A few weeks ago I was watching TV before bed. We were watching America’s Funniest Home Videos. There was this one scene where a guy was demonstrating that his storm door on the front of his house was missing the glass. He would literally just step through the door because the hole where the glass used to be was about 6 foot from the bottom to the top. Now once he displayed that the glass was missing, he called his dog to the door and asked the dog if he wanted to go outside.
The dog obviously did because he was nudging the medal frame of the door. SO the guy stepped through the opening where the glass normally is, blatantly showing the dog that the glass was missing. But yet the dog waited patiently for the man to open the door. He did this over and over 5 or 6 times, stepping through the huge opening, then opening the door for the dog to go in and out.
The dog never got it. He had been programmed to wait until the door was opened, no matter what the circumstances. All of the walls of the house could have been gone, but as long as that door frame stood, that dog would continue to sit and wait for its master to open the door.
As crazy as it sounds, people are programmed in the same way. We are programmed from a young age to draw within the lines… to sit in rows in our school classrooms… we are taught to walk in a straight line when going to lunch. And it’s this controlling conformity that does the most damage to us as an individual. It robs us of one of our most valuable assets…
CREATIVITY! Your creative mind is what enables you to walk through the doors of opportunity. Not only does it give you the freedom to ask “What If”… but it gives you the “Guts” to walk through any door. And if there’s no door, it gives you the “Power” to break down any walls.
It’s creativity and imagination that has fueled ALL of the great successful people in the world. Neither DisneyLand nor DisneyWorld would exist if Walt Disney had conformed and done what he was supposed to do… if he had stayed in art school. But he refused to harness his creativity… he refused to do what he was told and draw within the lines, and he dropped out of art school.
The list of success stories attributed to creative ability is endless. Billionaire Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, and over 200 other companies, dropped out of high school in the 10th grade to express and develop his creative abilities.
Michael Dell of Dell computers started his computer company while he was a freshman in college. He spent his school money on computer parts and built computers in his dorm room. He stopped going to classes and focused all of his time making computers. His father freaked out on him when he realized what he was doing. He said, “Michael, why can’t you be more like your brother?” His brother had graduated from medical school. His brother played by the rules and didn’t draw outside the lines. But now, his brother works for Michael.
Now, don’t misunderstand what I am saying … Education is important. I am not saying you don’t need to gain knowledge. All of the most successful people in the world seek out specific knowledge that help them achieve their goals. And they also surround themselves with people that can help them achieve their goals.
The point I want to make is that they were bold enough to NOT conform to the norm. And that comes from having a strong creative mind.
According to studies by UCLA and the University of Georgia, all children have 100 percent of their creative potential at age five. But by age seven half of that creative potential is gone. And throughout life, your creative potential continues to deteriorate, unless you exercise it. –Author Unknown
Marvin LeBlanc is a left-handed, right-brained, fun-loving Cajun that is obsessed with Life Performance and Overcoming Adversity. He is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker and founder of Marvelous Performance Systems. Marvin is available for business retreats, keynotes, breakout sessions, workshops, & individual coaching programs. His book “COME HELL OR HIGH WATER” will be available in the Fall of 2011 through New York Publisher www.BloomingTwig.com. To rent Marvin’s brain, contact him at MarvinLeBlanc@aol.com and request a Free Personal Coaching Session.
