A MAN (or a woman, if you prefer) is crossing a road because he wants to get to the other side. He has seen the place he is looking for (a restaurant? a mosque? a school? a library? a museum?...) Whatever it is, he knows where he is going and is planning to reach his destination as soon as possible. He is moving in the right direction and is sure to get there. But, strangely enough, while crossing, he suddenly stops. He doesn’t walk or move anymore, he just stays there still... waiting.
What is he waiting for? It seems that, all of a sudden, he doesn’t believe he can cross the road, he cannot make it on his own. Cars and trucks are zooming all around him and he stays there, maybe hoping for someone to come and rescue him. But no one comes and, sadly, he gets run over. Awful story, isn’t it? And even silly, if you think about it. You might say, “How foolish! He was on the right pathway. Why didn’t he continue and finished crossing?”
You are surprised at this improbable situation, but you, yourself, might be one of those who start a project and don’t finish it. In so doing, you lose time, maybe money, certainly energy and creativity. Once you made your plan, you were totally convinced of what you wanted. You were full of enthusiasm, you felt energetic, you “knew” you were a winner. So... you began studying, building, packing, arranging, practicing. But, at a certain point of your enterprise, you stopped. You dropped out of that course you were so interested in. The building of that shelf was never carried out to its completion, the fixing of that antique frame remained unfinished, the organization of a long-desired trip was abandoned, a meeting with old friends or the organization of a party never came to be.
The language that you had always wanted to learn seems too difficult, you don’t “really” feel like persevering. What do you need to learn French or Italian for, anyway? The fitness program you had decided to follow to the end results a bit too stressful and, after all, in the evening you are tired and just want to relax... Are these your thoughts, your justifications? Having lost your previous enthusiasm, you gave up. The question is, Why did you lose your enthusiasm? Why did you lose interest? Why did you find excuses? An answer could be that you started having doubts about yourself. You thought that you might fail, that you were not good, talented, intelligent, strong, clever enough to achieve your goal? “The trip is not worth it, after all, I haven’t been in touch with those friends for a long time, I don’t have enough time to practice, I don’t... I can’t...” Having waited to be “run over” by indecision, hesitation, you did not allow yourself to be an “achiever”.
Another scenario, to a certain extent similar to the previous one, could be the following. Imagine yourself on the edge of a cliff. You are standing there, wondering what you should do. You don’t want to go back, yet you don’t like standing there because you believe “something” will make you fall off the cliff. So you decide to jump by your own will. But... what is happening?
You are afraid and don’t dare to make the jump because you believe you’ll die. The fear of failure (we are on a less dramatic note, here), the belief that you cannot make a decision or stick to it, the doubt about your abilities, the conviction that you will never be as successful as you would love to be... these are all the hindrances that literally “harness” your creativity, your imagination, your courage to engage in a new undertaking.
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Creative Thinking: Don’t wait to be ‘run over’
