Use this magic word to boost your creativity, help you reach goals and become the leader in your field.

By  Dennis Fisher

There is competition in every walk of life. It makes no difference how you earn money, you have to compete with many competitors and rivals in your field.  They are as anxious to succeed as you are.

To achieve greater success than your competitors and become the leader in your field, you have to improve your ability to think creatively.  You'll have to come up with original plans of action and use your imagination to visualize new and different strategies.

Creativity is  definitely skill that can be developed.

Use this "magic"word.  You'll immediately find you are able to think more creatively.   Print this word indelibly in your mind.  Focus on thinking about this word every day.  You'll find that  will work like magic.

The word isIMPROVISE.This is a verb with tremendoujs power.  It can be defined as:

"To make use of existing materials and available tools that enable you to fill an unexpected and immediate need or help you deal with unforeseen circumstances"

Whatever type of work you do, at times you are going to be faced with difficult, unforeseen circumstances.  You'll have toIMPROVISE:Come up with an immediate, effective plan of action.

Some people are more skilled in devising plans of action than others.  They are more creative.  These "creative people" have developed the ability to see things more clearly than others. They see things not immediately apparent to others.

Creative people have trained themselves to view situations from a completely different perspective.  They are able to visualize different and alternative uses for commonplace items

How can you develop your creative powers?    Focus your mind on the wordimprovise.

Start by becoming more observant. Start looking at everyday objects in a different light and from a completely different perspective.   Use your imagination to visualize unusual, alternative uses for the object.

Every single invention and discovery that has benefited mankind has been the result of creative people being able toimprovise.   They have the ability to use their imagination to visualize an object being used in a completely different way.

There are hundreds of examples.  Here are just a few.

AN EXAMPLE THAT DATES BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

The bow and arrow, developed by primitive man thousands of years ago, is an example of early man's ingenuity, and ability to improvise,  born out of an urgent need to feed and defend himself and his family.

When man invented the bow and arrow thousands of years ago, he was able to do so because he was  able to use his mind toIMPROVISE.

When he looked at a branch of tree, he visualized how it could be used in an entirely new and original fashion.

He formed a mental image and imagined the branch being bent into a certain form with sinew tied to each end.

AN EXAMPLE OF USING A BIRD TO CREATE A FINANCIAL FORTUNE

Here is an example of a man able toIMPROVISEby  using  a bird for a completely novel and original purpose.

This example goes back to the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.  Nathan Rothschild, head of a family of bankers,  was aware how important it was to receive news of the result of war  before anyone else.  He also knew that if Wellington was successful at the battle of Waterloo it would have tremendous financial implications on the London stock exchange.

Rothschild devised an ingenious plan to obtain news of Wellington's victory directly from the battlefront long before anyone else knew about it.  He used carrier pigeons.

Immediately Rothschild received the news, he immediately instructed his agents to start selling stocks.  When other stock brokers became aware of the extent to which Rothschild was selling stock, they gained the impression that the French had won at Waterloo and joined in the frenzy of selling.

As a result, stock prices fell dramatically.  Before the good news of Wellington's victory reached London, Rothschild started to buy stocks at the drastically reduced prices .  This was the beginning of the Rothschild family's financial fortune.

AM EXAMPLE OF AN ANIMAL  USED TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS.

Here is another example of someone with ingenuity who was able toimproviseand visualize the enormous possibilities of using an animal in an unusual way.  As a result of the vision and the ability of an American woman  to think creatively, thousands of disabled people all over the world have benefitted and gained a new sense of freedom.

In 1927, an American woman, Dorothy Harrison Eustis, living in Switzerland, heard about a dog school in Potsdam, Germany that had been set up to train dogs to assist soldiers who had lost their sight in the war.  She visited the school and realized the enormous possibilities that existed for helping people who had lost their sight.

She  wrote an article that appeared in "The Saturday Evening Post"  about her experiences.  A young blind man, Morris Frank, from Nashville, Tennessee came to hear about the article and eventually became the first American to use a dog as a guide.

Aware from personal experience how dogs could benefit blind people to gain a new sense of freedom and independence, Morris Frank  set about  establishing a school for the training of  dogs for the blind.

The first blind dog school in America was established in Nashville in 1929.  Subsequently it was moved to New Jersey.

There are now hundreds of blind dog schools all over the world. Since those early days in 1929, thousands of blind people have benefitted from the vision of Dorothy Eustis and the tireless efforts of Morris Frank.

AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE WHO DECIDED TO IMPROVISE AND MADE ATHLETIC HISTORY

Before 1968, the  conventional method used by all high jumpers was to approach the bar from the front.  At the 1968 Olympic Games Dick Flosbury,  a young Oregon State University student astounded the world when he used a completely different technique that had never been used before – and he won the gold medal.

It was a technique that he had improvised. It came about, not by chance, but by careful observation of  the high jump techniques  being used at the time.

He saw there were obvious  flaws in the conventional approach high  jumpers  had been using for years. It was something no other high jumper had noticed, or if they had, they paid no attention it.  They continued to use this technique because this is the way "everybody else performed the action".

Flosbury  decided radical  improvements could be made  and practiced using  a completely  different approach.He improvisedand devised a radical new approach. He jumped backwards over the bar.

The rest is history.  From 1958 until today, ever since Flosbury introduced this remarkable example of creative thinking as applied to sport, his  creative, "Flosbury flop" technique, is used by every high jumper in the world.

There are hundreds of similar examples of people who developed their powers of creativity by being very much more observant and attentive than  others; noticing things others had missed.

There is a lesson to be learnt from their experiences.  Make every effort to become more, perceptive, alert and aware of  what is going on around you.  Think creatively.  Keep the wordIMPROVISEconstantly in your mind. In this way you'll find there will be a remarkable improvement in your ability tothink creatively.

Visit the following website where you'll  find a great deal of information about creativity and unusual ways to improve your ability to think creatively