Stretch Your Creative Muscle

October 23, 2015 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By

Creativity is one of those things many people thing they don’t possess. They may have had it as a kid and it was “conformed out of them” in the academia and workplaces unless you chose a creative field. If you ask a room full of children if they can draw, all hands go up. If you ask a room of adults the same question, only a few hands raise. What’s the deal with that? When did we lose it? I think it’s still there, but hasn’t been exercised in a while and has become flabby.

When faced with unique conditions, I would like to think we could get creative and figure out a way just like the astronauts did when they were in trouble, or like Cheryl Strayed in her book Wild about hiking the Pacific Crest trail solo. I can relate to that after spending 30 days in the wilderness on an Outward Bound backpacking experience. Necessity is the not only the mother of invention, but I think the other child is creativity. I try to exercise my creativity daily through art, photographs, cooking, sewing, designing décor, designing training and activities, and problem solving. If I don’t get a chance to exercise my creative muscle, I get antsy and itchy to do something, anything creative.

The following are six conditions which allow creativity — and ultimately, innovation — to flourish.

Solitude. Not withdrawal or being totally alone, but in the sense of spending time apart from the clichés and conventions of society to focus on one’s own thoughts and ideas.

Inactivity. Not loafing or goofing off, but planned inactivity as a break in one’s busy routine. I’ve known people to regularly set aside part of their daily schedule so as not to be interrupted in their thoughts.

Daydreaming. Daydreaming can be focused on out of box thinking and is often connected to inactivity. In daydreams, we make mental excursions into fantasy that breed creative activity. Several organizations have quiet rooms set aside for the purpose of stimulating out-of-box thinking. Reading magazine outside your normal arena to get ideas from other industries is a fascinating way to daydream. I also find watching the house hunter home shows from around the world helps me get ideas.

Gullibility. This is the willingness to suspend one’s personal beliefs and accept what comes from inside without insisting on rationality or logic.

Alertness and discipline. Although these qualities are necessary for productivity in any endeavor, they also have a special meaning in creativity.

Mental replay. Allowing oneself to revisit past creative efforts and resolution of past traumatic conflicts leads to analogies.

While most of the conditions require loosening of control and openness to the inner self, the last and most important quality is the willingness to put whatever you discover into action. What are you going to put into action to exercise your creative muscle?

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Ask Empowering Questions to Excite & Ignite Excellence in You

November 24, 2010 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By

Our brains answer whatever questions we ask. So if you want more empowering answers, ask more empowering questions. If you want dumb answers that will keep you stuck, just keep asking dumb questions such as “Why is this happening to me, again?”

It’s automatic. Our mind starts talking to us and answering questions it reads in book titles, hears on TV commercials or hears in your head. Questions such as “do you have the coolest cell phone”, “are you sick and tired of belly fat”, “is your house under water or are you in debt”. We’re asked disempowering questions all the time and we are answering in a negative way automatically whether we are aware of it or not.  If you want different results and different answers, then turn your questions around to lead you to better results and more creative solutions. Better questions such as “what can I do to be more fit”, “who can I hire/ask/seek advice from to help me be financially solvent or free”, or “how can I creatively re-finance my home or sell it in this market?”

I asked myself the creative house selling question when I had a property for sale in the Phoenix market at the bottom of the real estate bust with my 2 next-door neighbor’s homes for sale and 3 more on my street for sale at the same time. Here’s what my brain came up with after bringing my challenge to my mastermind group and twisting around their ideas: offer an additional $1000 bonus directly to the buyer’s agent and offer a free cruise to Mexico to the buyers and throw in my patio furnishings. Voila – my house sold quickly and the cruise to Mexico only cost me a few hundred dollars, but the perceived value was much higher. Without asking the empower question of how I can creatively and boldly market my house, it would still be sitting there. (On a side note- my realtor didn’t come up with anything out of the usual to get it sold, it was my responsibility to take empowering action.)

So instead of asking “How did I get myself in this mess?”, instead ask yourself “What would (name your hero here) do in this situation?” or “What ways can I move forward from this or learn from this?” or even “Who do I know who could give me advice on winning over this situation?” You may ask yourself “What can I do now, what do I have power over that I can change right now to start moving me forward?” See the differences in the questions and how your answers can either keep you stuck or move you towards better results?

I see so many professionals stuck in their old ways who are blind to the possibilities and it can be as simple as asking themselves the right questions to get the right answers. Be creative in your problem solving. Write it down, brainstorm with friends and let it flow. When times get tough, the tough get creative in their solutions. Do activities to access the right side of your brain, the creative side to help the solutions flow. Try juggling, throwing a Koosh Ball between your left and right side, do the hoola hoop, dance, play in the dog park, draw/paint or do something artistic to access that creative side of your brain. Inspiration can pop up anywhere when you allow the process to happen.

Start asking more empowering questions of yourself and your clients and you will start to see more powerful results coming out of that process.

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