Get Motivated: Goals, Obstacles & Creative Thinking

Goal Setting

The most effective business leaders embrace curiosity, adaptability and vision – qualities that rely on creativity. So, it’s not surprising that there’s a close correlation between business success, innovation and creative thinking.

Business leaders who nurture creativity as a key leadership skill are more likely to embrace potential over problems and opportunity over opposition. In other words, creative thinking arms you with all the reasons to act, while freeing you from the self-imposed and unwarranted limitations that often take root in the unknown.

But – how do you maintain a full “reserve” of on-demand creativity?

Using Goal Setting to Stimulate Creative Thinking

Intensely desired goals unlock an impressive rush of creativity. However, the inspiration can be fleeting if those goals aren’t translated into an action-plan. Proper goal setting techniques help you realize the full potential of those desires. With a detailed plan for accomplishing your goals, you’ll have a constant source of stimulus for new ideas.

Start Goal Setting.

Begin by triggering your imagination with a goal-oriented brainstorming session (on paper), where you explore dreams of the future without judging their feasibility. Then, as you sort through those ideas, find the ones that speak to your core and can’t be ignored. Write a clear definition of the end result, and then craft a plan for making the goal come true, including a timeline and incremental steps. As you work to achieve your goal, accept that it will evolve over time. So, you’ll need to continually rework it, change it and add to it, which can be a source of inspiration in and of itself.

Employ Visualizations.

When you feel your creativity waning in your everyday work, your goals can go to work for you. Read through your goal sheet as a reminder of what you’ve already accomplished, of ideas you may have forgotten and of the passion you felt while defining them in the first place. Envision what it will look like when you’ve accomplished your goals and are looking back at this moment. This exercise is a powerful tool for unlocking the creative thinking that often gets buried under the day-to-day stress.

Using Problem Solving to Encourage Creative Thinking

When a problem stands between you and your goals, you have the choice to let it derail you or empower you. When you’re faced with complex and pressing challenges, you’re more likely to uncover innovative solutions. And innovation both requires and inspires creative thinking.

Trust Your Abilities.

The key for using obstacles to drive creative thinking is to approach the process of ‘possibility generation’ confidently. After all, you know that there’s a logical and practical solution within all of those endless possibilities, and you know that you’re capable of finding it – right?

Work the Problem.

Problem solving starts with accurate diagnosis, so explore and define the problem in writing. Differentiate between the problems (which can be solved) and the symptoms of the problems (which will naturally resolve), so you’re sure you’re maximizing your resources. As you continue to find resolutions and make progress towards your goals, you’ll continue to gain more trust in your abilities – replenishing the proverbial well of creativity.

Explore Other Leadership Development Tips and Techniques with FocalPoint Canada

At FocalPoint Canada, we guide our clients in overcoming challenges and leveraging opportunities with proven processes and methodologies that have been used by thousands of successful businesses over the past two decades. Our FocalPoint business coaches use their expertise to teach our time-tested methods through individual coaching, group sessions, or trainings and workshops.

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