My older brother had the dream of becoming a concert pianist.  One of my fondest memories of growing up was the countless hours of fine piano music that I heard as he practiced in our living room.  There is nothing like live piano music. 

Take the iPiano that can display your music, turn your pages, and if your not a concert pianist it will even teach you how to play!  If that’s not cool enough the iPiano stores and displays your electronic music scores – no more fumbling for sheetmusic under your piano bench. It’s all displayed on the center screen, and it’s even a touch screen at that. And if you’re into composing music, this little beauty can record what you play as well!

Designer: ??? Heyki Lee

In fact, if you make this a habit it would be even better.  You need to ask yourself this question every morning before you start your day.

“What can I create today that will benefit me, my family, my life, my fellow man, my earth?”

Why should you ask yourself this question?

For creators it is the most important question you can ask and it matters.

You need to get in the habit of defining what things are valuable and important in your life.

Know this:  You are a creator and can create valuable and important creations.  Once you determine what is valuable and important to you in your life you can then create it.

Ask yourself this simple question every morning.

“What is the most important thing I can create today?”

The answer does not have to be something BIG, sometimes the answer will even be something quite small, but think about it carefully, you may come to find that it is bigger than you think. 

Here are some examples:

#1 You will create a stronger relationship with your daughter today.

What you do may be quite small, like help her with her homework, or join he tea party, or play house with her.  But those seemingly small things are actually huge in the mind of child.

You are spending valuable time with your child, time that can be used to instill values in her that can last a lifetime, and creating a relationship that will weather even the strongest storm.

#2 You will begin to create your own business.

Obviously this is a “BIG” creation, but many of the steps you will take will be small.  Some of the things you will have to do may even be tedious, mundane and boring.

But this creation will change your life forever. It can bring you freedom.

To create your own business will require lots of work, planning, and strategies, but the rewards will be great. But everything you do will be well worth the effort.

#3 You will create a healthy fit body.

The creation of a healthy and fit body will require self discipline.  You will have to do things until they become habits.

Again, this creation is not the easiest, many people struggle to create a healthy and fit body, but the benefits are tremendous if you do.

Your heart rate will increase, in fact your heart will grow stronger. Your skin, brain cells and all the cells in your body will receive more oxygen due to the increased blood flow that results from working out regularly.

You will feel less depressed because your brain will be flooded with endorphins that make you feel euphoric, happy and powerful.

I always do my best work after a workout. I feel increased mental clarity and increased creativity, because I worked out.  Try it, you’ll like it.

#5 You desire to start creating a Blog.

Maybe you have never written for a Blog before.  It is much easier than you think.

Many people start Blogs every single day; why not you?

Just think of the many benefits you can receive in your life with the creation of a Blog.  You can have a journal of your life, you can make money, you can have many hours of enjoyment.

Regardless of what you decide to create today, the most important thing you can do today is simply ask the question. 

Ask the question every day.

Ask because you are a creator.

Ask because you want to create creations that are valuable and important.

Ask because the answers will surprise you.

Most important of all is that you “ASK.”

What do I want to create today?

I have had at least a million inklings, twinklings and sprinklings of inspiration throughout my life, and I have only acted on a handful of them.

That’s not a very good track record for someone who wants to be a powerful creator I know, but recognition is at least a step in the right direction.

Here are a few ideas for you when you get that little voice inside you telling you to reach, or stretch or to move in a certain direction.

1. Write it down, tape it, photograph it, draw it – record it somehow. Immediacy is sometimes required. You only have a few seconds before it is gone forever, so I suggest you get in the habit of recording your inspirations somehow.
2. Share it. Tell a friend. Announce it to the world. Letting someone else know what you are thinking solidifies it in your own mind.
3.  Teach it. Kind of like sharing it but taking it a step further. Teaching something to someone else always solidifies it in your own mind even further.
4. Do It Now! Don’t hesitate. Act now. Just get busy. The faster you act the more likely that inspiration will strike again.
5. Obey. Too often we rationalize that the inspiration was just a fluke, that it’s not that important, that it really doesn’t matter, or that it’s OK to brush it off. When you get an itch – scratch it. Don’t let it go without giving it your attention.

There are probably another 50 things that you could add to this list. We each vary in our approach to the inklings of our hearts.

Know this: powerful creators consistently obey their intuitions, inspirations, and muses. They rely on them to create amazing creations.

What do you do when your inner voice whispers to you? Please leave a comment and let me know.

It goes like this:

I was looking for an air mattress last night that my sister-in-law asked to borrow.  I looked high and low.  When I asked my oldest son, who what watching television, he snapped at me.  That irritated me.  I then asked my youngest son, who pretty much ignored me and went on about his business.

I knew that one of them knew where it was and I knew that I hadn’t pressed hard enough.  So I started on a rampage through the house, closets, and storage.  The longer it took the more irritable I became. 

I attempted to ask the boys one more time and got the same, if not worse, response then the first time.

I got angrier, and more frustrated.  When I finally found it, it was sandwiched between two large bags that my youngest son had stacked on top of each other several weeks ago when he was looking for something.

I blew a gasket.  I knew that one of them knew where it was.  I was so angry.  I came in with both barrels loaded and was spitting fire.

My youngest son’s response was, “Why are you getting mad at me?”  It went downhill from there.

The more I pressed my anger the more defensive he got. I was right and he was wrong.  He should have told me.  He should have helped me look for it.  He should have been more sympathetic to my needs.  I was right and he was wrong.

Slow down Hoss.  Get off your high horse and take a step back. 

Neither of my boys had my same agenda at that moment.  Each of them was doing their own thing at the moment.  People forget.  Two weeks earlier when my youngest had moved the air mattress his focus wasn’t on the air mattress it was on something else.

But I turned it into WWIII.  I was right and justified to boot.  And I was going to get justice.  I was going to be vindicated.
Whoa boy…  slow down there.  Sounds to me that you were being reactive; plain and simple.

That is exactly what it was.  I was behaving like a horribly reactive jerk.

Let me help you break this down.  I was creating.  You get that don’t you?  You can see that what I was creating was a mess?  I was tearing down the relationship I have with my sons.

We are always creating.  You cannot not create.

So what should I have done?  What should a Creator do?

Creators recognize that they are always creating, and that being reactive almost always creates a mess, or almost always creates creations of distrust, disharmony, anger, frustration, and destruction.

Since Creators realize that they have the power to create valuable and important creations instead of choosing to react they choose to create.
I could have created a happy environment.  I could have bribed my sons.  I could have created a game of it, a competition.  I could have created a teaching moment.  I could have helped my sons with what they were doing and then have them help me.

Bottom line is …

I could have created an experience that strengthened our relationship.  Instead I created a mess.

What are you creating with your relationships?

He doesn’t let that stop him.  Instead he has found a way to be a living example, to inspire and lift others.

True creators never let the obvious realities stop them from creating powerful creations.  Take a look and see for yourself how Nick Vujicic creates.

A right fighter will sacrifice happiness, peace, friendship, and almost anything to be right. A right fighter will argue till the last drop of blood has been spilt. A right fighter would rather be right than happy.

Are you a right fighter?

When it comes to discussions with other people do you always have to be right? Do your ideas always have to be validated and heard? Does your need to be right become more important than your need to be happy? Or do you are erroneously belief that being right will make you happy?

I was once a right fighter. I used to sacrifice happiness all the time in order to prove my point’s, in order to be heard, or to be validated. It didn’t matter what I was fighting for I had to be right.  I would fight with my mother, I would fight with my father, I would fight with my wife, I would fight with my coworkers, and anybody in order to be right.  I didn’t care if I hurt other people’s feelings, it didn’t matter to me if I made others angry, all I really wanted was to be right.

Did I mention that I sacrificed my happiness? That was probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I would fight to be right thinking that that would make me happy, but the truth was I never really was happy. I had conquered too many people, had fought with too many people in order to be right. And by the time the skirmishes were over there were way too many casualties to experience happiness.

So I ask you again, are you all right fighter?

Here’s a few signs that indicate that you might be a right fighter:

• You feel angry if people don’t listen to you
• You don’t listen to other people’s point’s of view
• You don’t care about other people’s ideas
• You think that your ideas are the only ones that matter

If you find yourself guilty of any of these then you might be a right fighter. I don’t want to insult you, so I’ll come right out and say it: being a right fighter is a very sad existence. Especially when being a right fighter destroys so many relationships.

But being the creator doesn’t destroy relationships but creates creation’s that strengthen, and improve, and bless relationships. You see, creators don’t have to be right. Creators create. Creators creates creation’s that are valuable and important not only to themselves but to other people in a relationships.

Let me give you a few ideas of creations that creators create:

1. A beautiful day. The creator could decide to create a beautiful day starting with the very moment they wake up in the morning.  They roll over and give their partner kiss and a gentle caress. And then in the shower they hum a happy tune, make a delicious breakfast, and then plan the rest of their beautiful day. Then today set out to create it.
2. Give the gift of love. Creators create gifts of love for the other people in their relationship. These gifts of love are as simple as a smile or a get well card or a small Post-it note that says thank you, or I was thinking of you. These gifts of love could be a flower picked in the yard, or a funny joke to brighten someone’s day, or a piece of candy. It really doesn’t matter, these gifts of life are just random acts of creation.
3. Yield the right-of-way. Since creators are more concerned about creating creations they are not so concerned with being right, therefore, it’s very easy for creators to allow others to be right. In fact, this yielding of being right is a very important piece in the process of creation. Creations require many different pieces in order to be complete, and most times other people’s insights and ideas are integral pieces to the finished creation.
4. Joy. Creators love their creations, and bringing their creations into existence is more important than anything to a creator. The reason for this is that true creators experiences euphoria, joy, a happiness like no other when their creation finally exists.

Next time you feel the urge to be right, stop and think for a moment about the creation’s that you would rather create instead. I guarantee you if you create creations of value it won’t be so important to you anymore to be right.

We dream big dreams and have great aspirations. Unfortunately, too often our dreams remain just that – dreams. And our aspirations easily become faint memories in the past.

It is truly a sad story – instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we get caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day and just barely existing.

You know what? I used to be there.  I lived there.  And I have a feeling that you are familiar with it all too well.  Life could be so much better, if only . . .

If only we learned to aim higher.

The most common problem to achieving our dreams is the word “impossible”. Like me, most people get hung up thinking they can’t do whatever is set before them. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible. No one can do it.

However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.  But thank goodness for the creators who have created these wonderful things that have changed and blessed our lives.  Thank goodness indeed!

Remember that scientists were baffled when they took a look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Unfortunately for the bumble bee no one has told it so. So it flies anyways.

On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. The result?  Broken dreams, and tattered aspirations.

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream.

Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.

On the other hand, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for man to be on the moon, they would laugh at you. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, they would say you were out of your mind. But, through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.

Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Nothing could be truer. For one to accomplish his or her dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But take note that that 1% has to be a think-big dream, and not some easily accomplished one.

Ask any gym rat and he or she will tell you that there can be no gains unless you are put out of your comfort zone. Remember the saying, “No pain, no gain”? That is as true as it can be.

So dream on, friend! Don’t get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.

Setting goals is a very significant part of success and creating creations. It’s deciding before you set out to create exactly what you want to create in the first place. 

People who set goals literally create a map of their target achievements in life, marking where they should begin, where to pause, where to delve a bit deeper, and where and when to stop. Once this map is created, it allows the map drawer to check where he is in the scheme of things and whether or not he is making some achievements that will take him closer to his goals, or whether or not he is heading in the correct direction.

By setting goals, creators know how they are doing and what they should be doing to achieve their targets or dreams in life. They know if they can relax or if they have to double their efforts when they are falling short of what is expected of them.

Goal setting means a person is proactive in dealing with challenges that may affect his creation. Being proactive means one is able to outline possible difficulties that may occur as well as the solutions to those difficulties. By doing this, a person is not easily scared or defeated when challenges occur because he has already prepared for them. He knows they can happen and he has prepared a solution or strategy when that time comes.

Setting goals will enable creators to track their progress in whatever creation they have set out to create. Goals help them become more confident in themselves and more motivated to achieve their plans. Creators don’t procrastinate – they are too passionate about, and desire too much to see their creation exist.  Procrastination is a thing of the past.

However, goal setting is not enough, as this should be accompanied by love, faith, and self-discipline. A creator may have a blueprint of what he desires to create, but if he does not have these necessary tools to carry out the plan, then most likely nothing will come out of it.

When a creator loves the idea of what will be created, the creator works voraciously to bring it into existence.  Coupled with faith that the thing to be created can and will be created and self-discipline to make it happen. The creation has every chance of coming into existence – living.

To be successful in goal setting, the goals that creators set should be realistic and based on true principles.  Being too ambitious in setting up goals can make the goals unrealistic and difficult to achieve. However, creators do not also set goals that are too low because this might discourage their vision instead of achieving it.

It is also necessary that the creator setting the blueprint for his creation should also include a time frame within which the goal will be achieved. This way, he is able to determine if he has to fast track his strategies or to slow down a bit. Goal setting will also help a creator check if he is performing within his plans or if he is doing things towards the achievement of his plans. 

Once you have created something, even a little of what you hoped to create, then you should always give yourself a pat in the back to keep you motivated. But do not be too complacent with any little achievement, as this may cause you to backslide.

Setting goals can be used in any aspect of one’s life – from one’s personal or family life, to his career and finances.  Goal setting can be as simple as setting a target weight when you wish to lose pounds or something big, like earning your first million.

When setting goals, it is always important to set standards that would suit your present situation, your capabilities, and other factors that may influence the achievement of your goal.

Get out a piece of paper. Write out what you want to create. Get Creating!

To your creations,

Michael Claridge

There is one quote that I particularly like that I would like to spend the remainder of this article discussing.  I don’t know who said it.  I’ve done a search on the Internet to see who might have originally said it and I have not found a source.  Here’s the quote:

“If you want what you’ve never had you must do what you’ve never done.”

Nearly every time I read this my head begins to reel with woulda-coulda-shoulda’s.  I have had tons of great ideas throughout the years, and I know that many of them would have made me very wealthy.  So why am I not very wealthy?  Because I didn’t do what was required in order to succeed at whatever the great idea was.

It’s the “MUST DO” part that I fail at.  Now don’t get me wrong, I do stuff, even stuff that gets me closer to my desired objective.  The problem is that I don’t do what “must” be done.

You see there is a law that works 100% of the time.  It is the law of cause and effect, otherwise known as the law of the harvest, which states that what you sow you will reap.  If you plant corn seeds you get corn plants not coconut trees.
 
That is what I was doing, I was planting the wrong seeds.  XYZ idea required XYZ actions.  I was ABC actions and expecting XYZ objective.  You know the definition of insanity don’t you?  Doing what you’ve always done and expecting different results.
 
I was insane.
 
Sound familiar?  Or maybe you are as diluted as I am and convinced yourself that you indeed were planting XYZ seeds.  Be honest, did you really?  Or did you do what I did?  I planted an X seed or an XY seed and tried to pass it off as a XYZ seed.

The law of the harvest is precise.  Plant corn get corn.  It really doesn’t get any more complicated than that.  But like I said, we try to pass off what must be done with other stuff and expect our results to be our objective.

Buckminster Fuller said,”You never change the existing reality by fighting it.  Instead, create a new model that makes the old one obsolete.”

If your existing reality isn’t what you were expecting stop fooling yourself.  Realize that you are doing the wrong things.  Start doing the thing that “must” be done to bring about your desired creation.  And then stick to it until it becomes the reality you desire.

Easier said than done, I know, but that is the way these universal laws work.  Remember they work 100% of the time too.  There is no fooling them, or side stepping them.

Today I want you to pick out one objective (creation) that you can focus you attention on.FOCUS – Follow One Course Until SuccessfulNow, focus on it and do what you “MUST DO” to create it.  Nothing wavering. Onward!

To your creations,

Michael Claridge

Bob Bly in an article  entitled “The Best Business Advice You’ll Ever Get” said, “An idea has no value by itself … It only gains value when you put it into action. And too many of us … are better at thinking about doing things … than we are at actually doing them.”

Joe Vitale said, “Money loves speed.”

Robert Ringer said, “Success loves speed.”

Mike Litman “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”

Michael Masterson, “Ready, Fire, Aim.”

Mark Twain commented once, “Find out where the people are going, and get there first.”
 
And you can probably recall a few more yourselves.  All great quotes on the theme of speed. What does speed have to do with creating? I’d like to discuss that with you.

Have you ever had an idea that you thought was the most fantastic idea you’d ever had?  You’d do it and make millions.  But you procrastinated – only to find out that someone else had a similar idea and they had actually done it; making you feel like a total loser.  I have had that happen so many times I’d be a gazillionaire by now if I’d only followed through with my ideas.
 
Have you had the same happen to you?  Why?  Because instead of applying speed you applied the seat –cushion-to-your-butt routine instead.  You procrastinated, you held off, you were afraid, you didn’t move fast.  Quite simply you didn’t move. Remember action requires that you move – forward preferably.

I know, like I said I have had that happen too many times.  Perhaps it’s because I take too much after my Dad.  He can think of every reason in the world why something can’t be done.  My Dad has his Doctorate in education so he is no dummy either.  When he puts his mind to something you pretty much know that he’s thought it through thoroughly.  So if he lists reasons why something can’t be done you best believe him – right?
 
His reasons are always very logical and conventional.  And he’s usually correct.  But you know what? According to the gurus that’s what failure is all about.  My Dad says that xyz will happen – so what.  Get it going – move towards your creation, begin taking actions that will get you closer to your creation and let xyz happen, in the process you’ll learn ways to deal with xyz or how to get around xyz, or how to make xyz work for you, you may even find that xyz is an integral part of your creation.  Regardless, stop letting xyz paralyze you with fear so that you don’t take any action at all.

Speed is where you will have success.  Do it NOW. All great creations were created by doing not by wishing, not by thinking, not by waiting for better circumstances to happen upon the scene, and definitely not by procrastinating.  Creators create!

How many of you use Microsoft products?  How many of you have owned an imperfect Microsoft product? Bill Gates doesn’t wait till it’s perfect before he puts it out there on the market. He just gets it going and then puts it out there on the market and fixes it as he goes.  If he had waited till it was perfect we probably would have never had Windows, and he probably wouldn’t be the richest man on earth either.  Like it or not, Microsoft did not make Bill Gates so successful because of perfection.  That’s an example to learn from.

Fear of failure or success is crippling.  It has stopped many a would-be success dead in their tracks. Know this truth: Fear will never create!  One of the most important elements of creation is faith.  Faith and fear are eternal enemies which lie on opposite ends of the spectrum.  They cannot coexist in the same space simultaneously.  Fear never lets you get enough momentum to get your butt out of the recliner.

You can always find a reasonable excuse to remain motionless. Creation requires movement, great creations not only love speed, great creations require speed! And great creators create great creations!

OK admit it, you have several ideas that you have been putting off for whatever reasons.  Granted they may even be good reasons, but today’s assignment we are going to look convention in the face and ignore those reasons.Choose one of your ideas and do one big thing towards its accomplishment.  That’s right, stop making excuses and start moving towards that creation.Do it NOW!  Fast!  Hurry!

To your creations,

Michael Claridge