Find the Positive Aspects of Ideas

Constantly dealing with failure and mistakes makes it difficult to expand our views to the possibilities that can be achieved if we just considered to find the positive aspects of new ideas.

We're constantly rejecting ideas as they might seem scary or simply weird. Being a creative, isn't always about being normal, it might even be the complete opposite. The Irish writer, Jonathan Swift, saw once a withered crown of a tree. So Swift said to his companion, the poet Edward Young, "I shall be like that tree, I shall die from the top.". Swift had an incredible imagination, though since his way of writing wasn't the most "normal", he was somewhat seen as crazy, even in his own opinion. Though hearing that he never could be a writer or a poet, Swift never gave up. Instead he has written great poems and one of the most exceptional novels, the famous "Gulliver's Travels".

For some reason, we have a tendency to become really creative at finding reasons not to attempt things, rather than using that creativity on finding the solutions. Here are some examples of what we might say to ourselves when encountering a new idea:

• People will believe that I'm crazy.
• This is impossible!
• I have almost done this before.
• This won't change anything.
• I'm not ready for this, I'm not skilled enough.
• It's too weird.
• This will cost too much.
• I don't have time enough to accomplish this.

Neither of these are questions, they are all statements that block your creativity by immediately saying NO! You need to break these barriers. Most of these translates to "I'm scared, better find a safer way!".

So next time you get an idea and negative thoughts like these arise, pick up a pen and write them all down, burst out all your worries on a paper (or numerous of papers if you need it). Complain until you have no more doubts left to write. Then look through it again and see how you can find a solution to each doubt/problem. This helps to think in a positive way.

This doesn't mean that you should say yes to everything that gets in your way, but it means that you need to know exactly why you're saying no and if it really has anything to do with the actual idea, or has it to do with you.