By Larry Julian

Art Erickson, CEO of Urban Ventures, tackles the impossible. His inspiration is an inner-city community in South Minneapolis known as “Crack Alley,” an area abandoned by the affluent, isolated by interstates and decimated by drugs.

“I remember reading about George Washington Carver,” Art explains. ”Upon graduating from Iowa State Agricultural College, he prayed, ‘Lord, I’ve prepared myself for your best; now give me your best.’ Carver was expecting presidencies and leadership roles. Instead, God gave him a peanut, saying, ‘George, take my peanut, find out all you can about it and develop it.’ In the years that followed, Carver fostered soil development, improved it by crop rotation, and discovered more than 300 uses for the peanut, including dyes, soaps, wood stains, plastics, synthetic rubber and other products. By the time he died in 1943, Carver’s efforts had altered the economy of the South.”

“I see a 2- by 5-block focus territory and a radius mile impact area containing 46,000 people, 13,000 of whom are children under the age of 18, as my peanut. My success isn’t about personal upward mobility or exponential expansion. It’s about developing everything I can out of the peanut God gave me.”

It’s tempting to look at our present situation and claim, “This is impossible!” More often than not, I believe our own ego, fears and self-limiting thoughts get in the way of our creativity. These limiting beliefs keep us impoverished by the impossible.

Instead, do what Art did. Start by asking yourself, “What’s my peanut?” These seven steps will help you maximize your creative potential:

1. Invest in your creative potential. The better your creativity, the more valuable you’ll become to your customers.
2. Investigate where the need is in the marketplace and develop creative solutions.
3. Illuminate your ideas. Don’t let ideas die in your head or fade away into obscurity. Capture your ideas on paper, share them with a friend or ask your customer for feedback.
4. Imagine what can be versus what is. Use your imagination to create a compelling vision.
5. Incubate your ideas by patiently nurturing them into tangible strategies and plans. Everything, including your idea, has its proper time. What you nourish will flourish over time.
6. Innovate by transforming your ideas into practical applications that solve your customers’ problems. Transform your ideas into marketable products and services.
7. Improvise by transforming every defeat, challenge and discouragement into an opportunity to move toward your vision.

What’s your peanut? You’ve been uniquely called to use your God-given gifts to build, create, restore, develop and even make something out of nothing – the peanut God’s given you.

Larry Julian is a speaker, coach, and author of the bestselling business book, God is My CEO, and God is My Success. His newest book, God is My Coach: A Business Leader’s Guide to Finding Clarity in an Uncertain World guides leaders through critical decisions. Visit www.larryjulian.com to learn more.