by Eddy Parham, OD Guy

I was recently discussing with a friend how frequently people are blinded by the problems they face. We look at a problem that either we or others have tried but failed to solve and immediately think that because of one failure, regardless of how long ago the failure occurred, that the problem can never be overcome or that there is never going to be a better way of doing something. Or, and I believe this is worse, will not listen to the ideas of others because of a misguided belief that they know better than others. My response to that line of thinking is this – if you know best, then why do you have the problem in the first place?

Einstein once said “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” And that brings me to the point of this post – in order to solve today’s problems we must employ creative thinking or at least employ someone who thinks creatively. And then critically listen to the ideas. Process and synthesize what is being said – take time to reflect and ponder the solutions.

But what exactly is Creative Thinking?
•       It is the ability to imagine something new – not create something from scratch necessarily, but to reimagine, to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying existing ideas.
•       It is an attitude, a willingness to take chances with dreams, ideas, and possibilities, and always looking for a better way of doing things.
•       It is a process of continuous improvement.
Creative ideas don’t happen in a vacuum. People take an idea and build upon it not worrying whether or not the idea fails. In fact creative thinkers tend to welcome failure. Billionaire Sara Blakely notes that while growing up her father encouraged her and her siblings to fail. Routinely when the Blakely family gathered around the dinner table, he would make them talk about their biggest failure of the day. Blakely said that if no one had a failure for that day, their father would be very disappointed.

To become more creative in your thinking, try expanding yourself in these areas:
•       Embrace problems
•       Believe that all problems can be solved
•       Reserve judgment until you’ve tried the multiple solutions, multiple times, and in multiple ways. Thomas Edison, when asked about the number of times he failed at creating a filament for the incandescent light bulb, replied, “I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”
•       Be curious – gain knowledge for the fun of it. Learn how things work, broaden your knowledge base.
•       Be a “both/and” rather than an “either/or” person – realize that there is often more than one solution to your problem and in some instances multiple solutions can coexist and may even be necessary based on the application of the solution.

If you’re a creative person, halleluiah. If you’re not, hopefully you’ll take a critical look at your problem solving shortcomings and commit yourself to becoming more creative in your thinking. After all creative thinking is a learned behavior.