Creativity: The Key To Getting More Done In Less Time

By Avish Parashar

If your to-do list seems as long at the end of the day as it did at the start (or worse yet, longer!) then you could definitely use an injection of creativity in your work day.

Here are five simple ways of using your creativity to improve the quality of your day:

1. Stop banging your head against the wall -- A good chunk of the time people waste in a day is due to stressing over the same problems that face them day after day. When you have a problem that you don't know how to solve, you get paralyzed, get inefficient, and get overwhelmed. Not only do you not solve the problem, but you also start to slack off in other areas. The key is to get out of that state by using your creativity to generate more solutions to your problem. Here's one way -- sit down at a table with a blank sheet of paper. Write your problem across the top, and then force yourself to fill the page with possible solutions. Don't worry about how feasible or crazy your ideas are; you will be tapping your creativity and empowering yourself. Just keep the pen moving until you fill the page. This will free you from overwhelm and let you go about your day. Also, the new solution to your problem may very well be on that page!
2. Stop wasting time -- If you have been at your job or any period of time, you probably have a routine. Routines are great because they are safe, but once in a routine you run the risk of missing out on ways of doing it better. The worst answer you can give about why you do something is to say, 'that's the way I've always done it.' Keep your mind, eyes, and ears open for new and more efficient ways of doing things. Even if you can save 15 minutes on 4 daily tasks, that's one extra hour every day. Question and examine your routines!
3. Love your job, even if you hate it -- It's extremely difficult to be productive if you are unhappy. This leads to an ugly cycle: you don't like your job, so you are less efficient, so work piles up which adds stress, so you like your job even less, and so on and so on. If, for whatever reason, you choose to stay at a job you hate, then at least find ways of enjoying it. How does one do this? I don't know; it depends on you. This is why you have to use your creativity. You can listen to music, or set up your environment you enjoy, or work on a special project that fulfills you, etc. Life is too short to be unhappy for 1/3 of it; use your creativity to bring happiness, fulfillment, and joy into your day.
4. Get someone else to do it -- Here's an interesting fact: for every task you hate to do and are not good at doing, there's someone else out there who enjoys doing it. And, for every task you love to do and are great at, there's somebody out there who hates doing it. Find someone who hates doing what you love and loves doing what you hate, and you both can benefit immensely. You'll both get more done in less time and be happier doing it.
5. Get what needs to be done, done -- This is the simplest technique that is the least used. Take a look at what you need to do today. Take a look at the item that would have the biggest positive impact on your day/life/business. This should be your number one priority. Do it first and get it done, even if other things don't get done. The challenge is that this is probably something you don't want to do (otherwise it would be done already). Get creative, get focused, and set up your day and schedule to work on your high priority tasks first, and you will get more done in less time than ever before.There you go. Get out there, start using your creativity, stop wasting time, and spend more time doing what's important to you and your business.

About the Author: Avish Parashar has a refreshingly unique approach to speaking and training: identify the fundamentals of success and then give people the tools to implement those fundamentals. Avish's approach can be deceptive; it's fun, funny, interactive, engaging, entertaining, and ridiculously simple. Success isn't complicated, it's simple. So visit the web site to learn more about the "Ridiculously Simple Ideas That Everybody Needs and Nobody Uses." Learn More: Free Creativity Mini-Course:

Developing Entrepreneurs Within the Company

By Dr. Leonard R. Sayles

Companies often need managers with entrepreneurial skills, especially ones who work tirelessly for creative innovations in production and marketing. The problem is this executive wants substantial autonomy.

Corporations have consistently lost entrepreneurs who came with acquisitions as well as those developed within the company. Autonomy-minded entrepreneurs find it difficult to live with strict internal controls, staff procedures, and a top management that second-guesses their decisions. Entrepreneurs usually value the challenge and excitement of making things happen through problem solving and overcoming obstacles; clear credit for achieving results; and the chance to earn large rewards.

Most companies can spawn entrepreneurs by allowing them to control new ventures that are major diversifications. The type of venture best handled by an entrepreneur-manager requires some new technology or product that can be clearly separated from existing operations. To make it work, the corporation bankrolls the new venture when it's still in the idea stage and hands it over to the entrepreneur. About the only constraints the entrepreneur has to deal with are a time schedule and dollar budget. Support services can be purchased from the parent, but the venture manager is on his own.

If he builds a profitable operation within the specified time, he is promoted to division president and runs the operation. If he fails, he is absorbed back into the main operation. An alternative is to spin off separate ventures. The parent company keeps some of the stock and either sells the rest publicly or lets it be controlled by the spin-off's top management.

Method. The new company is given a reasonable amount of working capital, and a profit-sharing arrangement is set up with either an existing employee or one hired for his entrepreneurial capacity. Benefits include:

• Top management of the new venture isn't constrained by internal regulations of the parent company.
• If the venture fails, there is little impact on morale in the original company.
• Support services are welcomed rather than resented as an intrusion.

The company that goes this route believes there is great difficulty in having a true entrepreneurial climate inside the corporation. The parent wants to share in the success of the venture. But it also recognizes the value of letting the venture's top management in effect be in business for itself.

The original company has little to lose. Total compensation isn't much more than it would have been in a closer relationship. Capital infusion can be modest compared with entrepreneurial gain. There is a wide range of compensation schemes, ranging from stock ownership in the new corporation to a straightforward profit-sharing contract.

These organizational devices should be used only where there is a clearly separable product or service that can exist without significant reliance on the parent company. If the new venture can't be run as a separate business, spinning it off by this method can lead only to frustration on both sides.