Problems keep us from achieving what we want in life and work. In this new series of articles and videos, I’ll show you how to use creativity to solve a key problem or achieve an important goal.

I was recently watching the movie The Martian and besides being highly entertaining I realized it was teaching me how to think creatively. I recommend the movie for those two reasons. In the movie the main character was faced with the dilemma of surviving on Mars long enough for a crew to rescue him. Both he and NASA had to come up with creative ways for him to stay alive.

The Martian’s predicament was forced upon him so he did not have to choose his problem, but we do and that’s the first step and sometimes the hardest. How many times at the beginning of a new year have you made a resolution or set a goal only to forget about it shortly after? I know I have many times.

Sometimes it’s easier to choose a goal or a problem based on what hurts the most. What causes you the most pain in your life or work? We often will take action to avoid pain rather than to gain something that might seem to hard to achieve. Health is a good example. We all know what to do to eat better or to exercise more to give us better health, but it is often when illness strikes that we take action.

To choose your problem to solve or goal to achieve, start by making a list of items. You can do this on your own, with a partner or with a team at work. Conduct a brainstorm session with yourself or your team. Write down all the things that come to mind.

Read over the list and leave it. You might want to go for a walk, run or other type of physical activity. I find that exercise tends to trigger creative problem solving and doing this might help you to think of the items you wrote and bring clarity to the most important thing.

You can download my worksheet on my website to guide you through the process. To choose your item to work on rate each one as either high medium or low importance. Using the lowest hanging fruit approach might help. If you want to eat an apple hanging in a tree the easiest approach is to pick the ripest one that is hanging the lowest.

Next go over the items you classified as high and rate them on a scale of one to ten for importance, ten being the most important. From that list choose the highest scored time or decide between those that are tied.

You should now have a highly important problem to solve or goal to achieve. Congratulations. In my next article and video, I’ll show you to advance this process further using various techniques including force field analysis.

Go ahead and check the link and download the worksheet. Get started today and use your creativity to make a positive change in your life or work.

Stephen Goldberg