Think about this - "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail".? Ashanti proverb

What was the first thing God did? He created.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

He finally created man in his image so man is also creative. Thus creativity is very important to God because he has given you the talent to create at least one thing in your lifetime. Whoever fails to create would be regarded as the servant who hid his talent. "Your talent is God's gift to you.

What you do with it is your gift back to God". - Leo Buscaglia

God created all the natural things such as the forest, the sea, air, rocks and rivers for six days and then created man. He gave the creative powers to man to continue creating all the artificial things such as cars, ships, clothing, drugs, money and factories so that life could be easier and enjoyable. So God wants every man or woman to create at least one good thing to glorify him. This does not mean that you can just create a bomb to kill people and make some money.

Create something and make history. God did not create you just to enjoy the cars, clothing and the music somebody has created but you must also bear some fruits. When you fail to create, you may cause some shortages in the things we need in the world so you are the root cause of unemployment and poverty.

Why should most school graduates waste time to learn how to prepare CVs or resumes instead of learning to prepare business plans? . Though God blessed Abraham to be wealthy, he did not sit down expecting the wealth to fall from Heaven. He farmed on a desert to create wealth even at a time when technology had not been developed. Most people in the third world countries are poor because they do not create. About 98% of the creative powers that God gave to them are lying idle so they are rewarded with poverty, unemployment and hunger. Thus creativity is very important to everyone. A few people who use their creative powers to create businesses, music, intellectual properties including books; make inventions and discoveries are rewarded with wealth.

You may think you can never create anything in your lifetime but I tell you, God has made you capable of creating anything that comes into the mind.

"Your imaginations and dreams are your possibilities" and also "the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams".

You may dream or think about a beautiful woman or a handsome man you love to be your marriage partner. You then muster the courage and move forward to do all you can to win his or her heart. Whoever has the ability to win the heart of a man or a woman also has the ability to create whatever he/she thinks or dreams about. The fact is, if you have the ability to manipulate the mind of a human being, then it should be easier for you to just put some stones, trees, gold, water and soil together and create something out of these or set up a business.

How can I be creative?

For you to be more creative, you need to be different. Do not do what everybody is doing. For instance, do not sell iced water because everybody is selling iced water.

You need to see opportunities that others do not see. Just ask yourself the following questions; what do I enjoy doing that others find it difficult to do? What do I do that people appreciate when I do? Have time to study everything you see in the environment and determine what you can use them for because God wants you to create something out of the metals, waters, stones and the trees. Surround yourself with people of great ideas and wisdom and feed the mind with creative ideas. Learn more about such great achievers like Bill Gates, Kwabena Darko Isaac Newton, Rocky Feller, The Wright Brothers and Thomas Edison, practice their life style and you would be one of them.

Ask questions and try to find answers to them.

Make an effort to find practical solutions to problems that you face. Think positively and never say it cannot be done because "Whoever says it can't be done is always overtaken by someone doing it". Imagine great things and the spirit would translate your imaginations into dreams.

The secret is that "Your dreams are your possibilities".

Cherish your visions and your dreams because they are the children of your soul, the blueprint of your ultimate achievements. Focus on success and ignore failure. See failure as a stepping-stone to success. Ignore critics and work hard to prove to them that you are capable of doing great things so that they would call you "Mr. Great" or Miss Great. Be self-reliant and have the

"Do it yourself spirit".

Be a master of your own destiny so that one day you would be able to discover the potentials in you.

Be a humble beginner.

Apply your education and you would make great discoveries and inventions. The most serious mistake you may make is just sitting back and wasting your time criticizing others without doing anything or creating what God wants you to create. The wise would learn the best you have and build upon it so that he/she would grow great.

Think of doing something extraordinary in order to be extraordinary. People who have the ability to come out with new things usually grow rich. Some people are so smart that they just look around the environment, determine the needs of the society and try to create them. The smart guys create businesses; make inventions and discoveries so that they become owners of production. If you developed your creative mind, it would be much easier for you to create a business than to seek for a job.

Creative people believe in the law of abundance because the human mind which is the greatest resoruce has no limitation. That is to say, you have the ability to create whatever you want provided you believe in yourself. This is why countries like USA and Japan have surpluses of food and everything to give to those who waste the talents that God gave them. If you don?t create anything to benefit the world God may ask you for the wasted talent. God has given you the unlimited power to create(Deut 8:18) so don not waste your time just to criticize and condem others for your failure.

Rocky Feller, a philanthropist and a man whose name can never be forgotten in the History of the rich was a big time business tycoon in USA. He founded the Standard Oil Company and many other businesses. Right now, the descendants of Rocky Feller continue to enjoy the wealth he created. Henry Ford who invented the Ford car and Harry Porter, a big time author were all creative guys.

When Jesus came to live with mankind, he saw the need to create some artificial needs. He created abundant food out of limited bread to feed thousands of people. In the same vein, God has given us the ability to use science and technology to increase productivity out of limited resources. The use of fertilizers and improved seedlings has helped increase farm produce.

Creativity goes with positive thinking, determination and hardworking.

Creativity starts from the mind. Man has a lot of things to think about. We tend to dream about what we think. Your dreams are your possibilities, because you can create all the beautiful things you dream about. If you think much about bad things you would surely direct your energy to create bad things.

There are a number of problems that face a man. Every problem has its solution and somebody needs to create a solution for it. You need to start by thinking about how you can solve the problems facing your society.

Indeed there are more opportunities in developing societies like Ghana than in the advanced nations. The reason is that where there are problems there are opportunities and in an attempt to solve a problem, you create an opportunity for yourself.

Personal experience

In 1992 I had just completed my national service as a District Planning and Budget Officer/EEC-micro-project coordinator in Ghana and the office asked me to be reinstated due to my good works. However, as a creative man I saw another opportunity that others could not see. The government had restructured the Ghanaian Educational system and some intellectuals were just wasting time in talking about problems such as lack of teachers, textbooks, and other instructional materials. As a young University Graduate and a practical person, I saw the problems they were talking about as an opportunity to create something and make some money out of it. I applied for a teaching appointment at Anglican Secondary School and devoted my time for research. Within a period of six months, I had come out with the best book for Life Skills, which was later on changed to Social Studies. I wrote them in series Popularly Known as ACHIE SERIES. The best books on Social Studies so far. Before I came out with the books the best grade was D, but with ACHIE SERIES, students started scoring grade "As" and "Bs". So I was able to make money and history for myself as well as being a blessing to the society.

Motivate People

Sometimes the society or the family may encourage or discourage creativity especially among the children. We need to encourage the children by motivating them to exploit the environment and come out with new inventions and discoveries. Words that come from the mouth could be a blessing or a curse to the individual or the society. I really love the motivational words that the people of America use to encourage the children. When a child tries to do something, they would say the following motivational words.

• Great
• Wonderful
• Good job
• Awesome
• Super
• Thinker on the planet
• Wow
• Excellent
• Magnificent
• Outstanding
• Way to go
• Good
• Neat
• Well done
• Remarkable
• Super star
• I am proud of you
• I knew you could do it
• Fantastic
• Terrific
• You are sensational
• What an imagination!
• Great invention

In Ghana for instance, most people just say the opposite. For instance, when a child becomes curious to know the things around him or her, most people would shout.

? Hey put it down!

? Bad child

? I will beat you

? Wait and see what will come upon you

With all the beatings and molestations, the child's creative abilities become messed up. In the 1970s some Ghanaians started developing a vehicle called BOAFO and the people of Ghana never encouraged them to develop the technology but rather subjected them to unnecessary criticisms and ridicules. Even the then government never saw the need to encourage or motivate them in any way so they perished with their superior technology. At that same time, South Korea, which was in the same level of development with Ghana, had started developing the KIA and the TICO cars but the society and the government encouraged them and now they are on top of the world. God is so good to Ghanains that he has once again blessed Ghanaians with Apostle Kwadwo Sarfo who makes a lot of machines and cars from the scratch from local materials. For a long time little motivation has been given to this man with such a superor technology If he were to come from USA or Japan, then he might be a great inventor. On the other hand if the Wright Brothers, Henery Ford and Thomas Edison were Ghanains they might have not make any inventions due to lack of motivation. In another development, at the time when we are facing oil crises, the Awsome God has again given Ghanainas a 23 year old young man who has been able to make a vehicle that uses electricity. Oh! Thank you God, now is the time for us to assemble cars in Ghana and move to the industrial age. Ghana can now create a lot of jobs and creat wealth to raise the standard of living What have we done so far about this our super star? God mau not forgive us if we allow this great opportunity to slip by. It is time to integrate these Ghanainas who are endowed with superior technologies into our engineering institutions and create HANDS-ON + KNOWLEDGE graduates.

We do not have any problem at all to support Ghanaians who are endowed with superior technologies but we lack vision. In the USA for instance, the government, companies and individuals have set some grant aside to encourage technology so Ghanains can do the same. The most important step we need to take is to create a system that will help to identify people who are endowed with superior technologies no matter their educational background and sponsor them. A lot of Ghanaians are doing great things but if we do not tap their wisdom, they will perish. If we spent all the money to educate people but failed to tap the great wisdom and technologies they have, then we will have a long way to go. There is therefore the need to have a serious national debate about how best the Government, companies and individuals can pool resources together to support people who are endowed with superior technologies. It is only inventions, technological development and innovations that can move Ghana forward. We need be creative and supportive. We need to unit, think positive, support our leaders with all the wisdom we have and put Ghana first. Let us think about what we can do for Ghana but not what Ghana can do for us. God bless Ghana Amen!

Your comments and contributions are welcome.