. Relaxation is merely getting comfy whether you sit, lie down or stand on your head. Deep breathing exercises are okay but not entirely necessary. If they help you relax, great. If they don't, why bother. A quiet brain is your goal. How you get there is up to you. Meditate, deep breathe, sip a glass of wine, it doesn't matter. The object is to relax and have a clear mind. I find what works for me is to write down everything, (i.e., things to do during the day, calls which need to be made, etc.) and then, when there are still inane thoughts running around in my head, I just tell my brain "to shut the _ _ _ _ up" in a very firm voice. Sounds stupid I know but it works. Usually, I hear a zip, click then total quiet. Whatever turns off all the niggling thoughts that run a mile a minute through your brain is what you're after. You'll know when you've reached this point because the quiet is enormous. You must have this quiet or relaxed mind; otherwise, when a creative thought emerges, how will you know it's there? This first step - writing lists and quieting your mind means you must take time out of your busy life and consciously do this religiously for 21 days. That's right, twenty-one days. Not ten, not twenty but twenty-one days. Science has proven our mind and bodies needs this three-week period to feel comfy with a new habit unless it's a bad habit then we're talking 21 minutes not days. Think about the last time you changed jobs or moved into a new place, you probably didn't feel okay with it until three weeks had gone by. Your brain or physical bio-rhythm needs this 21 day period to adjust. Don't make the mistake of by-passing this step. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. Writing lists, relaxing and quieting your mind is so important the other steps are useless without it. Note: It doesn't matter what time of the day you pick to quiet your mind. Just do it every day. The whole point is to increase your Creative IQ and it will take practice. The steps are easy, and once they become habit through practice, you'll find you can call on your Creative IQ any time any where. And isn't that what you're after? Step Two - Focusing Now this step seems so obvious, you're probably thinking big deal. Well, it is a big deal. Focusing all your attention on solving a problem or focusing on something you really, really want is the next step to increasing your Creative IQ. Your focusing must be specific. You must know what you want. Vague doesn't make it here. Your brain is better than any computer and can process thousands of thoughts in a day. Unless you narrow down the parameters, your brain will just keep going from thought to thought and produce nothing except a creative headache. Like a computer where the operator keys in specific parameters, your brain must have a specific problem or a real strong desire before it can work productively. By focusing specifically (in great detail) on what you want, you are telling your conscious mind -- okay here is my situation. Your conscious mind then feeds this data to your sub-conscious mind. Once your sub-conscious knows what you want, it starts churning away to give you an end product (idea). Step Three - The Alpha State Science has figured out we have two sides to our brain. Our left brain controls logic and our right brain controls creativity. When you were a child, both sides worked together. Your imagination was every bit as important to you as the real world. This changed as you grew up, your left side became dominant. This was a natural occurrence because schools promoted this dominance. In order to fit "reading, riting and rithmetic" into your head, they required you learn by rote. In other words, you were required to memorized everything. Creative thinking wasn't encouraged because 30 to 35 free thinkers in the same room would have upset the status quo. Even now, with class size almost down to a respectable level, schools still do not promote the creative side of students brains. As school budgets decline, the arts programs (i.e., music, theater, art and dance) are the first to be axed even though it's been proven curriculums in the arts help with brain development. Education Secretary Richard Riley has stated, "In nearly every field in which we need to foster new ideas in order to succeed -- from computers to communications -- people with an education in the arts are playing critical conceptual roles." So what do you do? Take up music or art lessons? Not a bad idea and one you might want to seriously consider -- but right now you need to learn how to let your "right" brain emerge. How do you do this? Easy, you use Step One - write everything down to clear your mind, sit in a quiet place and relax. Then --Step Two -- you focus in detail on what you want to accomplish. Be specific. And Step Three -- You allow your mind to FREE-FLOAT. What you are trying to achieve here is called the "Alpha" state. This is the state between full consciousness and sleep. At first, your logical (left) side will interrupt and try to get you to stop. It doesn't like to lose control. Remember it's been dominant for years. Ignore it and allow your mind to free-float. Pretty soon ideas (creative thoughts) will come bubbling up. Don't under any circumstance censor any of these ideas. They are from the right side of your brain. The more illogical the better. This means your right brain is bursting forth in all its glory. It might take the full 21 days before you're left brain accepts the inevitable -- that the right brain is now part of your life. Be aware, the left (logical) side will not go down in defeat gracefully. A little voice (definitely critical) will tell you what you are doing is stupid and any ideas you receive can't possibly work. Don't listen. Just enjoy this new sensation. It gets easier with practice. Step Four - Daydream As ideas come forth in step three, write them down quickly. Do not rely on your mind to remember them. Don't divert your free-floating time with long sentences, just use one or two words to jog your memory. Once your mind starts to come out of the Alpha state, concentrate on one of the more lucid ideas. Your mind will flip back into the Alpha state if you begin to daydream. This means picturing the idea in its final form. Really good artists do it all the time. They flip into the alpha state usually every time they pick up brush because their brains are trained. Yours can be too. Half the fun when you were a child was imagining yourself in different situations and how you would react. This is similar. You are taking an idea your right brain provided and imagining how you will accomplish it. Some ideas will be feasible, others won’t. Doesn’t matter, you are increasing your Creative IQ everytime you exercise this thought process. Over time you will notice your right brain will intrude on a regular basis. When you reach this, you’ll know you have become whole-brained. Concepts will come to you easily. In fact so easily, you’ll be in awe. A word of warning: Coming up with creative ideas becomes addictive. Only stay in your Alpha — free float state long enough to receive your idea then move on; otherwise, hours, days, years will go by and you’ll have accomplished nothing. Step Five - Act Again this seems so obvious but unless you act on the idea your right brain produced, what’s the point increasing your Creative IQ. You must ACT on your creative ideas. The right side of your brain needs to know you are taking it seriously. Use your left (logical) side to help you implement your right brain idea. Do not let the left brain’s critical voice take over. Tell it if it doesn’t want to help, get the heck out of your way. Watch how it changes its tune and starts churning out ways to make your idea successful. Take your ideas and run with them. It only takes one creative idea to make a fortune. Remember Edison, Rockefeller and Gates and ask yourself where would they have been if they hadn’t acted on their ideas. What have you got to lose? REVIEW OF THE STEPS: Step One: Clear your mind by writing down everything then relax. Step Two: Focus with your conscious mind on what you want to accomplish. Step Three: Free-float by going into your Alpha State. Step Four: Daydream about the creative idea which surfaced in step three. Step Five: Act on your idea.