Who can forget the scene, when Mr. Miyagi is showing Daniel classic defensive Karate moves, through the process of waxing a car. Daniel did not understand the wisdom, therefore, he could not see the value of waxing a car, when he wanted, and needed, to learn Karate quickly.

This is frequently the process that God uses in our lives, to develop character that is very much related to discipline. “But Lord, why should I do this? I can’t see how this relates to my career or aspirations. How is this helping my life? What is the point in doing this, over and over again?

Many of us have learned from practical experience that if we are going to reach any significant goal we will have to leave our comfort zone. Are you ready to launch out in the deep?  Wax on – Wax off.

What is purpose? Myles Monroe states that purpose is the original in-tention for the creation of a thing. Purpose is the need that makes a manufacturer produce a specific product therefore purpose precedes production. Purpose is the expectation of the source. When you dis-cover your purpose you discover your potential.

The phrase “draws them out” is a form of speech known as an idiom. The literal Hebrew refers to a bucket that is dangled or lowered into a well to draw out water. So the original language uses a play on words, referring to deep waters (purposes of the heart) and a bucket lowered to “draw them out.”

This same Hebrew word for purposes is translated in other verses as plans, advice, counsel, strategy and prediction. A loose paraphrase of this verse emphasizing the meaning of this Hebrew word could be, “The guidance needed to make decisions and plan for the future God has ordained within a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.”

God has put His purposes in your heart. And they are like deep waters. You will need to be a man or woman of understanding to draw them out.

I’m always amazed at how many people I meet who say they aren’t terribly creative. For starters, it’s not true. Perhaps they’re not as creative now as they were when they were children, but the reality is – every human has the capacity to be creative. It’s part of our DNA. Cave dwellers painted on walls, while animals of all kinds participate in play. You could say the world is one gigantic playground.

And yet, many adults have forgotten how to play. It’s understandable. Life is about work, getting things done, and taking care of others. Life is about responsibilities and decisions and the never-ending ploy to squeeze more effort into more hours in the day. Play, naturally, takes a back seat.

But one could also argue that the most successful people are also the most creative. The entrepreneur who hits it big. The clever engineer who solves a tricky problem. The resourceful non-profit executive who works with limited resources. Those who apply their creative minds to solving problems and offering alternative options often get rewarded in ways that far surpass the average worker or individual. In other words, if you want greater success, first be more creative.

How do you go about rediscovering your inner child? You must re-learn it. Here are seven useful ways to get in the “mood.”

Accept and Even Embrace Failure. That’s right. Learn from your mistakes. How does that help creativity? Because it frees you from having to do things the “right” way. When I paint, I fail a lot. Sometimes I mix terrible combinations of color which become mud. Other times I screw up the look of a shadow. The reality is – I often have to fail to see what works or to learn something new. Go ahead. Fail. Failure is learning and from learning comes new approaches.

Mix Odd Combinations. Artists and engineers do this all the time. So do chefs. Someone combines a running shoe with an iPod. The result? A smart shoe that keeps track of running times. Get in the habit of joining things that normally aren’t put together. Who cares if the combination doesn’t at first make sense. That’s not the goal. The goal is to get into the habit of seeing the world differently and playing around.

Go for Volume. To be more creative, you must expand on the number of ideas you have. Too many times we look for one or two solutions to a problem when there may be hundreds. Get in the habit of always looking for 10 different options to any one problem, opportunity or situation. In other words, if someone asks you to come up with a new way of distributing your product, give them 10 alternatives instead of two. More importantly, don’t evaluate the quality of those options initially. Don’t limit yourself. It’s more important you seek out as many alternatives as you can think of.

Thicken Your Skin. Creativity and innovative thinking often makes other people uncomfortable. For example, have you ever introduced a new idea at a staff meeting, only to suddenly feel a cold chill in the room? Chances are you won’t introduce a new idea to that group again. But that’s wrong. You should be able to introduce new ideas effortlessly and without shame. It takes some fortitude, though. Start small and build up your confidence. Get used to the idea of offering ideas. Get people to trust you that regardless of the quality of the idea, the act of generating something new is worthwhile and valuable.

Feed the Beast. Not sure you can display your newfound creativity in your current workplace? Find another outlet instead. Leap into a more creative pursuit in the arts. Do it because it’s fun, not because you need to make a living or impress your friends. What you may discover is that your newfound artistic bent will start to spill over into your professional pursuits, resulting in more creative decision making.

Use the Tools. You can’t build a house without some basic tools, so why should you expect to be more creative without taking advantage of some of the tools that are available. For example, Brainwriting (the technique where you write down each thought) is an excellent tool for creative thought. Similarly, visualization (where you simply imagine an action taking place) is one of the most creative tools at your disposal. Do a Google search for innovation or creativity tools and try some of them.

You Are What You Think. If you think that you are creative, then you will act in accordance with that self-belief. As one motivational speaker once said, “You are what you think about most of the time.” Remind yourself that you have creative abilities and then confirm that belief in simple, effective ways. Be creative quietly and without fanfare. Prove to yourself that this is something that is actually pretty easy for you to do.

It’s okay to be a child again, or rather – to think like a child. Children have fun with make-believe. They let their imaginations run wild. Why? Because it’s fun and rewarding. You can do the same. You can be creative. You can have fun, regardless of your profession or lot in life. In the process, what you may discover is that your newfound creative bent elevates you in your profession in ways you never imagined.

Gene Pinder is the director of marketing for Centennial Campus, an award-winning research park at NC State. He also teaches innovative thinking to graduate students.

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By Matt Platts

It can be hard to fully 100% complete tasks. You begin a task with all the intentions of completing it, but then something more ‘important’ or ‘interesting’ drags you away from it. Soon there are half completed tasks all over the place, and it can lead to stress. It used to happen to me but now I have the knowledge in my mind to get around it. I acquired this knowledge through reading and listening to self development tapes. Luckily you can cut out the hard stuff and comfortably read my blog (wish I could have done that).

I’ve condensed the information into two easy steps. Firstly you need to set deadlines for yourself. Even if you set a deadline and don’t meet it, keep setting new deadlines. You will soon become talented in picking how long tasks will take, and will set deadlines more accurately. In psychological terms, putting a time limit on tasks brings it more clearly into your consciousness. It becomes more real and definite. Imagine telling yourself ‘I must complete this task within four days’, as opposed to ‘I should probably do that at some point’.

Step 1 – For every task set a deadline.

Great job – you have your task and your deadline. Next you must make sure you complete the task 100% before this deadline. This makes a very big difference. Don’t reach the deadline and tell yourself ‘oh that’s pretty much done’ – this will not work. Every time you complete a task 100% before a deadline, amazing things will happen inside of you. You feel good about yourself and your mood soars. You feel fulfillment and a strong desire to do more productive things. It’s as though you climbed another step up in life; progress feels so much better than stagnancy. These powerful postive feelings I will call posicoms (pos(itive)com(pletions)). A steady flow of posicoms are the key to being a very positive and enthusiastic, let alone a very productive person. People without posicoms will cruise through life with small highs. They never really achieve anything, and it’s not until they get their first dose of posicoms do they start achieving things.

Step 2 – Become addicted to posicoms by completing the tasks 100% before the deadline.

Now that you know the steps, here are some tips to maximising them to keep a steady flow of posicoms. Firstly you need to remove all of the bad distractions in your work area. Let me give you an example of how important this can be. When you go for a walk, you always 100% complete your walk. Why? The answer is because you have to get back home. By walking (performing a task) away from your home you are freeing yourself from any distractions that would otherwise prevent you from completing your walk. Thus you always 100% complete it. Let’s apply this.

If you have very good self discipline, then you should be able to complete tasks in any situation. However for us normal people, the best way is to switch up or alter the physical locations you work in. I personally get distracted by the internet; and always find myself aimlessly cruising the net. So to stop this from completing the steps and getting my posicoms the solution was to complete the tasks in an area where I couldn’t access the internet. This could be a library or a room which no internet access. If you are stuck at a desk at work, you could pull out the internet cord and give it someone, telling them not to give it back to you until you have finished. When you begin a task you usually have the good intentions of completing it, so use those good intentions to stop your future self from sabotaging you (yes you have to think about the future you as a different person to you right now). That sentence may need to be re-read to be properly understood.

Tip 1 – Prevent your future self from stopping early – remove yourself from all future distractions at the beginning.

Secondly you need to benchmark yourself. You need to have a goal within a task. Say your task is to produce a 500 word report. Obviously you could smash out 500 words and say that’s 100% complete. The posicoms may flow but they will be a trickle, because you know you could do better. You need to set a goal to produce the report at a level of quality that will get you some kind of external results. For example you could get an external observer (a friend) to critique the article, and make it a benchmark for yourself to always impress your friend. I need to stress that it must be an external benchmark. You can’t be the judge because you can change the benchmark – the benchmark needs to be firmly set in place. Competition is also a very good motivator. If you are performing the same task as other people, then set a benchmark to beat them. Without benchmarks you will not push yourself and gain the great rewards (posicoms).

Tip 2 – Set benchmarks based on external results to propel yourself to full completion

Write out the two steps and the two tips (if you want) and make them visible at your work area. It may be hard at first, but once you feel the powerful posicoms you will soon become addicted, and start setting more tasks and almost unknowingly become extremely productive.

If you like articles that help you towards brilliance such as this, check out http://www.williamsmind.com/blog

About the author: Matt is a budding university student studying Commerce and Law. He likes to make change for the good and help others achieve their goals

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By Steve Pavlina on Spirituality

I’ve written a lot about the mindset behind becoming a lightworker (or darkworker), but what do lightworkers actually do? What does the business of lightworking look like?

First, it’s important to understand that the ultimate goal of a lightworker is basically the expansion and elevation of consciousness. Darkworkers have essentially the same primary aim, but lightworkers pursue a very different path to get there.

It’s helpful to understand the lightworker path by contrasting it with the darkworker path…

Keep in mind that the vast majority of people aren’t polarized one way or the other, so chances are you’ll recognize some shades of yourself in both paths, but their pure forms will likely seem too extreme to you. However, you can greatly accelerate your path of growth by consciously choosing one path or the other instead of mixing the two (incompatible) approaches…

Here is the link:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/05/lightworking/

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Lightwork, Darkwork, what do you think? I believe all of us have a responsibility to impact our world in a positive way while we are here. I am a Christian but I do not consider myself religious and strive not to come across as harsh and dogmatic. I accepted Jesus into my heart a long time ago and I have never regretted this decision.

Decisions! This is the crux of the matter. There is a scene in the movie, “Indiana Jones and the Search for the Holy Grail”, where the greedy nemesis is required to choose the chalice that is the cup that Christ drank from. He chooses this elaborate chalice and drinks from it and we are greeted with the scene of his demise as he waste away before our eyes eventually turning into dust. The knight who has been guarding this place states: “he chose poorly”.

Sometimes we choose poorly. Yes, I know there are other factors that influence our lives but never underestimate the power of choice. I have traveled to Africa numerous times and even in a place like Zimbabwe you can see the difference in the lives of different people and how they think. I personally know a couple who are like roses in the midst of the desert in this impoverished nation.

Jesus said, I am the light, the life, and the way. What a wonderful thought!

Till next time, Jim