Every March, teams of sled dogs run an 1,100 mile race across the state of Alaska in as little as nine days, often enduring heavy blizzards and temperatures down to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. After 10 years of studying these animals, Michael Davis of Oklahoma State University attributes their long distance stamina to a unique ability to “reprogram” their bodies’ reaction to stress.

Cell damage occurs during athletic activity and it normally takes the body a day or two to recover. This process is repeated every time the body is subjected to physical stress. Unlike human athletes, after the first day of activity, racing sled dogs are somehow able to adapt their bodies not only to the repeated physical stress but to other bodily stresses as well. This remarkable adaptation means no further damage to their cells during the race, which accounts for their amazing endurance.

Very successful entrepreneurs are like endurance athletes. Some, like ex-quarterback Fran Tarkington who has started 15 businesses to date, are serial entrepreneurs, taking up the challenge of starting new businesses again and again. Some, face incredible odds just to get one business successfully off the ground. The question is ~ what makes some entrepreneurs successful while others fail given the same set of circumstances?

Like the uber racing sled dog, I think that these endurance entrepreneurs are able to adapt to, and reprogram themselves to deal with the inevitable stresses that come with the territory. Whereas the dogs adapt physically, these entrepreneurs adapt attitudinally. In the face of difficult odds and even failure, they are able to reprogram their attitudes. They survive on a diet high in self-reliance yet surround themselves with mentors, deal with the facts, craft and execute a plan but are flexible when necessary, and believe in themselves. They are able to take the hits but remain passionate and committed because they have both the inner and outer resources to preclude self-damage.

(I will be publishing both a new post and October’s newsletter next Monday. Information on Iditarod Sled Dogs from Jeanna Bryner, livescience.com)

I just finished reading ~ and I quote from the back cover ~ “the national bestselling rags-to-riches story of an advertising executive who had it all, then lost it all and was finally redeemed by his new job.” I think that blurb has it a bit wrong. The author, Michael Gates, was redeemed not by his job, but by his change of heart resulting in a change of attitude. His new job was merely the catalyst of that change.

Gates was born into privilege. Doors opened for him simply because of his pedigree, his education, his membership in an exclusive club. In mid-life, he is fired from a lucrative and high-profile position from a very successful advertising agency, and in the process loses his family, his lifestyle and his identity.

Broken and desperately trying to hang onto the illusion of his old life, Gates jumps at an entry level position at Starbuck’s. In the process of learning a new job, working with people he would formerly never have associated with, Gates gradually faces old demons, learns to take new risks and rebuilds his confidence.

But he learns much more. He learns to live from and follow his heart. He says, “The gentle love and peace and happiness I felt now I had never experienced before. Maybe the mistakes I had made — causing so much damage — had also helped me to break out of my comfortable cocoon to get out to a world much more full of life and light.” (p206)

So what’s my point? This man experienced a significant break-through to a better life because he experienced a significant change in self-awareness and what truly mattered to him. Gates came to understand his value and purpose by facing challenges and learning from change. Change that initially was outwardly imposed by circumstance but became inwardly imposed when he realized how out of touch he had been living in relation to his real self.

And that’s my point. By not being fully aware of, and in touch with, your true self; by living a life based on expectations of others, you are merely sleepwalking instead of living a vibrant, balanced, purposeful and rewarding life.

The book? How Starbucks Saved My Life, a Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else, by Michael Gates Gill, 2007, Penguin Group, NY,NY

Creative thinking is open-ended, often original, non-judgmental and unpredictable. On the contrary, while risk-taking can include a measure of creative thinking, it also involves analysis and a prediction of the outcome. It’s important to understand the distinction between the two, otherwise, the early stages of creative thinking will be unnecessarily hampered by risk assessment. That comes later.

Creativity involves a break from conventional, tried-and-true ways of thinking, exploring and operating. This separation gives your brain and/or your team the space to breathe, to craft new approaches, concepts and products. The goal is to provide an environment in which free exploration and expression of creative thought are encouraged.

The focus of your creative thinking should be in areas that are suitable for your business. If you are in the fashion world, you wouldn’t be thinking of better ways to prepare fried chicken. That chicken, however, may be the result of a session on how to create a talked-about gala that will launch your new summer line.

“Rules” of engagement to begin the creative process:

• Openness not restriction of thought
• Allow for limitless possibilities
• Judgement free
• No pre-determined outcome
• “Reach for the moon”
• Perfection not allowed
• Willingness to lose face, lose control, experience failure

When you are ready to drill down and focus, that’s the time to implement your risk analysis. (Refer to my September 2008 newsletter, Coaching Risk Taking, in the Resources Section of my website. If you aren’t already signed up to receive or access my newsletters, you can do so on the top left column of this page.)

For further information, including a list of references, refer to www.stressdoc.com/creative_risk_taking.htm

I believe that we all come equipped with an in-born creativity. It never ceases to amaze me how naturally creative little kids are. If allowed, they are continually in a state of inventive thought and action. I think that our natural creativity gets squelched when it comes up against conformity of thought perpetuated by socialization, our public schools and other lock-step systems. Certainly, without these systems, anarchy and chaos would rule, but somewhere along the way we threw out the baby with the bath water.

Creativity is the hallmark of innovation. Imagination is the starting gate for change. I like the way John Maynard Keynes puts it ~ Ideas shape the course of history. William Blake said ~ Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination and What is now proved was once only imagined.

Powerful words. Powerful concept. Powerful force. Creativity is to be embraced, not distained or held at a fearful distance. Our brains thrive on a heady and seemingly contradictory mixture of creative and “safe” thinking. Boredom sets in with too much routine. Too much chaos sends us diving for security. However, an essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid of failure.

A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free. ~ John Maynard Keynes. It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all. ~ Edward de Bono.

Creative thinking is particularly important in today’s global economy. The old-think of business as usual just doesn’t cut it anymore. I read that over fifty percent of the 500 largest companies in the U.S. have in-house programs focusing on problem-solving or creative thinking. New-think companies actively encourage the continual flow of new ideas. In other words, they encourage an entrepreneurial spirit within a corporate framework.

Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. ~ Anita Roddick.

In next Monday’s blog, I will write about strategies for incorporating creative thinking.

My husband and I recently attended an exhibit featuring glass artist, Dale Chihuly. If you aren’t familiar with his work, google his name. There is great disagreement in the art world as to whether Chihuly is an artist, a craftsman or a mere technician, but that academic debate does not impact my astonishment and sheer enjoyment of what this man and his team of collaborators have done, and continue to do, with blown glass. As we walked from room to room looking at dazzling, extremely colorful displays of glass work, the word creative kept coming to mind. This man, building on the vision of glass artists before him, has caused me to look at art glass in a new and very creative way.

It also got me to thinking, just what is creativity anyway, and is it confined to the art world? So the first thing I did was grab my trusty dictionary and look up a few related words. To create means to cause to exist, bring into being, originate, to give rise to, produce. Being creative is having the ability or power to create things, characterized by originality and expressiveness, imaginative. A creator is one that creates. Creation means the act of creating.

I couldn’t find a single definition that made “art” the sole vehicle or end product for creative thought and action. Sure, there was a reference to “expressiveness” and “imaginative” but those words do not exclusively belong to the domain of the art world. Certainly architects can be expressive. Inventors are imaginative. And the list goes on.

So creativity is thinking outside the box. It’s looking at something familiar and tweaking it. It’s also inventing whole new things, thoughts, actions.

Next Monday I’ll look at the relevance of creativity in life and in business. In the meantime, check out a press release from John Hopkins University that “sheds light on the creative improvisation that artists and non-artists use in everyday life.” Entitled This Is Your Brain on Jazz: Researchers Use MRI to Study Spontaneity, Creativity, it can be found at www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press_releases/2008/02_26_08.html