Many well-known speakers and authors consider journaling to be ‘the best hidden secret to success.’ Why? Here are some insights as to how journaling so powerfully meets our needs.

·         Slow your mind down so you can see how you think.

Journaling quickly captures our flighty thoughts (about 60,000 per day!) on paper. Once we can see what we’re thinking, we can learn how we think. And then we can use different journaling exercises to learn to think in different ways.

Our minds work at about 1000 words per minute. When we write, the mind slows down to about 100 words a minute. This allows thoughts to be recorded more deeply. It also creates space for deeper and higher thoughts to emerge. A new level of awareness awakens, and this supports a more focused, creative thinking process.

·         Quadruple your learning by stimulating the senses.

Want to quadruple your memory? Write down what you’re learning so you activate more of your senses. If we only hear information, within a day or two we typically recall 10% to 20% of what we heard. If we write it down, we can double our recall from 20% to 40% because we can now see it. Writing is also kinesthetic so we absorb more through motion. And some of us sub-vocalize what we write, so we hear the information again. Then if we review what we’ve written, we can double our memory again from 40% to 80% because we anchor the material from different perspectives at another time. Remember the three key steps to learning: recall, write, review.

·         Work with thoughts on paper.

Journaling draws information out of our heads and onto paper. When we can visually see the information, we can do more with it. We can group it, synthesize it, add to it and change it. As we work with the information on paper, we bring it back into our minds – this is how most of us learn. Most creative people doodle and make lots of notes and lists.

·         Create a bigger picture.

Ever tried to burn just one log or twig? It doesn’t work very well. But pile up many logs or twigs and you’ll get a roaring blaze. Synergy happens. The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. The spaces between twigs are as important as the twigs themselves.

The same principle applies to our thoughts. If we have one fact on a piece of paper, it’s hard to draw many conclusions about it. But if we write down a few more facts, we can start to see relationships, trends and movement. We are able to see and sense between the written words. The more we review the information, the more we see new dimensions. Individual events can be connected and we can draw on our intuition to find more meaning. The information comes alive.

·         Change your perspective.

Have you ever been lost in a dense, dark forest? Literally, you can’t see the forest for the trees. In overwhelm, we get confused. Well, imagine flying over that forest, being able to see it in its entirety, in the context of its surroundings. The higher perspective brings new clarity and understanding.

When you have lots of facts or concepts and you reduce them to a few main points, you synthesize. You change your perspective to draw out what’s most important from a myriad of details.

Reviews and summaries are invaluable! We bring together lots of information through our journal writing. Reading and reflecting on what we write helps us step back and see the information from a larger perspective. Summarizing it all into a few sentences brings new insights and anchors conclusions more deeply. It’s like magic.

·         Begin to think with all of your brain.

Let’s review the functions of the two hemispheres of the brain. The left brain is logical, rational and linear, while the right brain is more creative, spontaneous, intuitive and fun. The left brain handles facts, events, things and quantity. The right brain works better with relationships of things, wholeness, concepts, spirituality, feelings, qualities, meaning and essence. The left brain is very direct while the right brain is more indirect, metaphoric and symbolic. The left brain relates more to individual words, while the right brain relates more to language, prose and poetry, music, images, beauty and pictures.

Most of us have a dominant brain hemisphere. Males are predominantly left-brained or analytical, linear thinkers. Females are more likely to be right brained or intuitive and emotional thinkers. Obviously, we are most effective if we can draw equally from both hemispheres so we can use the full range of mental processes.

Research has found that the left brain will remember only 7 or less items when presented with a list. As the list becomes larger, the left brain has a hard time comprehending it. This situation invites the right brain to engage and use its big picture, intuitive approach. The right brain will see the list from new perspectives. When you stand back from your journaling and take a bird’s eye view, this allows the integrating right brain to do its processing.

·         Stay objective in subjective worlds.

In life, we tend to perceive that we are our thoughts, emotions, feelings and dreams. Journaling allows us to detach from our thoughts and feelings so we can experience them more objectively. This helps keep us present, grounded and in right relationship to subjective realities.

·         Know yourself better.

We get a deeper sense of who we are when we can study our thoughts and feelings on paper. In our written thoughts, we can explore different sides of our nature. We can unlock our unconscious and reveal hidden aspects. We can identify beliefs that hold us back. We can get in touch with our innate talents and gifts and then see ourselves share them. We can discover our own wealth of insights, imagination, creativity and wisdom.

We saved the best till the last.

·         Connect with your subconscious mind.

It’s not hard to change our conscious minds but changing our subconscious minds is a different story. And it’s our subconscious that controls much of what happens in our lives. A vast storehouse, our subconscious holds limiting beliefs, reactive emotions, old ineffective patterning and self centred programming. On the positive side, it also enables our intuitive and divine connections. Unfortunately, though, the baggage we carry from our past both filters and distorts our higher guidance.

With journaling, we can work with the vast resources of our subconscious minds, indirectly retrieving information that is not normally available to us. It also helps us intentionally anchor new ideas into the subconscious.

It takes work to both retrieve and permanently change the information that lies there, so we can get rid of an old habit or go to a new level in performance or growth. From my experience we must do 4 to 6 different things around one focus to create enough tension in our subconscious to shift its programming in that area.

We can use 4 to 6 different journaling tools to address the same topic. This creates more perspectives, dimensions, tension and intensity to bring change.

Are you starting to grasp the control, momentum, synergy and big picture thinking that’s possible when we get things out of our minds and onto paper?

Journaling with intention and purpose has more uses and benefits than any other tools I know. It can truly help us make sense of our world.

So take a leap of faith. Commit to explore the wide variety of journaling tools. Find the ones that work best for you, so you can uncover your own inner wisdom.

(http://www.higherawareness.com/mind-development/index.html)

Let the mind wander: Its nice to put your mind to roam once in a while, say, while doing a work that does not require much concentration like when listening to music.

Day Dream: There is a popular saying “The best way to making your dreams come true is to wake up.” This proves the fact that dreams are indeed necessary in our lives. And when it comes to daydream, it isn’t really wrong when it is done at leisure hours. Day Dream is nothing but imagination.During a day dream,the mind wanders across a number of things.

Follow your thought process: For instance, let us take that the mind travels through a train of events like-nature, sky, birds, butterflies, flowers, happiness.

Pick on a scene of exaggerate: Now select a topic from the event train that had come in your day dream. Let us select butterflies. Exaggerate on the topic. Think more about butterflies. Imagine how colorful they are and how happy one feels when he/she sees them.

Develop on your thoughts: This is the last step which signifies the basis of all innovation. Everyone loves to see colorful things and when they are live ones like butterflies, it fills people with greater joy. It is this tinge of creativity that caused some person to be the founder of the butterfly zone in the Brookfield zoo.

Brainstorming: The scheme by which a group of ten or twelve people suggest as many ideas possible to a particular scenario. This is useful in the fact that one person’s thought process triggers another’s and at the end, an innovative plan is arrived at. Good decisions result from a choice of many alternatives.

The need for creativity in employees has been recognized by organizations and so they provide training to its panel of engineers and other personnel. It has also been found that with due training, there has been a potential growth in industries and creation of innovative products. 

Further References could be made in the book “Applied Imagination”, by Alex F.Osborne, a leader in the field of creative thinking.

“I want to write a book”

“I want to visit all fifty states, and take pictures in every single one”

It is so hard to believe that most people have between 2 to 3 goals in their life time, and sadly most people only achieve one or two at the most. Many people, believe that their goals keep them pushing and kicking through life and letting them have something to look forward to, through out it. Goals are ideas and dreams that can make life interesting and give people something to look forward to for years.

Many people like to have goals even when they do not meet them at all, because it gives them something to look forward to in the future, and it gives them something to work hard for as well. It is said that people that work towards at least one of their long term goals achieve a lot more in their lifetime, because they make sure that they do what ever is necessary for the future that they envisioned.

When people have or create goals, they are setting their minds to something, and this allows them to have a better and brighter future, because they will strive for better things for themselves. Individuals who have long term goals achieve more short term goals in their lifetime because this allows them to see that it is possible for them to go for more in their lives.

 1. There are methods and techniques for creative thinking.

2. These methods and techniques part of your mental habits will creative thinking can easily and automatically.

The entrepreneur sees the possible situation to win, because his mind is trained to do so. Lawyer sees potential problems, because that is how his mind is trained. How often do you think of the way, and this is how to educate the mind. Learn the techniques of creative thinking, I use them to become habit, and creative thinking as it is natural for you as a politician lying.

Creative thinking techniques

There are dozens of techniques for creative problem solving, you can learn to use. “The concept of combination, for example, the mix of pink and watches to create the first alarm to wake up with a sweet fragrance statement. Use the technique of” random-presentation “and a cell phone can give an idea to dictation recorder pocket while you walk, you will have time to exercise and continue doing their job.

Creative thinking is not only to solve specific problems or inventing new things. Really creative mind has always come with questions too, not just solutions. To be more creative all the time to focus on three things:

1. Challenge your assumptions. What if a restaurant does not have employees? Customers can pay a machine at its entrance, and eat at a buffet. If everything was automated as possible, maybe an owner-operator can run a large restaurant alone. every challenge. Did you go to work? No pools need water? Education is always a good thing?

 2. Change your perspective. Imagine a dog might be hard work of your thoughts on a suggestion to you is that you do unnecessary things. Thinking of dollars a day, but for now would give you a plan to give workers at home when they finish a certain quota. Energy efficiency should be almost certain, and you can adjust the daily remuneration and allowances as well as you, more money. See all from different points of view.

3. Let your ideas run free. Flying furniture seem silly, but it can lead to the idea of a hover lift. Slide the device under furniture, and he raised with a cushion of air, which makes it easy to move. Do not stifle your creativity. Relax, let the ideas come, and know that you can always take more later.

Create habits of creative thinking

So that the techniques described above for an automatic part of your thinking, I only use them enough. It usually takes several weeks to develop the way, so you need a way to remind yourself every day during that period. Try to write some favorite techniques for the card and carry it with you. Pull out all day and apply the techniques to anything. Soon, more creative thinking becomes a normal part of life.

Creativity can manifest as products of the hands and the mind. Highly creative people come in many different varieties. They can be artists, writers, film makers, scientists, techies, mechanics, metal workers, marketers, mathematicians and researchers. Highly creative people are frequently attracted to careers where they can make their creativity.

Creative people have a strong desire to express their creativity, one way or another. When such opportunities don’t exist, highly creative people make them.

Highly creative people often have a broad educational background and do a lot of independent research. They are not members of the herd. In fact, some of them are so highly individualistic that other people might consider them “weird.”

Typically, they feel that they are in touch with something outside themselves from which they derive their inspiration. For example, Nicola Tesla dreamed many of his inventions and, according to some accounts, attributed his inspiration to otherworldly beings.

Highly creative people are often so driven by their vision that they seem courageous in the face of adversity and nay-sayers.

They’re goal driven and solution-oriented. They are motivated by a challenge and are determined to find a way to solve difficult problems, sometimes just for the sake of coming to a conclusion.

They’re not afraid to rock the boat. They can see connections between things that other people miss.

Highly creative people don’t mind being outside the ordinary person’s comfort zone with their ideas. They are not intimidated by the unknown are willing to admit that they don’t know everything already. They’re willing to pursue answers to questions no matter where the truth leads them.

Most highly creative people are capable of intense focus on their project and persevere to the end.

If you are not already a highly creative person, you may benefit from cultivating some of these characteristics and personality traits.

Scientists conducted a study in which the voluntary participation of students. Subjects showed videos and music of different emotional content. Once the researchers sought from participants in the experiment specific mood, they were offered the job to perform image recognition and classification.

As a result of the experiment, are in buoyant mood is much better understood the rules of classification of images and perform other tasks than the sad or neutral mood of the participants of the study.

Experts believe that the person before you start to fulfill an important and creative tasks, it is necessary to lift the mood.

Tip: When you feel yourself wanting to draw conclusions, just wait until you have all the information.
2. See Things From Other Points Of View. A truly open mind is willing to accept that, not only do other people have other just as valid points of view from theirs, but that these other points of view may be more valid. A story is told that the modernist painter Pablo Picasso was once traveling on a train across Spain when he got into conversation with a rich businessman who was dismissive of modern art. As evidence that modern art didn’t properly represent reality, he took out a photo of his wife from his wallet and said: “This is how my wife should look, not in some silly stylized representation.” Picasso took the photo, studied it for a few moments and asked: “This is your wife?” The businessman proudly nodded. “She’s very small,” observed Picasso wryly.

Tip: Don’t have a monopoly on how things are. Things aren’t always what they seem. Be ready to consider other points of view.
3. Avoid Yo-Yo Thinking. Some people tend to have a tendency to swing from a highly positive mood one minute to a highly negative one the next, all because of what they see in front of them. It’s like a yo-yo: up one minute, down the next. It’s far more healthy to stay neutral and not let emotions get the better of you.

Tip: Remember that things are rarely as good – or as bad – as you think they are.
4. Get Rid Of Lazy Thinking Habits. Habit can be a major stumbling block to clear thinking and another example of laziness. Try this experiment. Write down the Scottish surnames Macdonald, Macpherson, and Macdougall and ask someone to pronounce them. Now follow these with the word Machinery and see what happens. Most people are likely to mis-pronounce it. This is because we tend to think in habitual ways and don’t like what doesn’t fit.

Tip: Don’t think that, just because things happened in a certain way once before, that they will happen like that again.
5. Don’t Think Like An Old Person, Think Like A Child. Research shows that the number of synapses, or connections, in the brain is greater in a child of two than in an average adult. The reason for this is that, while a child of two has no limiting world view, as adults we do. It’s like a sculptor who starts off with a large block of clay, more than he needs, and then gradually removes the clay as he moulds his sculpture. If we use our brain like a child, accepting everything without judgment, we can actually halt and reverse the brain ageing process.
Tip: Don’t worry about the myth of age. With the right stimulus and a passion for learning, you can actually improve your brain’s powers.
6. See The Detail As Well As The Big Picture. You may know the poem by John Godfrey Saxe called “The Blind Men and the Elephant”. This tells how six blind men of Indostan go to see an elephant and each try to work out what it is from touching it. One blind man touches the tusk, another the trunk, another the tail, and so on. Of course, not being able to see the whole elephant, they come to wildly different conclusions.

Tip: Try to keep the big picture in front of you while looking at details. It will help to put everything in its proper place and context.
7. Think For Yourself. Taking time out to think is still frowned on in many organizations that prize activity over creativity. People who work in creativity-constrained organizations are likely to think the way they are supposed to think, or as others think, or as has always been the way to think. It’s like the blinkered thinking that Hans Christian Anderson describes in his story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. Everyone in the land refuses to see that the emperor is naked and has been duped into believing he is wearing a splendid costume for his coronation. Only a young boy who has been ill and not party to the cultural brainwashing can see the truth and cries out: “Look, everyone, the Emperor is wearing no clothes!”

Tip: Don’t let others tell you how to think. When others ask your opinion, tell it to them straight.

Once you make these 7 techniques part of your habitual thinking patterns, you will amaze yourself with how easy it is to come up with fresh, innovative and creative solutions to all of life’s problems.

In any organization, the performance of groups and teams within the company rely on different factors. Talent, leadership, integrity, and communication are all very important in creating effective teams. In my current place of employment, I have witnessed many of the strengths as well as some of the weaknesses within our teams. This paper will focus on three key areas which could be helpful to my place of work in creating more efficient and cohesive teams. The first area is empowering employees through effective coaching. Second, I will discuss creating a clear vision for employees through clarifying job descriptions and scheduling different daily shifts that make up the workday. The last area I will focus on is continuing training for employees to improve accuracy and create a collective understanding of the bigger picture. I contend that all of these areas will create better efficiency and better teamwork in the workplace.

Coaching

To have an efficient team, the coaching must be clear and effective. Peter Shaw (2008) states that, “Coaching that enables an individual to clarify their priorities in their use of time and energy will benefit both the employing organization and the individual”. (p. 62). At my current job, some areas of the coaching seem effective, and other areas appear to need work. Although I am relatively new to this particular company, I am already analyzing what our team could do to be better. The supervisor is good at organizing daily meetings, following up with team members by stopping by their cubicles to see if they have any needs, and coaching employees who have questions during the day. From my previous experiences, I believe the coaching could be more efficient if there was time to schedule one-on-one meetings with team members to answer questions, follow-up on work progress, and make sure the employee is following his or her job description. Currently, there is no scheduled one-on-one time between employees and the supervisor, other than a 6 month and an annual review. It is important to note that there may be time constraints or other reasons as to why there are no regular scheduled meetings between employees and supervisors, but I believe that a 10 to 15 minute weekly or bi-weekly meeting is feasible, and could create more cohesion in the team.

Clear Job Description

Currently on our team there are scheduled shifts between phone time, managing the queue (seeing clients face to face), and processing applications. There is good organization for the queue and phone shifts, but there seems to be a lack of structure for any time outside the queue and phone time. Joni Youngwirth (“Building,” 2008) stated it simply: “Each team member needs a written job description. This document outlines what is expected of an employee”. At my workplace, I was given a job description, but it is very general and is not descriptive enough for certain areas of the job. There is an unspoken “general knowledge” that when an employee is not scheduled on the phone shift or in the queue, he or she should be processing new applications, processing renewals, and doing paperwork. However, there seems to be a lack of structure because occasionally employees will “overlap” work on the same things at the same time. This is not efficient and can create frustration within the team. I believe if there was more structure and individuals were given a better plan on what paperwork they need to work on, the team would be more efficient and there would be a greater sense of worth and satisfaction in what the team members accomplish on a day-to-day basis.

Continual Training

In my organization, there is a plethora of rules, policies and guidelines that need to be followed and understood by employees for it to be successful. It would be impossible to learn and remember all of these policies in one training session. On the topic of training, Youngwirth (2008) states that “If you want to keep great employees, you need to offer opportunities for them to grow and learn”. (p. 12). There are opportunities for employees to continue education throughout their careers at my job, but from what I have witnessed it seems to be too “optional” and less “mandatory”. I also believe the continuing education my employment does offer could do a better job of tying in what employees do daily into the bigger picture. This would create more knowledgeable employees, create better accuracy for Quality Assurance, and create better efficiency and greater sense of satisfaction.

Conclusion

There are many ways to create cohesion and efficiency in teams. This paper has only touched on a few areas in which cohesion and efficiency may be improved in group settings. At my workplace, I believe the coaching could be improved by organizing more one-on-one time between supervisors and team members to create better communication which would lead to better cohesion. I also believe that a more descriptive and clearer job description in certain areas of my work would improve efficiency. This requires more organization from leadership and greater communication to employees. If the team is more efficient, it is more likely to hit benchmarks and reduce frustration amongst team members. Lastly, I believe that continued training is important to both cohesion and efficiency in teams. Not only in receiving general knowledge on rules and policies, but also in teaching each employee how his or her contribution helps the organization in the bigger picture. If teams in my organization took some time to focus on these three areas, I believe the company would improve, employees would be more knowledgeable, and there would be a greater sense of worth among team members.

flickr image by soham pablo

Since the beginning of time, people with original ideas have played important roles in the advancement of human progress. 

During the stone age, these original thinkers laid the foundations of the arts and sciences.  These included the use of fire, invented tools and weapons, and told stories that, in the forms of fairy tales, myths, and legends, have been passed on from generation to generation.  But these few innovative people are few and far in between.  Most of our ancestors never innovated nor invented anything – for centuries, some have not introduced whatever changes in their lifestyle.

This lack of creativity and innovation was not due to lack of intelligence.  Once shown how to make use of an invention, these ancient people could become experts in the often complicated techniques involved.  But the vast majority was unable to think of new ways of doing things; only the more gifted can do that. 

These exceptional individuals are the “creative thinkers” and the mental process that enables them to produce new things is “creative thinking.”

Are creative thinkers born or made?

It is possible that creative thinkers are born not made.  Education can, of course, help to develop latent powers, but it is not a vital factor.  Many highly trained persons, even with several college degrees are sterile creatively, while others, accomplish outstanding results in spite of a lack of formal education.  On the other hand, this would be a lame reason not to formally educate one’s self or to refuse further training, for there is a possibility that one can just be under the delusion that he or she is gifted.

The creative thinker must have ambition – a clear, powerful, and driving urge to accomplish something notable is the mainspring of all creative endeavors.

A creative thinker, when faced with difficulties arising in the course of the work at hand, instead of making excuses and putting blames on people or circumstance, knows how to persist and formulate ways until they are overcome.  This requires a lot of energy to sustain the creative thinker plus the complete confidence in one’s own ability to achieve final success.

As the scope of one’s creative work depends upon stored knowledge, he or she should broaden and enlarge it by continuous study, experiment, observation and analysis.  A creative mind should have the capacity for self instruction yet have the ability to admit and correct mistakes should his or her own theories be debunked. 

The creative thinker’s enthusiasm, devotion, and passion can be boundless.  The final product of a creative person’s efforts expresses an idea that none has ever thought of before. 

Read also How Creative is Your Child?

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