“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education” - Albert Einstein.

When we are children our imagination and creativity has not been tampered with by education. We put A and Z together in ways schooling teaches us not to. When starting and marketing a business, try to think unconventionally because thinking like everyone else leads to doing what everyone else does. And doing what everyone else does is risky.

We are all born creative creatures with an imagination of limitless possibilities. Somewhere along the line education has focused our attention to think a certain way. To illustrate this change, look at how children respond to questions before they start school. They typically give positive responses:

• cool
• I like that
• Great
• I’m sick

Once grown up they are saying:

• not bad
• not a bad idea
• no problem
• I’m not feeling well

Don’t get me wrong, I think education is probably the most important part to becoming successful; just keep in mind it’s only a tool . . . one of many. And by education I don’t only mean schooling, education comes from parents, friends, books, etc. The problem with schooling is that it teaches us all the same thing; therefore, we all come out thinking in the same way. Makes sense, right? Try not to let this happen to you.

To illustrate unconventional thinking and how it can be useful, let’s look at planning. Life is linear, therefore, we as humans have a tendency to think linearly (to get from point A to Z you start at A and work down the alphabet until you reach point Z). Let’s say you’re planning your business. Your exit strategy is as follows - in 10 years you want 5 million dollars in your bank account to retire on and own your dream house free and clear.

Most people would plan their strategy in the way we typically think - linearly. We know what business we want to start, do what we need to do to get it started, and begin trying to conjure up business in hopes we reach that 10 year goal of owning that dream house and having 5 million dollars in the bank to retire on. The problem with this strategy is you are flying blind. You know where you want to end up, you know where you have begun, but the middle is a big “?”. What you must do is fill in that middle void. How can you do that though? Here’s how.

You have to work your plan backwards. This approach is nothing new but is seldom used or widely taught. I attended college for 6 years, took over 200 credits (i.e. I took nearly every class you can think of) and never once did a professor mention to me that I should work my plan backwards. By approaching your plan or goal in this way, you will arrive at every single step you must do in order to reach your goal, every day, every year.

In the above example, one could approach this goal by starting at the 10 year mark. You have 5 million in the bank and that house you wanted. Now work it backwards. You will begin to see that a map is being laid out for you. You will see that at the 5 year point where you must be to be on track with your plan. Keep working it backwards until you reach today and this week. What must you do to reach that one year mark? The 5 year mark? etc. Conventional thinking and education would tell us to work forward - start and organize your business and then begin making money. But business is not that straight forward. There are many obstacles and setbacks you will stumble upon and having a map will help you get back on course.

What unconventional method have you used that worked?