What gets you to think and act creatively? For most of us the answer will be the end game. We picture the finished product or see the result of what we want to accomplish in our mind. Knowing the end is worth the effort adds fresh energy to start and work on projects. There will be times though when each of us will need something to jumpstart the creative process. An external stimulant that causes creative thinking and the action that will follow. For example, some quilters can find motivation in a pile of colorful material. They look at the cloth and see a finished quilt, arousing their creative desire. Other quilters find their muse by having a specific purpose for a quilt and the process begins with a plan and going to buy the needed materials to make it happen. Both scenarios cause creative thinking which turns into productive activity. They could see the end game, which gave 
them a starting point.
I seldom draw solely for the fun of it, but if I have a picture of something that would be even sweeter as a drawing, (or in the case of the children here, I used two different pictures to make one adorable one,) I’ll gladly put forth the effort and willingly work toward that end. 
The goal, the finished piece of art, moves me to action.
Bloggers often need external happenings or current events to come up with a topic worth writing about. I don’t know too many writers who can just start a blog with no end game in mind and come up with satisfactory results. People are busy and don’t want to waste their time reading just any old thing. They want substance, something that will inspire or even provoke their own thoughts to take action. Again, the end game, the purpose for the blog is what pushes writers to action.
Our ability to think creatively also depends on where we are in life and what we’re focusing on at the time. While I was working on my book, Created to be Creative, everything I saw, heard, or thought about gave me ideas and it was easy to write about creative topics. Now that it’s been a few years since publication, it takes more to spark my interest in
writing about creative things because I figured I already put all that information in my book. My thought was, I’m basically trying to come up with another way to say what’s already been said. Yet this mindset stops creative growth, because the very nature of being creative is coming up with fresh ideas and taking action. I’ve learned that there should never be an end of creative ideas and so there will always be a plethora of ways to encourage people to find and use their talents.
The way I want to encourage you today is to see the end game, see what you want to accomplish in your mind’s eye and work toward achieving that goal. When one project is complete, think of a new one and if you need external motivation, that’s okay. Open your eyes and ears to all the possibilities and keep your creative aspirations active.
