When you think about the legacies Walt Disney left us, do \rtalking mice and a multigizillion dollar company come to \rmind? Actually, those are only the products of his prodigious \rand rich creativity ¡ª dig deeper and you start to realize one \rof the most intriguing heritages Disney left was his \rprocesses.

Disney was a creative and problem-solving genius. He \rknew how to make fantasy come alive in the minds and \rhearts of millions of people around the world. He employed \rseveral techniques to do this, but one of the most \rinteresting is his ability to seamlessly slip into different \rcreative "people" or "roles."

The dreamer, the realist, the critic\rOne of Disney's coworkers once said: "There were actually \rthree different Walts [and] you never knew which one was \rcoming to your meeting." Robert Dilts, a scientist who \rstudied Disney, called the three different Walts "the \rdreamer, the realist and the critic." Each persona had a \rspecific role in the creative process, and only together did it \rbecome "Disney magic."

• Dream a little dream ¡ª The dreamer

  Roger von Oech, creative consultant and author of A Kick in \rthe Seat of the Pants, actually divides the dreamer into two \rdifferent roles. The explorer, where you search for tidbits of \rinformation and interesting facts, and the artist, where you \rrearrange all the different pieces of information to make new \rand interesting patterns.

  Being the dreamer means you let your imagination go wild \r¡ª combine random thoughts in new and unusual ways; ask \rwhat if?; try every possibility then think of a few more. There \rare no stupid ideas at the dreamer stage ¡ª every idea has \rsome possibility, no matter how remote.

• Now for the real world ¡ª The realist

  That idea may sound good on paper, but how do you make \rit come to life? That's what the realist does. The realist, or \rwarrior in von Oech's language, figures out a way to \rimplement the idea ¡ª after all, it doesn't do a lick of good \rlying flat on the paper.

• But is it any good ¡ª The critic

  Okay, you've thought of a new and unusual idea and you've \rfigured out a way to make it work. Now, the question you \rhave to ask yourself is should you? Here's the place where \ryou can finally label all those ideas as being really cool or \rreally stupid. Von Oech also called this persona judge. \rEvaluate the idea, look for drawbacks and benefits and \rcritically weigh the evidence ¡ª only then will you know if it's \rworth pursuing or not.

How can I get all this to work in my life?\rSay you're looking for a new way to market your business, or \ryou're trying to figure out a way to beat the competition, or \ryou need a new sales tactic. Whatever your business \rproblem, you can use these techniques to fire up your \rcreativity.

Bryan W. Mattimore, creative consultant and author of 99% \rInspiration: Tips, Tales and Techniques for Liberating your \rBusiness Creativity (where, incidentally, he goes into much \rmore depth on Disney's creative process), recommends \rsetting up three different rooms ¡ª a dreamer room, a realist \rroom and a critic room. When you want to take on a different \rpersona, you go into a different room.

Don't have three rooms? Why not put three chalk marks on \rthe floor? This exercise, taught to me by Organizational \rConsultant Tracy Puett, has you physically moving to a \rdifferent circle on the floor depending on which role you \rwant to invoke. The physical act of moving helps many \rpeople take on the different persona.

Or, a third possibility invented by creativity expert and author \rDr. Edward DeBono is to use different colored hats. Each \rcolor represents a different persona. When you want to think \rlike that persona, put on a different hat. You can even add \radditional colors for other moods, such as feeling an \remotional point of view, if you want.

But, the real point of creativity is to try to break the mold. \rOnce you're able to step out of habits and old ways of \rthinking, then you re ready to let your creativity soar.

Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and \rCopywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She \roffers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine \rtheir creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting \rprinciples to become more successful at attracting new \rclients, selling products and services and boosting \rbusiness. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com