Royane Real

By Royane Real

Author of   “How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative”

Are you good at being a creative problem solver?  If you aren't particularly successful at finding creative solutions to problems, there's good news for you.  You can actually improve your ability to solve problems creatively, even if you aren't a very creative person.

Why should you try to improve your ability to find creative solutions to problems?

One good reason to become better at solving problems is because the world is not going to run out of problems soon.  There will always be new problems that need creative solutions. There will always be new problems that come up in your own life. There will be problems at work, and problems that need solving in the world around you.

All these problems are crying out for innovative solutions.  And the world can always use people who are innovative thinkers. People who can look at problems in a new way and find new creative solutions.

If you learn to improve your creative problem solving ability, you will find that this improved creative ability can be very useful in your career. People who are good at developing imaginative and effective solutions to existing problems are often very richly rewarded.

But another advantage you’ll have if you improve your problem solving ability is that you can also become more successful in your private life. And wouldn’t your life work better if you were more easily able to come up with good solutions to the problems you encounter?

You may have noticed that some people seem to be better at finding creative solutions to problems than other people are.  Perhaps you think of yourself as one of the unlucky ones.  Perhaps you think of yourself as a person who was short changed in the creativity department. 

So, how can you go about the task of becoming a more creative and effective problem solver?

Here’s an important first step to take if you want to improve your creative ability.  Watch what you say to yourself when you encounter a problem that needs a creative solution.  What do you tell yourself?

Notice whether you tell yourself that the problem will be easy to solve, or if you tell yourself that problem solving is difficult.

Also pay attention to what you say to yourself about your own problem solving abilities.  If you start out with a negative attitude about yourself and about the problem, you just about guarantee that you won’t be able to find creative solutions.

What if you find that you are always telling yourself, “I’m just no good at thinking outside the box.  So how can I possibly become more creative?”

To become more creative, you need to change the way you talk to yourself about the problems you encounter.

Instead of thinking to yourself, “Oh no!  This is such a big problem. I have absolutely no idea what to do about it.  I’m sure I’ll never figure out an answer!”  change the way that you talk to yourself.

Instead of being very negative about yourself and the problems you encounter, talk to yourself in a more positive way.  Tell yourself that you expect a positive outcome to your problem. And tell yourself that you are capable of solving any problem.

To create a state of positive expectance in problem solving, say to yourself, “Here’s an interesting challenge.  I know there is a solution and I’m going to find the solution.  In fact, I’m going to enjoy finding a solution to this problem.” 

When you give yourself a positive expectation, you have a much better chance of being successful in finding a solution.

And you’ll have taken the first step to improving your creative problems solving ability!

This article was written by Royane Real, author of the popular ebook “How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative” You can download it or get it in paperback at http://www.lulu.com/real   

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