Hood, Floyd

Speech 1311-02                                 Date: October 25, 2008 

Title:  Be Creative

I.                   Attention Step:  I would like you to ask yourself if you would like to be confident and original. Do you want a rewarding life that makes use of your fullest potential? Who doesn’t, right? The most important concept to learn in life is problem solving. This is not a big secret. If you could master problem solving skills you can create for yourself a more rewarding life full of accomplishments, adventures and fascinating stories. But now you may be wondering: What is the secret to problem solving? That is easy to answer. Its creativity.

II.                Need Step: Unfortunately, modern education is not addressing the concept of creativity as well as it should. Now the weight is on you. It is the duty of the student to make sure he or she is equipped with the skills necessary to solve practical problems. Creativity is a skill that generates ideas. Wycoff, the author of Mindmapping, believes that creativity can be taught. She also agrees that by not encouraging and teaching these characteristics in school is a failure of the educational system. In fact, she points out, it would seem that our schools are teaching the opposite traits like discipline, conformity, silence, and “safe” thinking. This is a problem but can be easily fixed.

III.             Satisfaction Step: You may be wondering: How do I think creatively? How can I fix this problem? Well you came to the right place because I just happened to do some research for you. The first thing you need to do is be willing to change your way of thinking. Think outside the box.

IV.            Visualization Step: This is very important. It can be the difference of making $20,000 p/year or $150,000. It can be the difference of having a successful relationships or unsuccessful relationships. Living happy and healthy versus sad and unhealthy. Which do you prefer?

V.               Action Step: For this presentation I developed a 3-step process to help you achieve your new goal of thinking creatively. Step 1- Exercise your creative potential. First think: what do I often like to do or have to do? If it’s square dancing: try moving your hips, now put it to a triangular pattern. If its singing the cumbia: throw in a yodel or try a heavy metal growl. Maybe you’re a plane Jane and spend the nights budgeting: write a new budget plan, try a new graph layout. Perhaps you don’t do anything productive. Then you can exercise expressing yourself. If you a happy person tattoo a smiley face on your rear-end, if you’re an angry person paint a giant middle finger on your bedroom wall. Why not? Let loose. Be wild. This is exercising. It gets rid of your fears. Step 2-. Experiment. Now try tackling real problems in your life. Ex: study habits, depression, relationships or financing. Think of alternative ways to approach the problems. Don’t ask your mom how to do it. Try it and fail. Don’t be scared, be creative. If it’s a problem then you already failed. So why not try new methods. Try until you succeed. Step 3-. Analyze. What did you do to succeed? How did you discover your solution? What did it take to get the end result?

VI.            Conclusion: If you allow yourself expand creatively then you can rock this world. You can be in charge of your surroundings. You can control your future. But remember, the first thing you need to do is be willing to change your way of thinking. Think outside the box.

VII.         Resources:  Wycoff, J. 1991. Mindmapping: Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity and Problem-Solving. New York: Berkley Books.