Idea Deficit Disorder – Treating Yourself

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Idea Deficit Disorder (IDD) is a horrid affliction. Millions suffer from it, causing a loss of billions of dollars worth of good ideas, not to mention poor self-esteem and lost opportunities.

If you suffer from IDD there is hope. You weren’t always that way.

Newborn children are naturally creative. They overflow with ideas.

But new ideas make things hard for people who want to tell you want to do. That’s why the educational system and many bosses seem to have made it their mission to drive creativity from the planet.

By the time they’ve been in school for only a few years, most children have IDD. They’ve been taught that the correct answer is the one the teacher knows.

By the time they reach adulthood, these same children believe that some, few people are “creative.” Most of these people are artists, musicians, and inventors who fill their days thinking up good ideas. Normal people like them, they’ve learned, are not creative.

The final stages of IDD happen at work. Bosses who imagine workers as replaceable parts who should be obedient and compliant make sure that anyone who offers a new idea is told why that idea is no good at all, since it did not come from further up the org chart.

But the teachers and bosses have it wrong. Creativity is a natural part of being a human being. If you are a human, you will come up with ideas.

Recognize that you are creative. Think back to the good ideas you’ve had.

Analyze how it happened. Then, when you need a good idea, just recreate the situation.

If you get good ideas in the shower, take a shower. If it was while driving, go for a drive. If you got them sitting in your special chair with a pad and paper, head for that chair. If you get good ideas standing on your head with your socks in your mouth, that would be the ticket.

IDD is a society-inflicted condition but it doesn’t have to be permanent. Start today to reclaim your creative birthright.

Free Resource

Some years ago I helped develop a creativity program for a client. As part of my work I wrote a twenty-page document titled “62 Tips for Getting Good Ideas when you need Them .” You can download a free copy by clicking on the link.

Throw off the chains of IDD! Start reveling in your natural creativity!

Check out Idea Deficit Disorder  – Stopping the Epidemic

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