Somewhere along line, many adults have forgotten how to use their imagination to think and solve problems out of box. Roger von Oech, in his book A Whack on Side of Head, recounts a teacher’s exercise in examining creativity. The teacher drew a dot on chalkboard and asked a class of sophomores to identify it. They responded with obvious: a chalk dot. She noted that day before she had asked a group of kindergartners, and they had come up with numerous examples of what it might be: top of a telephone pole, a squashed bug, an owl’s eye, a cigar butt, a rotten egg, and so on. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood many of us lose ability to be creative and search for more than one right answer.

So how can we as adults regain and maintain our spirit of fun and creativity? Here are a few tips:

Be curious. Practice developing your curiosity by asking questions to get a better understanding, or to see things from a different perspective. Some questions you might ask: 1. What are you taking for granted? 2. What are you assuming is impossible? 3. What if... 4. Why do we...

Look around you'll easily identify people with a sincere self-confidence who impel and influence others with ease. You have witnessed people who were promoted to highly paid position while others with better training, are not.

Upon close study, you will observe that those who advance in life believe strongly in themselves and in their ability to succeed. They radiate pose and assurance and seem to have a constant access for wisdom and expanded vision. Others just naturally follow them, whereas, person who lacks self-confidence, repels others, rather than attracts them.

Self-confidence is faith in one's innate abilities and talents to overcome procrastination, fears, phobias, inhibitions and adversities for taking action. Lacking self-confidence affects every aspect of your life. You may have all skills, training and mental abilities to become successful in your career, but, if you lack self-confidence your life will be like an eight cylinder motor vehicle running on one cylinder – struggling and sputtering to function well in all areas of your life.

Your losing a job, low sales results, having a loved one pass on, filing bankruptcy, having your car repossessed, being passed over for a position, fail an exam, being called fatty, stupid, ugly, and bad news from doctor are just a few causes for programming a lack of self-confidence.

We come into this world with self-confidence. Look at any child's actions and reactions before they become filled with fears, phobias, inhibitions of thoughts and adversities as adults.

Like an athlete who trains to exhaustion, every day, to prepare their bodies for having strong muscles and lungs -- must also discipline their minds for control, concentration and self-confidence. Also, just like elite athletes, in most sports, are equal in skill and physical prowess -- business people mirror each other in skills and talent leaving mental thoughts and feelings as edge factor.

You can develop your edge factor of self-confidence and your ability to succeed through daily activities with "Mental Fitness" (call it mental gymnastics or mental workout to push beyond your own limits).

Being an elite athlete is not much different than being a pro-salesperson, manager, entrepreneur, actor, writer, musician, doctor or any other professional. Each has their own skills, education and physical abilities that are require handling task at hand.

The biggest difference is that elite athlete finds mental training indispensable – and not just for performing on game day but for getting most out of their daily workouts.

Regardless of profession you're in, developing self-confidence can be achieved through a daily routine of "Mental Fitness". A sales person can build up their physical and psychological strength for reaching top of their game with same "Mental Fitness" techniques athletes’ use.