This tweet from Kansas City entrepreneurial maven and Chief Nomad at Hostel KC, Brittain Kovač, asked what creative thinking skills resources we had to avoid "mental bankruptcy."
Mental bankruptcy?
Mental bankruptcy is when an entrepreneur expends so much mental energy on the business they run a deficit. This results in coming up lacking when they to produce the mental energy needed to keep everything going, whether “everything” relates to business or personal matters.
Mental bankruptcy is not a term we have specifically used relative to creative thinking skills. We have certainly covered the phenomenon, though. As with financial bankruptcy, the best way to avoid mental bankruptcy is to head it off before you need to do something about it.
Invest in Your Creative Thinking Skills Before You Need Them
In light of that advice, here are creative thinking skills and tips we would recommend entrepreneurs start addressing now!
1. What is your biggest purpose?
Figure out what really matters to you through developing a personal core purpose statement. I know an entrepreneur is likely to say what really matters is focused entirely on developing the business. Understood, but I would advise thinking bigger and more spiritually than simply getting your business going. If that is all that matters, you are setting yourself up to crash and burn in case that is what the business does.
2. Identify your inspiration inventory
Take 10 minutes and create an inspiration inventory that lists what does the best job of mentally recharging you. List all these people, places, and things ahead of time. Then invest the time to see, do, and enjoy them to keep yourself mentally sharp and replenish your mental energy assets on an ongoing basis.
3, Build a relationship with a strategic mentor
Developing a relationship with a strategic mentor can be life changing. A strategic mentor should both challenge you and boost you. The key for an entrepreneur is to identify a strategic mentor outside your direct business life. You want someone as a strategic mentor who will not be going through the same mental energy swings you are!
4. Grab a copy of Idea Magnets
Idea Magnets - 7 Strategies for Cultivating & Attracting Creative Business Leaders is a major one-stop for beating mental bankruptcy. You'll learn strategies for generating inspiration, attracting diverse thinkers, exploiting unexpected connections, and recharging creative energy, among others.
5. Subscribe to the Brainzooming blog
If you have not already, subscribe to the Brainzooming blog. (You think we would miss the Brainzooming blog as a great mental energy booster?) Whether it is coming up with new ideas or figuring out innovative ways to get things done, we are all about getting your Brainzooming whether mental bankruptcy is on the horizon or already a part of your entrepreneurial life!
Creative Thinking Skills Build Your Mental Energy Assets
Whether you are an entrepreneur or work in a bigger company (yes, entrepreneurs, there ARE big company people who work hard enough to put themselves into mental bankruptcy), these recommendations are all solid investment for staying out of mental bankruptcy. – Mike Brown
