My son and I have worked on projects together through the years and frequently bounce ideas off each other. As a professional speaker and writer, I can offer him a rather unique and experienced perspective of things. As President/CEO of ClaimCare, Inc., Carl II helps keep me up to date on the health care and medical billing industry, as well as trends and issues in running privately or publicly held companies. We often share quotes and stories.

A quote he recently e-mailed to me is attributed to twentieth century economist John Maynard Keynes: “The real difficulty in changing the course of any enterprise lies not in developing new ideas but in escaping from the old ones.” Great quote. Everyone faces challenges and problems, and everyone has the tendency to become shackled by old ways of thinking about things, making it difficult to develop new ideas about ourselves, our companies, and the people with whom we work and live. Thats when it might be a good time to ask the question, What if?

If youve heard my A Strategy For Winning presentation or have read the book, then you may be familiar with the account of H.C. Booth, who in 1901 was sitting in a rocking chair on his porch observing the setting sun and the dust blowing across the prairie. As he relaxed and rocked, he asked himself, What if we could reverse that wind and pull the dust rather than blow it? H.C. Booth invented the vacuum cleaner.

We can invent new ways and new things in our lives we can escape old ideas by looking at these old ideas with a fresh pair of eyes. This is especially helpful if you feel stagnant or burned out in any area of your life; if you feel you are taking a step forward and then a step backward; if you feel you are achieving less than you should; if you feel drained of physical or emotional energy; if you are prone to negative thinking; if you are easily irritated by small problems or by people at work or home; if you are harder on people and less empathetic than you should be; if you feel misunderstood or unappreciated

If you are experiencing any of the above feelings, the first thing needed is to admit it to yourself. Then it is important to determine what you are doing or not doing that contributes to this situation? The next step is to gather resources. You are not the first person to experience this problem. How have others dealt with and overcome it? When these steps have been taken, consider various possibilities. Maybe you can do A or M. Maybe you can combine X with C. Let your imagination run wild and enjoy yourself as you ask, What if?

Mull over the possibilities. For over three years, two associates and I have been working on a Web site for students based on A Strategy For Winning. Papa Diaw, originally from West Africa and a resident of America via France, is responsible for the PHP, a server-side HTML embedded scripting language about which I know absolutely nothing. When I asked Papa what in A Strategy For Winning caught his attention the most, he responded, The section on mulling things over. Mulling involves thinking about old things in a new way. It involves using experiences, the subconscious mind, and making new combinations.

After you have mulled, then choose what you consider to be the best solution and try it out. What if it doesnt work? Well, as I am accustomed to saying, Big fat hairy deal! Look at some of the other possibilities, which may lead to even more possibilities. Remember, there is a big difference between temporary failure and total defeat and many of our successes are built on what we learn from our failures.

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Carl Mays, author and speaker at over 3,000 events, may be contacted at carlmays@carlmays.com. His books, including A Strategy For Winning, Winning Thoughts, Anatomy Of A Leader, People of Passion, and Are We Communicating Yet?, are available in stores, on http://www.carlmays.com and other Internet locations.

Carl’s clients include corporations, associations, government entities, schools, and universities. With an undergraduate degree in communications and a graduate degree in education/psychology, Carl focuses on leadership, teamwork and performance improvement. Among his honors are the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Murray State University and the Faith & Freedom Award (presented by Success magazine founder W. Clement Stone) given to communicators who contribute to the ideals and values on which America was founded. He received the Council of Peers Award for Excellence and the Certified Speaking Professional designations from the National Speakers Association, and is a member of the NSA Speaker Hall of Fame.