You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
~Mark Twain

The competition is fierce out there, no matter what your industry.

From designing an illustrious billboard or scripting a masterpiece of a press release, to innovatively cutting [the right] corners so you stay “in the black” this quarter… one thing remains certain: creativity is a must-have these days, not a luxury.

Creativity block?

Ever leave a brainstorming meeting in the morning, only to have your mind flooded with great ideas later that day, when you are cruising with the windows down and music blasting? It’s just as inevitable as thinking of the perfect ‘comeback’ to a bully an hour after he leaves. Sometimes, it’s unavoidable. But other times, you may be able to tinker with fate by psyching yourself out long enough to plan a preemptive “creativity block” attack.
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A bona fide bookworm growing up, I tended to be a slightly over-achieving (somewhat brown-nosing) teachers pet. In class, I’d be the first one to raise my hand if I knew an answer, or offer to feed the pet goldfish, or take part in the spelling bee.

Yet every once in a great while, I would get a teacher who couldn’t stand me – perhaps it was the remnant sugar rush from class after lunch hour. But she thought I was the biggest slacker, and she’d switch my seat around so I didn’t talk so much. Seemingly to fulfill her low expectations, I actually found myself being late to class, missing assignments and doing poorly on exams. Read more…