It’s happened to everyone who has a goal. You decide what you want, develop a plan, take the first step, and then the unexpected happens.

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” Michael Jordan

“What saved us over and over was our willingness to recognize what wasn’t working and quickly identify a new way of looking at it. By remaining flexible and open to creative solutions, the results have been miraculous.” Anita Roddick

“I don’t let obstacle get me down. I focus on how to overcome them. You can work around any obstacle by going under it if it’s too high, going over it if it’s too low. There’s always a way!” James Rocky Robinson

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” Margaret Thatcher

“All of this was possible because I didn’t stop at the first or 100^th no I received. If one approach didn’t work, I’d try another one, and I never gave up.” John Mautner

“The truth is that the average ‘bottom-of-the-ladder’ person is potentially as creative as the top executive who sits in the big office. The problem is that the person on the bottom of the ladder doesn’t trust his own brilliance and doesn’t therefore, believe in his own ideas.” Dr. Robert H. Schuller

“We weren’t promised a bed of roses,”  “and the sun always shines after the rain.”

“Things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen and you can count on nothing working out exactly as planned. By working hard and creatively looking for solutions, you will find your way around all of life’s obstacles.” Eula Hall

Ask ourselves the following question: “What can I do, with what I have, to get what I want?”

Your Personal Action Plan: Tapping Your Creativity

Pursuing a goal is a constantly evolving process. No one who has ever followed a dream has taken a direct, unobstructed path and arrived at his or her destination effortlessly and on time. Following a dream is not a direct highway but a bumpy road full of twists and turns and occasional roadblocks. The journey requires modifications and adjustments in both thought and action, not just once, but over and over. And that means you must be flexible and creative.

Step 1: Develop Your Inborn Creativity

Creativity is a Muscle

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” That’s what Albert Einstein said, and Einstein was one of the most intelligent people who ever lived. He solved some of the greatest riddles of science, riddles that had confounded other scientists for centuries. Einstein was a master problem solver, yet he often said that his greatest asset in solving problems was not his intellect but his imagination.

The good news is you don’t have to be as imaginative as Einstein to be an effective problem solver. All people have an abundance of creativity within themselves to solve any problem that arises. The challenge is to keep your mind strong and flexible. Your mind functions like a muscle. Exercising your mind might require spending less time in front of the television set and more time thinking, creating, and brainstorming with others on how you can identify a solution to your challenges.

Exercise for Expanding Your Creativity

1^st, Identify a problem and write the problem across the top of the sheet. Then write the numbers 1 through 10 vertically down the left side of the sheet of paper. Finally, write ten possible solutions to your problem. The purpose of the exercise is to stretch your imagination and tap unconscious resources.

Next step in the exercise is to examine each solution and crossed out the ones that don’t lead anywhere.

Action: Apply this exercise to one of your current problems. Perhaps you’re looking for a way to fund a new business, identify people who can help you launch a product, or determine the solution to a community problem. Write down ten different ways you could approach the problem and reach a solution. Make sure they are viable options, but stretch your imagination.

Remember, the solution to every problem lies within you. You may need a few minutes of quiet time to complete the exercise effectively, or you may need to brainstorm possible solution with a friend. Feel free to do whatever you think is necessary to connect with your inner knowing. When you’ve completed the exercise, you should find that the solutions you have found will renew your sense of possibility and commitment to your goal.

Step 2: Be Flexible

“Your imagination is the preview to life’s coming attractions.” Albert Einstein

“Creative,” “flexile,” “imaginative” – these three words are almost interchangeable. If you are creative, you can think of alternative ways to work around problems, ways that align with your own skills and reflect your values. If you are flexible, you are able and willing to change and modify plans; you adjust to new circumstances and needs. If you are imaginative, you envision what is not and what can be – you see in your mind what you haven’t yet seen in the material world. All three words refer to your willingness to experiment with new approaches and fresh solutions.

When a great wind blows, that which is rigid will snap and break. That which is flexible will bend. When the wind dies down and calm returns, the flexible will rise again.

Eli Whitney, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, these people triumphed by using imagination and flexibility. They experimented with new materials and techniques that often seemed unrealistic or unbelievable at the time. For years, they suffered failure after failure, but they never felt regret. Each time they simply abandoned what did not work, revised their theories, and continued to look for what would work. They were flexible and humble enough to learn from other people’s ideas and experiments and to adapt them to their own projects.

Brian Tracy, business writer and consultant, says that to create a successful product, the product need be only 5% different from existing products. If the product is too different, it may be “ahead of its time,” and consumers may not be ready for it. Ideas are products too. Therefore, it is possible that a creative idea need be only slightly different to yield significant results.

Unstoppable people always find their way over, around, or under every barrier that confronts them. A brick wall is intimidating, but it is not undefeatable. Unstoppable people believe there’s a solution to every problem if they keep searching.

No one is asking you to become as creative as Shakespeare, as flexible as Houdini, or as imaginative as Da Vinci. But you may be surprised at how much exists within you. Dip into you well of creativity. Apply imagination, creativity, and flexibility to the challenges that predictably appear as you proceed toward your goal. If you tap only 5% of your potential, you are on your way to being 100% unstoppable.

“We are told never to cross a bridge till we come to it, but this world is owned by people who have ‘crossed bridges’ in their imagination far ahead of the crowd.” Speakers Library