I am a firm believer of the fact that Creativity and Spirituality are inseparable. I do not mean religious beliefs when I talk about spirituality, however, what I’m referring to instead is the human spirit, our inner-self that is the center of our Life. It’s known as “Infinite Intelligence” as stated by Napoleon Hill. Mr. Deepak Chopra refers to it as “Pure Consciousness” and one of my friends has put it beautifully as, “the place in us that never ends.” This beautiful place is indescribable and can be felt only through one’s heart.

Harnessing one’s creative side is all about reaching out to that place within us and connecting with our “Infinite Intelligence.” It’s a diamond that we all possess unknowingly. We are all without exception an extension of the universe and possess that jewel within us, waiting to be polished and used.

When we tap onto our creative side, we lead ourselves to abundance, where nothing is impossible. Scarcity and Limitations only arise when Competition is given preference over Creation.

One cannot be more or less creative since we ARE all blessed with the same levels of creativity. What’s in our control is to practice and hone our creative skills to get attuned and conscious of our creative energy that is always available to us in abundance.

Following are 9 effective methods to help you develop your creativity:

• Relax - Take some time out to indulge in something that brings smile on your face; something you admire and love; that leaves you awestruck. Go for a walk, jog, swim or just meditate. Pick up a book that you always wanted to read or begin with maintaining a diary by penning down your thoughts.
• Show Gratitude – Feel grateful for all that you have been bestowed with. Such realization will fill you up with positive vibes and energy. As you start appreciating all the beautiful things that you have been blessed with, you’ll feel relaxed and deeply satisfied from within. Such life state facilitates channeling of creative energy.
• Explore Your Imagination – Imagine and get visual about your dreams. Close your eyes and experience the fun in seeing vivid images. Settle down in an undisturbed place and close your eyes. Visualize something that you always wanted to see. Explore and settle the finer details of the environments by making wishful changes. Feel the colors and smell the fragrances. Follow it up by asking yourself questions like, How does it feel? What do you see? What’s the smell like? Etc.
• Relish the Moment – Any musician worth his/her song will tell you their experience while composing music. They immerse themselves in the flow of the moment, devoid of any other thought. It is termed as “being in the zone” by athletes. You can experience this feeling right away by immersing yourself in whatever you’re doing right now (reading of course!) Try it while exercising, making bed, while meditation etc. Books like Eckhart Tolles’ “The Power of Now” are highly recommended in this regard.
• Get Inspired – Practice moving your emotions by seeing beautiful things. Read a book with vivid images, visit an art gallery, initiate a conversation with someone who has a calming effect on you or maybe just pick up anything inspirational and start reading.
• Sketch: It may sound little amusing, but it’s one of the best ways to connect on your creative side. Sketching enables you to view things in a totally different light. Pick up books like “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” and the workbook by Betty Edwards. It was designed specifically for people who have never explored their drawing skills. It has tremendous insights to gain from.
• Search for Alternatives – Someone said, “Normal is Boring.” There are always multiple ways of doing any task and you must constantly look out for alternatives. Cultivate the ability to find alternatives even in the seemingly impossible situations.
• Be Open to Ideas - No idea is crap or junk as we often sometimes refer to them as. Don’t get judgmental about the various ideas that come to you and give them their due by giving them a shot. Such habit will enable more and more ideas to surface from within you.
• Pen Down Your Thoughts on Paper - Catch hold of some loose sheets (no notebook) and start penning down all the random ideas, words, phrases, thought etc. that occur to you. Get graphic by drawing lines and connecting your ideas on paper. It begins with seemingly crappy thoughts, but eventually shape up into something bigger.

Several surveys conducted all over the world have revealed time and again that public speaking is considered to be the most prominent fear among general populace. Many recent surveys, however, revealed a different story. The most prominent fear is “Failure.”

Just like ones disability in public speaking, failure is nothing to be ashamed of. We’re conditioned in a manner to avoid coming face-to-face with failure, however, it isn’t a Herculean task top alter that perspective. Following are real advantages of failure:

Failure is a great teacher. Failing at certain things narrows down the options to achieve success. We all know about the scientists’ heavy dependence on the trial and error method while conducting research. Every failure helps them inch closer to groundbreaking success. Consider your own attempts as experiments that are taking you closer to success. Learn from your failures and keep moving.

Failure determines our abilities. How else can you determine your weight lifting limits other than by hitting the gym and dropping a few weights during your attempts. If one avoids testing ones limits, one can never gauge ones abilities. It is said that many a times the fear of failure makes us stop well before even taking that first step. One mustn’t be afraid of failure as it only helps us in getting better.

Failure strengthens us. The weight lifters who lift heavy weights to failure know that it is the only way to build quality muscle power. The stubborn tissues may tear apart in the beginning. But later they heal and turn huge and strong than before. The same holds true for our goals. When we fail during their pursuit, we strengthen our resolve and bounce back with even more vigor.

Failure serves as an inspiration. When we disallow the setbacks to discourage us, we actually catalyze the fire within us to burn even more brightly. Often, such setbacks work as a shot in the arm. Very few know that Michael Jordan was chucked out from his schools’ basketball team. He revealed to Chicago times that it fired him up to succeed and he learnt how one felt when disappointed. He never wanted to experience that disappointment again and hence worked even harder. If failure generates the spark of hard work and perseverance in your life, it can be termed as a great value creating experience.

Failure Pulls Up Others. Leaders have to take risks. Even on occasions when they fail miserably, they can inspire others with their conduct. In the year 1980, an 18-year old boy named Terry Fox ran through the complete length of Canada on a prosthetic leg to create awareness about cancer and raise charity of one million dollars. He successfully covered 3339 miles before a cancer relapse cut short his quest. Even though he lost his life, his efforts never went in vain. His feat has generated over $340 millions in donations till now. His “failure” was actually a great victory.

Failure Develops Courage. Once familiar with failure, one can afford to take risks. If you have the stomach for it, you’ll no longer be intimidated by it. I once used to involve groups in daring rope adventure activities almost 30 feet off the ground level. It was quite usual to see the participants fail during their first attempts. Some of them felt demoralized, while others took it as a challenge. The ones who faced it boldly did very well in the following events. They derived their courage not from being successful, but from their efforts to challenge their limits. If you’ve failed once, you’ll feel more comfortable about taking chances.

Failure is any day better than regret. The opportunities that I have let go by have hurt me more than the ones that never became available. When we fail, at least we feel re-assured by the fact that we tried. However, if we do not try at all for the fear of failure, we’ll only be left with regret later.

Failures open up the gates of better opportunities. I was once rejected for a job that I thought only I could do justice to. Rejection is much worse than unemployment as it can be a very humiliating experience. In a matter of few weeks, I was given an offer for another position that I hadn’t thought of earlier. In the end, the new opportunity turned out to be better paying and more interesting. One can easily give into the thoughts of self- pity after failing, without thinking of the bigger picture. Perhaps it’s the natures’ way to allot whatever is best suited for every individual to him/her alone.

Success tastes even better after failure. No one can explain the sweet taste of success better than one who has dealt with failure. Life will get very boring if everything worked out exactly as we wanted. Failure is just a part of the bigger game of life. Instead of fearing failure, try embracing it once and you’ll find that it is the primary ingredient in the recipe for success.

Are you aware of someone who has extraordinary talent? Perhaps that individual is a great musician, athlete or an artist. Maybe, he/she has a great knack for business, is excellent with numbers or has inexplicably good people management abilities. Even though many people are blessed with such rare abilities, they seldom use them to realize their full potential. In some cases, they do apply their abilities but are still unable to surpass a limiting level of accomplishments. Do you know anyone like that? Perhaps, that anyone is you yourself. All of us without exception have the potential to accomplish great things, however, on occasions the path to greatness seems so difficult that people give up even before taking the first step. We’ll share with you 5 significant steps you can take to give full play to your hidden potential. They are as follows:

Know your Destination

What would be your answer if someone asked about your financial plans and financial stability in the next 5 years? Your most probable answer would be like, “I’d like to be completely out of debt by that time or buy a bigger home.” Such kind of goals are great to hear, but how much of money can be considered enough money? Many people make so generic goals that they loose sight of the finer details. It’s almost like asking, “where are you going on vacations?” and getting to hear in reply, “To Florida, near the beach.” Upon getting such a reply, one would think where in Florida and exactly which beach? If the individual that was asked about vacations were seriously considering going to Florida, he/she must know exactly which place in Florida he/she is planning to visit, whether it is Key West, Miami, Daytona or someplace else. Once he/she is aware of the exact destination, it’ll become easier to reach there. The same holds true for ones goals. Once determined and penned down, they become easier to achieve.

Practice What You’re Good At

One of the most regular mistakes that people commit during their journey is of being unprepared for the opportunities that come their way. The reason for such inept preparation is their lack of enough practice of their strengths. To succeed in any field in life, one must be prepared for and be able to embrace success.

For Example, consider the case of the ex-NBA player Steve Kerr. It is known that he used to practice for hours and hours in a day merely shooting at the basket. The high point of his career came when during the 1997 championship match, Michael Jordan, his fellow teammate passed the ball to him and he could get the winning basket for his team. The few shots that he played in that game were backed by thousands of shoots that he practiced prior to the tournament. So, the argument goes, why is one required to shoot those 1000s of shots? Well, that’s the only way you’ll be able to shoot that winning one! One needs to prepare himself/herself for success and must not expect things to fall in his/her lap just by chance. Study regularly how others succeed in their daily life and try new things,  so that when your moment comes, you are all set to climb the podium.

Develop the Habit of Success

The distinguishing factor between the winners and losers lies mainly in their habits. Many people might take this aspect lightly, thinking that it’s too late for them to change their habits. However, the harsh reality is that their inability in finding success in various areas of their lives is mainly due to their stubbornness or negligence in changing their habits. Put yourself in the Managers shoes and decide whom would you pick between a lazy employee and an active professional? We’re sure that this won’t take much deliberation!

Bounce Back in No Time

Success is a long voyage and it is obvious that it’ll throw up various situations that will test your character. Some of these situations can be discouraging enough to get you thinking twice about resuming your journey. However, as someone aptly stated that when climbing a mountain and faced with adverse winds, moving onto a different place within oneself becomes far important than moving onto a different place on the mountain. Be prepared and bounce back whenever such situations try to bog you down. It’s been observed that the people who are passionate about their vision and goals, never get taken aback by the temporary storms in life. Be in the company of people with a positive outlook, hang onto motivational things and boost yourself with the regular study of success stories. The quicker and higher you bounce back, the sooner you’ll attain your goals.

Repeated Success

Accomplishments are great morale boosters to keep us going. However, once you’ve reached the top, the hardest task is staying put their for long. You’ll always have people in tow who are ever ready and prepared to replace you from the podium. However, important is not to feel jealous about the competition. Rather, you must realize that success, though if repeated sounds great, the idea of helping others achieve the same feats as your own is even greater. Bank on your experience and share it with the individuals who too want to make it big in your field. Sharing one’s knowledge, wisdom, vision and resources with other people harboring the same dreams can be an immensely satisfying and rewarding experience.

The potential is there within you. Nurture it, polish it and succeed.

Time is invaluable. No one knows it better than a coach whose team is a point short in the final minutes of a game, or even a traffic controller scheduling landings and takeoffs of flights on a busy airport. Ask about time’s importance from the news reporter who just broke a significant news feed from AP wire. A cancer patient with only couple of months to survive would probably be the best individual to throw some light on this priceless treasure.

Management of Time is actually an oxymoron. Time cannot be controlled and the clock keeps ticking irrespective of the world changing its colors. Prioritizing is in fact a better alternative to maximize the time at hand. All of us have been bestowed with equal number of hours in a day, however, some of us click deals worth millions and some end up making pennies within those 24 hours. None of us can create time, but if we give correct direction to our lives, we can certainly make the most out of what is available to us.

Because of its irreplaceable nature, time holds even more importance than money. Famous author Charles Spezzano in his work What to Do between Birth and Death comments, “You don’t really pay for things with money, you pay for them with time.” Our personal time spent at workplaces is paid in terms of dollars and those dollars are further utilized to pay someone else for their time invested in production of necessary daily use items. Everything that is up for sale has the inherent factor of time in it. Time management is in fact the greatest responsibility that any leader holds. Famous Management Guru Peter Drucker says, “Nothing else distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.”

Five Traits of People Who Value Time

1. Purpose

People who respect time, they spend it on tasks that enhance and advance their ultimate purpose in life. One is able to fully realize ones potential by efficiently channeling ones time and efforts towards a definite noble purpose.

We cannot extract highest performance from within us in the absence of a highest purpose. Purpose illuminates our daily life. In fact, I am a strong believer of the fact that a person is born twice, once from the mothers womb and next when he discovers the purpose of his/her arrival in this world. Uncovering ones ultimate purpose in life can help an individual in refining his/her passion, determination, focus, efforts and commitments. The eventual outcome of such endeavor leads to amplification of ones achievements in life.

2. The Values and Beliefs System

People who make optimum use of their time, they underline it with their values and beliefs. Your thoughts are what build you life, and time that is spent devoid of any value and belief system eventually results in a meaningless existence in which an individual finds himself/herself drifting in life without any certainty. Enlightening oneself with values and beliefs leads to wise decisions during ups and downs of life.

3. Banking on Strengths

People who respect time, always bank on their strengths. By doing so, they’re able to gain greater efficiency in their daily routines. Employers nowadays don’t pay for an average performance. If your skills in a certain field are 2/10, don’t waste time trying to improve since you’ll never be able to go any further than 4/10. On the contrary, if your skills in a certain field are 7/10, hone them further to around 9/10. Once you’ve attained that level, you’ll start getting counted among the rare few. As Jim Sundberg puts it correctly, “Discover your uniqueness; then discipline yourself to develop it,” Each one of us is blessed with unique abilities and talents. It must be our constant endeavor to mine them, refine them and making them lead our way to a content and successful existence. I have found my strengths in leadership, communication skills, creativity and networking. Once I discovered them, I make it appoint to accept no opportunity outside those skill-sets. By narrowing down my preferences in that manner, I earn maximum returns on my investment of time.

4. Prioritize To Be Happy

People who value time, they are able to draw correct balance between their professional and personal life. Such individuals prioritize their relationships and recreational activities in such a manner that no important aspect of their life goes neglected. On the other side of the spectrum, there are leaders who chase fame and power. These type of leaders inevitably end up leading lonely existences that are devoid of family, friends, social occasions and vacations. In the end, they’ve no one share the fruits of success that they earn.

Friends and Family are two of the best sources of happiness in ones life. A good leader always prioritizes time to enhance his/her relationships. Similarly, scheduling leisure activities allows the individuals to de-stress and derive joy from hobbies. Eventually, one has to look for happiness within himself/herself. We can try to surround ourselves as much as we can with our near and dear ones, however, the true happiness depends on the strength of our inner-characters and how we respond to various situations in our lives.

5. Team Builders

People who desire to use time to their advantage, impart others with their own unique skills. Such people understand and appreciate the time constraints and prefer to work synergistically in the form of teams. By developing such teams, they multiply their efficiency and productivity many times.

Team builders like these ensure that their legacies are made timeless in the form of capable people. They leave no stone unturned in mentoring and training the team members to perfection. Such people are visionaries who have their eyes set on the future.

I presume that this puts time well into perspective.

Most of the times in our careers, we’re persevering and hoping to be blessed with greater success. Many a times, we end up putting in great efforts with minimum or no returns. However, there are also times when our hard work brings the sweet taste of success, with a lot more following in terms of better relationships, recognition, job switchovers, new lucrative opportunities etc… When all that we only used to see in our dreams, becomes a stark reality, we can easily go off the balance.

While my good friend Jennifer calls it a healthy problem, it’s still something that needs tackling. When something starts coming to you in hoards, it can get very taxing on your mind, body, emotions and spirit. It becomes an altogether different and new type of problem you could only dream about during your days of struggle. It changes your perceptions and way of living completely.

The situation can be such that you feel like grabbing onto every opportunity that comes your way, despite knowing how taxing it will get, but blinded by the fear of loosing it all. Your newfound success will require you to alter your self-image, schedules and lifestyle to meet the responsibilities and demands that it’ll place on you. Your social circle might also get changed completely and you might see yourself in a novel avatar, interacting with people in a very different manner.

When too much arrives too quickly to you, the first task you must do is halt, pause and self-reflect. Step back and take your time in analyzing the whole situation. It might take a little valuable time, but it’s a necessary investment to regain your composure and clarity. It’s like getting a 10-minute notice to pack up your bags and fly to a foreign destination. If you pack haphazardly, you’ll have to bear great inconvenience upon reaching your destination. On the other hand, if you approach the situation systematically and pack in an organized manner, you are quite unlikely to land up into chaos and forget something. Similarly, if you go about packing moments into your life in a haphazard manner, you only end up creating chaos, instead of clarity and order.

When faced with myriad options, exercise your ability to make wise choices. If you’ve been starved of opportunities, you might be tempted to take up everything that falls into your platter. Bringing into light a travel metaphor, whenever my travels take me to a new destination, I feel like carrying back everything from there. However, if I do exactly that, I’ll end up running from one pillar to the other post and exhaust myself to bed. How I go about it instead is that I identify a few sites that appeal to me the most and try to pack in each one of them in my schedule. In that manner, I’m able to make the most out of my excursions and am not merely ticking away places from my list.

Similarly, when it comes to selecting opportunities that make themselves available to you, you must learn to prioritize your life’s needs, values and goals and then make a decision accordingly. If you set your priorities right and involve yourself in their regular assessment, you’ll be on a far better footing at times when you are required to make quick decisions. This way, you’ll have a much better idea about what to hold onto and what to let go. Making such decisions about letting a few opportunities pass may feel a little unpleasant in the beginning, but you’ll realize its efficacy in the longer run.

You must take extra-good care of yourself while undergoing such transitional phase in your life. You might be required to devote more hours to work and might have to draw out every ounce of your physical ability to get things done. Feeling stretched and exhausted both emotionally and mentally is a very obvious outcome. Ensure that you take ample rest and steal away time for relaxation. Though your newfound lifestyle is a lot of fun, you must give yourself enough breaks to recharge and recuperate.

You must work on an efficient support system that can handle your affairs efficiently while you’re away. Have a closely knit support group including your family, friends and maybe a life coach with whom you can share your trials and excitements and get suggestions about how to deal with the situations. Employ a special help that can take care of your daily tasks, making you free to concentrate your mind on new opportunities. Check with your family members in case one of them is willing to play such a role, else hire external professional help.

When great opportunities come your way, enjoy the fruits of your destiny. You must head right into the middle of the storm to gain your ground and perspective. When you do that, you’ll learn to move forward in a calm, composed and effective way. Make wise selections, have your plans prepared well in advance and then begin your voyage. Relish every moment of the journey and not just the destination. You deserve it and you have earned it!