These are nine obstacles to creative thinking i will be sharing with you. Each of them may apply to yourself or someone you know. Any one of them, if you fail to recognize and remove it, can hold you back.
1. Lack of Direction
The first obstacle to creative thinking is the lack of clear goals and objectives, written down, accompanied by detailed, written plans of action. When you become crystal clear about what you want, and how you are going to achieve it, your creative mind springs to life. You immediately begin to sparkle with ideas and insights that help you to move forward.
The first obstacle to creative thinking is the lack of clear goals and objectives, written down, accompanied by detailed, written plans of action. When you become crystal clear about what you want, and how you are going to achieve it, your creative mind springs to life. You immediately begin to sparkle with ideas and insights that help you to move forward.
2. Fear of Failure
The second major obstacle to creative thinking is the fear of failure or loss. It is the fear of being wrong, of making a mistake, or of losing money or time. As it happens, it is not the experience of failure that holds you back. You have failed countless times in life and it hasn’t done you any permanent damage. It is the possibility of failure, the anticipation of failure, that paralyses action and becomes the primary reason for failure and underachievement.
3. Fear of Criticism
The third major obstacle to creative thinking is the fear of criticism, or the fear of ridicule, scorn or rejection. It is the fear of sounding dumb or looking foolish. This is triggered by the desire to be liked and approved of by others, even people you don’t know or care about. As a result, you decide that, “If you want to get along, you have to go along.” It is amazing how many people live lives of underachievement and mediocrity because they are afraid to attempt to sell themselves or their ideas to someone else. They are afraid to ask someone to buy or try their product or service. As a result of these fears of rejection and criticism, they play it safe and settle for far less then they are truly capable of earning.
4. Striving for Constancy
A major obstacle to creative thinking is called “homeostasis.” This is a deep subconscious desire to remain consistent with what you have done or said in the past. It is the fear of doing or saying something new or different from what you did before. This homeostatic impulse holds people back from becoming all they are capable of becoming. This is why Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” The homeostatic impulse is like a gyroscope in the your mind. Whenever you try to diverge from what you have done in the past, there seems to be an irresistible unconscious pressure that brings you back to doing what you have always done. Unfortunately, this tendency leads you into your own “comfort zone.” Your comfort zone, over time, becomes a groove, and then a rut. You become stuck. All progress stops. In no time, you begin to use your marvelous powers of rationalization to justify not changing. As Jim Rohn says, “The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.” Denis Waitley, the motivational speaker, refers to this homeostatic impulse when he talks about unsuccessful people who spend their time “focusing on activities that are tension relieving rather then goal achieving.” Homeostasis is a major killer of human potential.
A major obstacle to creative thinking is called “homeostasis.” This is a deep subconscious desire to remain consistent with what you have done or said in the past. It is the fear of doing or saying something new or different from what you did before. This homeostatic impulse holds people back from becoming all they are capable of becoming. This is why Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” The homeostatic impulse is like a gyroscope in the your mind. Whenever you try to diverge from what you have done in the past, there seems to be an irresistible unconscious pressure that brings you back to doing what you have always done. Unfortunately, this tendency leads you into your own “comfort zone.” Your comfort zone, over time, becomes a groove, and then a rut. You become stuck. All progress stops. In no time, you begin to use your marvelous powers of rationalization to justify not changing. As Jim Rohn says, “The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.” Denis Waitley, the motivational speaker, refers to this homeostatic impulse when he talks about unsuccessful people who spend their time “focusing on activities that are tension relieving rather then goal achieving.” Homeostasis is a major killer of human potential.
5. Mechanical Thinking
The fifth major obstacle to creative thinking is called “psychosclerosis” or a “hardening of the attitudes.” This mental block is demonstrated by rigidity in thinking. Unsuccessful people develop fixed ideas about what is possible and what is not impossible, and then become inflexible with regard to their ideas. They immediately dismiss any new idea or opportunity as being unworkable because they have not seen it or done it before. People who are inflexible in their thinking seldom see the possibilities that lie around them. Every person develops “rules” about what they or others should do, and what should happen in certain circumstances. These rules can be helpful if they serve as guidelines to help us make better decisions and enhance the quality of our lives. They can hold us back if our rules limit us or others in the realization of our full potentials. Many people make rules for themselves in regard to their talents and abilities, and then insist upon living by those rules. They say, “That’s just the way I am,” or “I couldn’t possible save money, sell or start a business of my own.” The sad fact is that these rules have no basis in reality. But as long as a person believes that he or she is limited in some way, that belief becomes their reality. As Henry Ford said, “If you believe you can, or believe you cannot, in either case, you’re probably right.”
6. Passive Versus Proactive Thinking
The sixth obstacle to creative thinking is passivity. If you do not continually stimulate your mind with new ideas and information, it loses its vitality and energy, very much like a muscle that is not exercised. Instead of thinking proactively and creatively, your thinking becomes passive and automatic. Passivity is often caused by a diet of too much television. This is why television is often called “junk food for the mind” or “chewing gum for the eyes.” The more of it you watch, the more passive and uncreative you become. The average adult in America watches three to five hours of television per day. Senior citizens watch seven hours of television per day. There is abundant research that shows that the more television that you watch, the more passive and less creative you become.
Another major cause of passive thinking is routine. Most people get up at the same time each morning, take the same route to work, follow the same routine at their jobs, socialize with the same people in the evenings, listen to the same radio stations, and watch the same television programs. As a result of not continually challenging their minds, they become dull and complacent. If someone suggests or proposes a new idea or way of doing things, they usually react with negativity and discouragement. They very soon begin to feel threatened by any suggestion of change from the way
things have been done in the past.
The sixth obstacle to creative thinking is passivity. If you do not continually stimulate your mind with new ideas and information, it loses its vitality and energy, very much like a muscle that is not exercised. Instead of thinking proactively and creatively, your thinking becomes passive and automatic. Passivity is often caused by a diet of too much television. This is why television is often called “junk food for the mind” or “chewing gum for the eyes.” The more of it you watch, the more passive and uncreative you become. The average adult in America watches three to five hours of television per day. Senior citizens watch seven hours of television per day. There is abundant research that shows that the more television that you watch, the more passive and less creative you become.
Another major cause of passive thinking is routine. Most people get up at the same time each morning, take the same route to work, follow the same routine at their jobs, socialize with the same people in the evenings, listen to the same radio stations, and watch the same television programs. As a result of not continually challenging their minds, they become dull and complacent. If someone suggests or proposes a new idea or way of doing things, they usually react with negativity and discouragement. They very soon begin to feel threatened by any suggestion of change from the way
things have been done in the past.
7. Negative Emotions
The seventh obstacle to creative thinking is negative emotions, of all kinds. The negative emotions of anxiety, fear, tension, worry, and stress of any kind impairs brain functioning. In fact, stress and anxiety of any kind actually shuts down the brain’s higher functions, like turning off all the lights in the top floors of an office building. When you become nervous and anxious for any reason, your ability to generate creative ideas and solutions drops dramatically. When you experience a negative emotion, especially one caused by fears of failure, disapproval or a threat to your emotional or financial wellbeing, you revert to the “fight or flight” reaction. You respond and react emotionally instead of logically and rationally. As a result, you often make impulsive decisions and choices that generate negative results. This is why Peter Drucker wrote, “Action without thinking is the cause of every failure.”
The seventh obstacle to creative thinking is negative emotions, of all kinds. The negative emotions of anxiety, fear, tension, worry, and stress of any kind impairs brain functioning. In fact, stress and anxiety of any kind actually shuts down the brain’s higher functions, like turning off all the lights in the top floors of an office building. When you become nervous and anxious for any reason, your ability to generate creative ideas and solutions drops dramatically. When you experience a negative emotion, especially one caused by fears of failure, disapproval or a threat to your emotional or financial wellbeing, you revert to the “fight or flight” reaction. You respond and react emotionally instead of logically and rationally. As a result, you often make impulsive decisions and choices that generate negative results. This is why Peter Drucker wrote, “Action without thinking is the cause of every failure.”
8. Rationalizing and Justifying
The eighth obstacle to creative thinking is rationalizing. We know that human beings are rational creatures, but what does that mean? Being rational means that we continually use our minds to explain the world to ourselves, so we can understand it better and feel more secure. If you look up the definition of rationalizing in the dictionary, it says “putting a socially favorable interpretation on an otherwise socially unacceptable act.” In other words, whatever you decide to do, or not do, you very quickly come up with a good reason for your decision. The Law of Duality says that there are usually two reasons for everything you do. There is the reason that sounds good, and the real reason. The reason that sounds good is always something that is socially acceptable, but the real reason is often that we are afraid to move out of our comfort zones or confront our fears, or take the risk of doing something new of different. Many people fall into what is called the “intelligence trap.” Once they fall into this trap, no matter how well educated they are, instead of using their intelligence to find ways to achieve their goals, they instead use their intelligence to justify and rationalize behaviors and activities that are holding them back. They explain to others how important it is to watch a particular television show, or to take lots of time off to relax after work. At work, they justify their low levels of productivity by explaining how important it is that they spend much of their time socializing with their coworkers. Once they fall into the intelligence trap, they become more and more clever about finding reasons for underperformance and failure. Don’t let this happen to you.
The eighth obstacle to creative thinking is rationalizing. We know that human beings are rational creatures, but what does that mean? Being rational means that we continually use our minds to explain the world to ourselves, so we can understand it better and feel more secure. If you look up the definition of rationalizing in the dictionary, it says “putting a socially favorable interpretation on an otherwise socially unacceptable act.” In other words, whatever you decide to do, or not do, you very quickly come up with a good reason for your decision. The Law of Duality says that there are usually two reasons for everything you do. There is the reason that sounds good, and the real reason. The reason that sounds good is always something that is socially acceptable, but the real reason is often that we are afraid to move out of our comfort zones or confront our fears, or take the risk of doing something new of different. Many people fall into what is called the “intelligence trap.” Once they fall into this trap, no matter how well educated they are, instead of using their intelligence to find ways to achieve their goals, they instead use their intelligence to justify and rationalize behaviors and activities that are holding them back. They explain to others how important it is to watch a particular television show, or to take lots of time off to relax after work. At work, they justify their low levels of productivity by explaining how important it is that they spend much of their time socializing with their coworkers. Once they fall into the intelligence trap, they become more and more clever about finding reasons for underperformance and failure. Don’t let this happen to you.
9. Wishful ThinkingThe ninth obstacle to creative thinking is fantasizing or wishful thinking. This is a form of self-delusion or evasion of reality. The tendency of many people toward wishful thinking is often demonstrated in trusting to luck for success, or wishing and dreaming that you are going to win the lottery, or make a big financial score with little effort or risk. Many people waste years of their lives looking for a “get rich quick” scheme or a way to make “easy money.” These people fall prey to the con artists and sellers of “wealth without effort or risk” business or investment opportunities. They soon lose all their time and money and have to start over. The fact is that you only pass from childhood to adulthood when you accept responsibility for your results, and you finally realize that no one is coming to the rescue. If you do not do the hard work of achieving your goals by yourself, no one else is going to do it for you. Nothing good is going to happen to you unless you do it for yourself. There is no such thing as “easy money.” Don’t let wishful thinking lead you to look for it.
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