Increasing the imagination is a process of expanding our interior, psychological space to build a metaphorical factory where creativity happens. Eliyahu M. Goldratt uses an allegorical story to explain his Theory of Constraints and emphasizes the need to prepare our minds with a foundation of creative skills to achieve our goals and potential in an ever-changing, global economy.

In The Goal, Goldratt compares the human creative process to a factory. In the factory, as parts are being made and assembled, bottlenecks occur that impede the manufacturing process limiting production and sales. The main character, the plant manager, cant solve the problem because his assumptions are based on outdated accounting measures that impose artificial constraints on production and management. He is desperate to keep the plant from closing, which higher-ups say will happen if he doesnt find a way to turn a profit soon!

This story is a modern day parable with lots of meanings, but mainly it demonstrates the danger of relying too much on one doctrine or philosophy to supply solutions to all our questions and challenges. In The Goal: An Ongoing Process of Improvement, Goldratt tells a story that demonstrates how this is too simplistic and unrealistic, and that we need to add our own questions to the equation to find creative solutions in a changing world. Change happens - it's good! But only if you're prepared to make it work for you too.

Stories like the Goal are useful literary tools for simultaneously engaging our creative mind and our quiet inner-world of unconscious thoughts and questions, which take time to emerge. Reading is a valuable part of the creative process because stories have the ability to open doors to the heart and mind by creating a bridge between the two for the delivery of new ideas and information that we would otherwise miss out on. Building this bridge is necessary for Intra-Personal Globalization where we become one with Living Goals, which are lightening rods that guide the creative process and ground us with purpose and direction.

Cynthia VanLandingham

Cynthia VanLandingham's Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources create an exciting musical adventure for children ages 5 to 11. Visit PianoAdventureBears.com for free samples of her Piano Adventure Story Books and piano resources for children. She is also the author of The Wonder Guide to Creativity.

Cynthia has been teaching piano in Tallahassee, Florida for 20 years and is the owner of TallyPiano & Keyboard Studios. She is a member of the American College of Musicians National Guild of Piano Teachers, the President of TallyPiano Enterprises, LLC, and a graduate of the Florida State University College of Education. Visit her website at TallyPiano.com to download her original, uplifting piano compositions, including "The Potter's Wheel." While you're there subscribe to her free internet newsletter, Piano Matters, and read the Wonder Guide to Creativity Online.

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