Unleash Your Imagination

Transform Your Life

Dennis Kleidon

• Publisher: River Grove Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781632995681
• eBook ISBN:
  9781632995698
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Creativity

Unleash Your Imagination is all about the wonderful adventure of developing a vision for a new life. Written by acclaimed fine artist and designer Dennis Kleidon, Unleash shows how to use design thinking to challenge your normal routines, increase the power of your imagination, and harness new sources of creativity. 

A designer’s approach encourages an open mind and curious spirit, leading to fresh solutions you may never have imagined. By approaching change like a designer, you can find your life’s purpose and shape a direction guided by it. Both analytical and creative, this process replaces blank-page panic with the thrill of new possibilities. 

Unleash Your Imagination brings in the wisdom of many artists, architects, and designers, from ancient philosophers to today's leaders in positive psychology, letting great thinkers guide you toward an exciting future of optimism, happiness, and achievement. Kleidon reminds us that we are each responsible for our life and for designing our life. As Buckminster Fuller said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” 

As the designer of your life and with Unleash Your Imagination as your guide, you can plan an extraordinary life with greater purpose and meaning. This is especially useful if you are facing or planning for an important turning point in life. 

​Unleash helps you think through the process of change by using your imagination to unleash your long-standing desires and integrate them into your current life. Changing in this authentic way can enhance the quality of your life. It can let you go beyond yourself to contribute to the world. Life is a continuous design process, Kleidon says, as he describes a thoughtful, methodical approach to discovery, experimentation, and planning.

four

DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE

DESCRIBE YOUR INTERESTS & TALENTS

I know of no single formula for success. But… some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.

—Queen Elizabeth II

IN THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS you have worked to discover your most important feelings as you identified your dreams and aspirations. This chapter guides you through a close look at yourself, determining who you really are, what you believe in and what your guiding principles are. Are you who you want to be or who someone else wants you to be? This question may seem strange, but as you investigate your true self, you may find things you do based on someone else’s desires, not yours, but perhaps the wishes of your parents, your spouse, a religious leader or a teacher who was a significant influence. What you really want to know is what you believe, what motivates you, and what your interests are.

To achieve success in life, it’s crucial to do what you really enjoy and are dedicated to. When you know what your interests are, you can integrate them into your life’s work, and when you spend your time, that essential currency of life, on what you believe is important and what you love to do, that is success.

We each were born with specific DNA that sets the stage for our personality, preferences, and interests. Some of us enjoy participating in athletics, some prefer the arts, while others are fascinated with technology, mathematical equations or researching new phenomena. We are all unique, and it is vital to understand and exploit what makes us unique. In addition to unique interests, we are blessed with certain talents entwined with these interests or that we chose to practice until we became proficient. Interests and talents have a way of entering our life by accident, so it is best to ensure that they are truly our own.

Let’s begin by making out a list of things that interest you. Interests may be activities you find pleasurable or something you want to achieve. Look at the list below, answer the questions and enjoy finding out more about yourself:

1. List the activities that are most fun and interesting to you.

2. List the people that you enjoy and feel most comfortable with.

3. List the places you like to go in your free time.

4. List the hobbies that are most exciting for you.

5. List the types of books you enjoy or the research areas that are of most interest.

6. List your most favorite vacation destinations.

7. List various new things or activities that you think you would like to try doing.

8. List places you would like to visit or learn more about.

Often our interests and talents are congruent. However, sometimes our talents are limited and inhibit us from pursuing specific interests. As you have matured, you have acquired certain talents. These may have to do with your profession, or they may be more focused on your hobbies and leisure time. It is important to know what you are truly good at doing, whether it is playing in sports, giving oral presentations, working on highly technical mathematical equations, developing new inventions, or creating artwork. If your interests and your talents coincide, that is wonderful. If not, then you may need to make some choices.

Review the list below, answer the questions and find out more about your talents and skills:

1. List your most important personal talents.

2. List your professional talents, such as technical writing, leadership, organization, finance, creative expression, etc.

3. List your creative and cultural talents in music, art, theater, writing, public speaking, etc., or in developing creative and imaginative concepts.

4. List your athletic talents such as golf, tennis, bicycling, etc.

5. List your intellectual and analytical talents such as research, long-document writing, speed-reading, problem solving, designing products and systems, etc.

6. List your personality talents while communicating and interacting with people.

7. List your motivational talents in selling, teaching, leadership, and management.

Compare your two sets of lists. Do you find some commonality between items in each list? If so, that is terrific. We work best when we are interested in the work we do and when we find work that is directly tied to our overall mission and purpose in life. If our interests support the work we do and the leisure we enjoy, our chances of success are magnified. Additionally, if our interests are supported by our talents, this is an additional bonus.

When your interests and talents align with your values, your beliefs, and your purpose, and when your mission and goals are congruent with your actions, your life will be in harmony, and you will have achieved praxis. This is when you have a good chance at achieving a dynamic life. Eric Hoffer says, “We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.”

Everything needs to be in alignment. A career that is not congruent with your interests and talents is just a job. To find excitement in your career, it must be passionately driven by your interests and talents. Working at something that you are marginally good at will not get you to where you want to be. You cannot bring the best of your abilities to such a job. Your abilities or educational background might not be well suited to it, but even if it is, not having a passion for your work creates a dissonance in life. What we want to achieve is a harmonious relationship in our interests, abilities, and career, whatever it is. Go with your interests. Go with your passion. Go with what is really exciting to you. Then you will be able to give it your all, and your chances of success will be magnified.

Knowing yourself is key. Being honest about your reality is essential. Connecting your interests and talents with your actions is indispensable to a successful career and important in personal relationships and leisure time activities. Do what you feel deeply about and are most interested in, and don’t sacrifice your interests. They are what you are all about. They are what developed your personality. The more connected your interests and talents are to your professional and personal activities, the more joy and well-being you will bring to your life.

A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.

—Larry Bird

IDENTIFY YOUR VALUES & PRINCIPLES

Economic prosperity may come and go; that’s just how it is. But values are the steady currency that earns us the all-important rewards of self-respect and peace of mind.

—Peter Buffet

What do you stand for? What do you want to contribute to society? How do you want to support the issues that are important to you? How can you create a perfect life—one that is driven by a purpose and meaning? These are the questions we all struggle with as we think about our life and the decisions we make on a daily basis. But how do we find answers to these questions? I spent much of my professional life teaching design students how to strive for excellence in their research and design projects. I have also worked with hundreds of businesses, helping in their marketing efforts. Even after these intense experiences, I still need to ask myself these same questions. We all get caught in the ro...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Appreciation
• Inspirations
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• One Unleash Your Dreams
• Two Unleash Your Fantasies
• Three Unleash Your Feelings
• Four Discover Your Purpose
• Five Understand Your Current Reality
• Six Unleash Your Creative Spirit
• Seven Unleash Your New Vision
• Eight Live Your Vision
• appendix a Life-Planning Summary Worksheet
• appendix b Expanded Self-Discovery Lists
• appendix c Reading List
• Acknowledgments