doug smith training

Aren't you glad that you are past your mistakes? Oh you, and I, will certainly make more mistakes but hopefully we are long past who we used to be. Character grows from doing the right things. Wisdom grows from learning from your mistakes. Whoever we once were, it's our job to grow beyond that into someone better. Grow. Keep growing. Set and work on goals that push you onward. Grow so much that who you used to be scares you.  Because who you are becoming is so much better, and you just barely escaped what was. -- doug smith

The creative life shakes hands with your better self, your happy self, your complete yet untapped potential self - a quick and colorful and powerful entity of sensational art. Living, walking, breathing creativity in the moment, in all moments, for ourselves, and for everyone. -- doug smith

Expand your view. Let go of preconceptions. Wiggle loose your perceptions long enough to visualize more, ever more, possibilities. Are you locked into your thinking? Is your mind made up on certain concepts, designs, beliefs? It's easy to slip into a comfortable certainty about what we believe and to then accept that as absolute truth. How would we even know if absolute truth was absolute? What if we tested our beliefs? What if we did learn about opposite points of view? What if we did explore ideas that were radically different than our own? If our own truths are truly absolute, couldn't they withstand the most probing scrutiny and the most rigorous doubts? And if our beliefs are valid beyond doubting then couldn't they emerge confident after wandering through some divergent paths? What if we let down our guard and listed openly to a new idea? What if our version of the truth is incomplete and could benefit from cranking open the windows and breathing s

Do you think about creativity everyday? When we think about creativity everyday it spurs us into action, it develops a sense of wonder, it prods us into moving out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. We can even reach a state that is so creative we forget that we're thinking about being creative, we simply create. New things, better things, wonderful things. Better leadership, better communication, better problem solving. Better living. Stay creative and you won't ever regret it. It makes us brighter, makes us smarter, makes us more alive. What are you doing to develop your creativity today? -- Doug Smith

How many goals are you working on? I'm not saying that you should have too many goals. A hundred should be plenty. (OK, you can pick yourself back up now, I don't actually expect anyone to list a hundred goals.) Creativity likes to be busy. Creativity likes idle time, too and if we're idle long enough the creative mind gets busy. Your goals stand a better chance of achievement when your creativity is cranked way up. So keep your creative mind busy and your creative impulses, ideas, notions, and results will multiply. The creative mind is always busy. We just need to pay attention. What is the creative side of your mind telling you right now? -- Doug Smith

Have you ever been stuck in a routine? It happens to me sometimes - I get really comfortable doing things in a certain order, eating certain types of food (I'll never get tired of pizza) and working at certain jobs. These little ruts are comfortable but not where I want to live. To live creatively we do better to break out of those routines. We need a change of scenery. We need to meet new people. We need to rock our own world enough to get off center long enough to know what our center really is. But it doesn't need to be earth shaking. We don't have to turn our lives upside down. We could even be happy with the way things are. That still leaves plenty of opportunity to see new, hear new, feel new, experience anew what may have been right in front of us all along, but brings a breath-taking newness to our life. There is something completely new about this moment in time. It's unique. No matter how familiar it seems, we've never lived this moment before

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe What would we do without creativity? Life would be so much less colorful. Songs would not be sung. Pictures would not be painted. And leaders would use the same old strategies that irritated people before. Creativity helps us grow. Creativity IS growth, and we must never stop growing. Creativity is a necessity. The next time someone implies that you don't have enough time to be creative, ask them how they'd feel without the things that make life worth living - joy, celebration, examination, and love. Yes, even love - for how much can we love without getting creative?  What creative work of art (or commerce!) are you working on today? -- doug smith doug smith training: developing creativity