“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” ~Charles H. Duell, an official at the US patent office, 1899

“X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” ~Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883

“Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.” ~Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” ~Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of the Board of IBM, 1943

“With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn’t likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market.” ~Business Week, 1958

“The ordinary ‘horseless carriage’ is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.” ~Literary Digest, 1899

“There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.” ~Albert Einstein, 1932

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” ~Western Union internal memo, 1876

“Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.” ~Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1889

“Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.” ~Dr. Dionysys Larder, professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, 1793-1859

Today these statements seem preposterous. How could experts be so wrong? Did the general public really accept this thinking? Yes. Just like many people do today.

While conventional wisdom is sometimes hard to spot, its defenders often expose it by trying to discredit and suppress people who threaten it… like those with contrary views, new information or alternative answers. When defenders have little evidence or logic to justify their positions, they often attack truth seekers as they represent the greatest threat. In addition, defenders sometimes resort to manipulation, clichés and propaganda to build support for their beliefs. For example, some politicians and their followers chant “Drill Baby Drill” to reinforce the conventional wisdom regarding our national security, independence and need for more oil. While simple repetition proves nothing, it does rally the troops and reinforces conventional wisdom. The ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has many Americans reconsidering this chant and the conventional wisdom it proclaims regarding the need for more oil.

Whether it’s energy, healthcare, business or an interpersonal struggle you’re going through… it’s important to remain cognizant and not simply default to the quick, simple and convenient answers conventional wisdom offers. While eliminating independent critical thinking may be tempting… it’s rarely a good solution. At some point, conventional wisdom is always confronted by reality. If it aligns well enough, it stays; if it doesn’t, it’s replaced by new thinking. This cycle has been in place since the beginning of recorded history. It is maintained by those who blindly follow conventional wisdom, by those who defend it, by those who question it… and by those who change it and create new realities. Where do you fall within this cycle?

According to Nuno Sousa at the University of Minho in Portugal, there’s a good reason for why this happens. Sousa found when lab rats are stressed out; their responses to familiar routines become very repetitive. For example, rather than trying new maze paths that lead to food, chronically stressed rats repeatedly ran down the same dead-end paths.

Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine said, “This is a great model for why we end up in a rut and then dig ourselves deeper and deeper into that rut.”

When we’re stressed out we become repetitive and don’t recognize that our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working properly. So rather than trying something new or taking a different approach, we become compulsive and do the same things—repeatedly.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

Maybe Einstein’s definition applies to stressed out people as well?

By reducing our stress levels, over time, we can regain our natural creative capacity. Through meditating, breathing, exercising and simply relaxing the neurons and synapses in our brains recover and begin to make new connections.

Making new connections is at the center of creative thinking and developing innovative solutions. It’s easy to become stressed out—especially in light of today’s hectic and competitive world.

By learning to relax (and making the time to do so), you’ll not only eliminate stress from your life but you will be contributing greatly to your creative development. For your health and your creative capacity—make time to relax.

According to what I’ve read and experienced, people who write down their goals have a greater chance of reaching them. I believe the same holds true for people who write down their creative thoughts and ideas. The chance of discovering creative solutions that work successfully increases significantly.

Creative ideas are fleeting gifts. The question isn’t whether you have them (everyone does), but whether you take these gifts seriously and record them. Since we never know where or when they’ll strike us (walking, sleeping, shaving…), it’s important to be prepared at all times.

A few months back, while taking a shower, I was struck by a childhood event that involved a broken plastic baseball bat. It came out of left field (no pun intended) and started connecting to a plethora of today’s so called “problems.”

Within moments it grew beyond control and crystallized in my brain. By the time I finished showering, dried off, put on some clothes and found my notebook, many fragments had already disappeared. I wrote down what I could remember and over the next few weeks filled in the missing pieces.

The result? My new book, The Pink Bat: Turning Problems Into Solutions, is scheduled for release this fall. If I hadn’t taken the time to write down those fragments at that moment, the ideas for this book would have vanished.

I’ve carried notebooks (journals, sketchbooks, etc.) for nearly twenty years. Recently I’ve begun to realize these rough and random ideas truly are fleeting gifts. Some people accept them—most people don’t. They take them for granted, think they’ll return, or simply ignore them. Rarely do they return—and they never appear the same way twice.

I’ve lost countless ideas these ways myself. But I’m learning!

According to history, Beethoven carried a small notebook with him at all times. He’d fill the pages with rough ideas and then put it away and start a new one. After a month or so, he’d revisit the old one and if anything struck him he would refine it and transfer it to a second notebook. By the time his ideas reached the third notebook, they were well on the way to becoming a sonata.

Consider Leonardo da Vinci, Darwin, Beethoven, Dylan, Edison, Jefferson, Einstein, Matisse, Van Gogh, Hemingway… the list of famous notebook carriers is long. It seems people who have created something new or made significant contributions to business, society, science or art, have something in common—they all write down their ideas.

I’ve often wondered, “Is it because they were brilliant that they wrote down their ideas?” or “Did the act of writing down their ideas contribute to their brilliance?”