So I am looking forward to this nice looking tablet! Find out more here.

It is interesting to consider what people will do with easily available video chat when it is NOT possible to hide one’s identity. Well, we are about to find out- http://apps.facebook.com/chatrounds. Read more about it here.

While this is a tremendously useful service in itself there are many other benefits to be gained from running a Listening program. We at¬† Ogilvy run many of the ‘standard’ monitoring programs for brands but we have also been innovating. Sample some of the ‘non monitoring’ Listening Programs’ that we ran recently.

1. For a software company, we went deep inside forums and Linkedin groups to get insights for the brand, category and were able to recommend a custom and potentially more effective social media plan based on the insights.
2. For a beverages company, we were able to track the online buzz and link it with offline activities. We were as a result able to predict what kinds of offline activities were more likely to generate buzz online as well.
3. For an Infant Nutrition company were able to generate insights that were useful to make decisions regarding their manufacturing strategy and location.
4. For a government agency, we were able to understand why a particular career option is not seen as interesting or rewarding enough by youngsters and their parents in Singapore.
5. For a telecom company we were able to resolve customer issues by participating in conversations online.
6. For another government agency we were able to identify individuals who were depressed and needed help.

I could go on, but the point here is that a Listening Program is a wonderful tool that can be used for many and often multiple objectives.

However that does not take away from the awesome success of the first campaign! (Sample this video from the first one that has almost 30 million views)

Too much of a good thing? Take a look anyway…

• The first pipe was called marketing. One one end of marketing was the brand and on the other end was the customer. The pipe itself passed through TV channels, magazines, newspapers and other forms of traditional media. The flow was guided by advertising agencies, digital agencies, direct marketing agencies and research agencies.
• The second pipe was Public Relations. On one end was the corporate communication team and on the other end was the same customer. This pipe passed through journalists and influencers of all kinds. The flow was guided by PR agencies.
• The third pipe was Customer Service. On one end was the customer service team and on the other end was still the same customer. The flow was guided by internal teams and consultants.

These three pipes rarely crossed each others path. As a result, the guides – advertising agencies, PR agencies, digital agencies and customer service teams never spoke with each other.

These pipes are now breaking down and merging into one. This one pipe is called the Social Media pipe. On one end are the customers and on the other end are the marketing teams, PR teams and the customer service teams.

The guides who never used to speak with each other are now fighting over who will have the rights to guide the new fat pipe. On most occasions they have to work with each other.

The merger of these pipes is beginning to have far reaching effects on the structure of marketing, PR and customer service teams and of course on the roles of the guides! The fun has just begun.

In the new world no one need to rely on The Straits Times and on CNN to be able to reach out to the world. They can do it for free with Facebook, Twitter or their blog. Marketers are also realizing that they can connect ( sometimes more effectively and genuinely) in their own words without relying on an army or copywriters and art directors to create the ‘message’.

The implications are that both the media and the communication agencies are more vulnerable and dispensable than they ever were. Will they adapt. Early signs are better for agencies than for the media!

Organizations are setting up ‘social media’ divisions and departments to understand what is happening and hopefully to sell more widgets. Training organizations and schools are launching courses and programs on social media. Advertising, PR and digital agencies are setting up practices, divisions and even companies specializing in providing social media solutions.

All of this is about to stop very soon. Social Media is dead. Social media is/ will become such an integrated part of everything that we do that the concept of treating ‘social media’ as a separate division / department/ company will make no sense.

What we need are better and faster ways of integrating social media into everything that we do rather than packing it off into separate silos.

The very term ‘social’ media makes sense only for those of us who grew up in an era when media was not social. The new generation growing up now has not really experienced media that is not social.

We do not need to create a social media strategy for our company, division, department, restaurant, or dog. All we need are ways to integrate social media into everything that we do.

It is evident that the big growth for Facebook will NOT come from countries that are on this list.

So which are the biggest countries that are missing? Check out the following table of countries with low penetration rates but a high population base.

China is missing because Facebook is banned and Korea and Japan have their own local Facebook equivalents.

The biggest growth for Facebook in the next 2 years may therefore come from India, followed by Brazil and Indonesia!

Good bye message?

Message for Perez!

Message for Huff Post!

The first one!

The complete play list! Enjoy!

“Our records indicate that you are currently the admin of a Facebook Page with a large number of fans, Tickled By Life To ensure a positive user experience, we require admins of large Pages to confirm their affiliation with the brand, business, person, or entity that their Page represents.”

A clean up is obviously a great move as there are a large number of ‘non official’ pages out there claiming to represent brands and companies. I cannot help but wonder if this move along with the recent launch of ‘Community Pages’(which will surely continue to be free)¬† is a precursor to Facebook asking customers to pay up for the privilege of running those pages.

Should Facebook charge page admins? I i think they should. In many cases Facebook pages have become an integral part of the brand’s communication strategy and it is only fair that if the brand is benefiting, it should be ready to pay for the privilege. One could argue that Facebook still makes money off pages because of the advertising opportunity that more pages create (Admins advertise for fans and fans interaction with pages creates for advertising inventory for Facebook)

It is most likely however that Facebook will introduce a new ‘premium’ category of pages and admins of large pages will be able to upgrade.

[fblike layout_style='button_count' show_faces='false' verb='recommend' font='arial' color_scheme='light']

I also gave a talk on the same topic as a part of the NTU – SAS breakfast talk series a few days ago!

Here is a quick update on things that i was involved in till a few days ago.

1. Tickledbylife.com is on hold as of now till my dad figures out a way to run the site and community with minimum involvement from his side!
2. Afterpackup.com is also on hold till Mona is able to squeeze out enough time to run this site and community from her side.
3. theAsianparent.com is being steered by my ex partner.
4. My scheduled open workshops (at NUS, Aventis and others) are obviously not going to happen now. My work at Ogilvy will will involve running workshops for internal teams and clients so hopefully i won’t miss this part of what i was doing!
5. I have had to pull out of my already limited teaching assignments at JCU and others as well.

One day his horse ran away. All his neighbours exclaimed how terrible this was, but the farmer simply said “Maybe.”

A few days later the horse returned and brought two wild horses with it. The neighbors all rejoiced at his good fortune, but the farmer just said “Maybe.”

The next day the farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses. The horse threw him and the son broke his leg. The neighbours all offered their sympathy for his misfortune, but the farmer again said “Maybe.”

The next week conscription officers came to the village to take young men for the army. They rejectedthe farmer’s son because of his broken leg. When the neighbours told him how lucky he was, the farmer replied “Maybe.”

The same incident was being seen in a different light by the same people. The farmer’s friends were reframing the situation.

What seems to be lucky in one context turns out to be unlucky in another context and the other way round.

Here is another example. A college student breaks his leg during summer vacation. He is crestfallen because he can no longer play tennis and football with his family and friends.

A few days later, he realizes that he now has the quiet, alone time to learn how to play the guitar, something he had always wanted to do but had been too busy to attempt.

He discovers he has a great aptitude for music and becomes a decent guitar player by summer’s end. One year later, he changes his major to music. After graduation he embarks on a successful music career.

Years later, his friends recall how unfortunate his leg fracture was that summer, and he says, “Breaking my leg was the best thing that ever happened to me!”

From then on, whenever he is disabled by injury or illness, he recalls the lesson and is far less despondent over his temporary disability than he otherwise would have been, as he takes the opportunity to do something novel.

The same incident was being seen in a different light by the same person. The musician was reframing the situation.

Proactive Reframing as a Creativity Skill

Reframes are a different way of looking at things. Being able to reframe experiences and situations is a very powerful skill which can help to generate ideas from a different perspective.

In the first example given above, the reframe was triggered by an additional bit of information that was introduced in the story.

In the second example, reframing was done without any additional information. It was a case of more or less proactive reframing.

Such proactive reframing can enhance our creativity manifold. Here are some examples of proactive and deliberate reframing.

v During the 1984 campaign, there was considerable concern about Ronald Reagan’s age. Speaking during the

Creativity has long been looked upon as an activity behind the closet. No wonder many myths have developed around the creative process. Not to be left behind, there are many myth busters out there as well!

What myth proponents and myth busters refuse to see is that creativity is a very individual thing. It is not a subject of study amenable to rules and too many do’s and don’ts.

Here are some common myths about creativity along with my comments:

Myth 1: Creativity is inborn and only a chosen few are creative.

While it is true that creativity is inborn, it is not true that only a chosen few are creative. Everyone is born creative. In the process of growing up, educating ourselves and adapting ourselves to our environment, we slowly add blocks to our creativity and forget that we had it in the first place. The difference between a creative person and a person who is not so creative is not in the creativity that they were born with but in the creativity that they have lost.

Myth 2: Creativity can be developed by using certain methods, tools and techniques.

Methods are okay as stepping stones to creativity but eventually they act as mental straitjackets. They hinder creativity for the simple reason that creativity is not a predetermined path. It is about laying out your own path. While methods come from experience, creativity is a foray into the unknown. There can therefore be no formulas or recipes for being creative.

Myth 3: Creative people are weird.

Well, some of them may come across as ones but most are regular people who wear a tie and have bosses to report to. The truth is that everyone is creative in their own way. It may be a hard pill to swallow but even the most stuffy, straight-laced person is as creative as anyone else. It’s just how and how much one uses one’s creativity. So the statement “Creative people are weird” suddenly turns into “All people are weird”. And being a little different never hurt anyone anyway?

PS: Some of the most creative people are the bureaucrats and ministers in Singapore. (You surely need creativity to make rules, not to follow them.) You will agree that they are far from being weird!

Myth 4: Only the creative types have creative ideas.

We all have this mental image of the ‘creative types’ complete with the goatee, piercings and the coffee mug. Well, these ‘creative types’ in most cases are creative and are able to come up with ideas but that does not preclude everyone else from being creative as well. The fact is, almost all of the research in this field shows that anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work. Creativity depends on a number of things: experience, knowledge, technical skills, talent, an ability to think in new ways and the capacity to push through uncreative dry spells. Intrinsic motivation is especially critical.

Myth 5: Creativity is spontaneous.

This is certainly true. We have all experienced that brilliant moment, when seemingly out of nowhere, we get some brilliant idea. It can happen, anytime, anywhere (it usually happens to me when I am shaving). But the opposite is not necessarily untrue. Creativity can be worked upon as well.

Ideas, concepts, images, tunes, and phrases do pop into consciousness for no apparent reason, but scientists have discovered that creativity is mostly conscious, hard work. Mozart’s ‘spontaneous inspirations’ were no accident. Mozart worked incredibly hard and was enormously productive. He came out of an era in which the musician was related to the craftsman. Craftsmen don’t wait for spontaneous inspiration. They get to work.

Myth 6: Creativity only applies to science and the fine arts.

This one I completely disagree with. Creativity can enhance and enrich each and every experience be it work, relationships, investing, sports and even accounting! To be alive is to be creative and to be creative is to be alive.

Myth 7: Pressure situations spark creativity.

To each his own is what I say. High pressure situations work for a lot of people. People come up with wonderful ideas with their backs to the wall. At the same time, relaxed situations and environments also tend to spur ideas in a lot of people. The key is to identify what works best for you.

Myth 8: Competitive situations foster creativity better than cooperative situations.

Reminds me of the capitalism vs. communism debate! Competition causes lots of ideas to be generated and sometimes companies create an environment where the employee with the best idea is rewarded. While this method does work, it works for all the wrong reasons. By keeping ideas to themselves, the employees don’t allow ideas to be refined by anyone else’s input. They just work silently on their own and hoard up ideas for the opportune moment.

Collaboration gives an extra something to even the best ideas. Without it, the idea is limited by just one person’s perspective. It could have been helped along by a couple of more minds.

Myth 9: Creativity is a specialist’s role.

It’s amazing how many people discount ‘professional’ creativity as something reserved for people like designers and writers. Not true! In fact, I’d argue that just about any job can be helped by a healthy dose of creative thinking.

Myth 10: Creative people always have great ideas.

Most creative people only have a few great ideas out of a barrel-full. It’s these few “gems” that make the process worthwhile for the dreamer. They too encounter failure like anyone else. But then failure drives them to try harder the next time.

]]> http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/myths-about-creativity/feed/ 2 http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/16-habits-of-highly-creative-people/ http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/16-habits-of-highly-creative-people/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:04:48 +0000 Shalu Wasu http://tickledbylife.com/site/?p=225

“There is no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” - Lewis Carroll

Many people believe that creativity is inborn and only a chosen few are creative. While it is true that creativity is inborn, it is not true that only a chosen few are creative.

Everyone is born creative. In the process of growing up, educating yourself and adapting yourself to your environment, you slowly add blocks to your creativity and forget that you had it in the first place.

The difference between a creative person and a person who is not so creative is not in the creativity that they were born with but in the creativity that they have lost.

How can you enhance your creative ability? One possible way is to observe the habits of creative people, identify the ones that you feel will work for you and then make a plan to cultivate them.

Here are 16 habits of creative people. If you cultivate some of them, you will feel an increase in your level of creativity. In the process, you will also feel tickled by life!

1. Creative people are full of curiosity.

Creative people are wonderstruck. They are tickled by the newness of every moment. They have lots of questions. They keep asking what, why, when, where and how.

A questioning mind is an open mind. It is not a knowing mind. Only an open mind can be creative. A knowing mind can never be creative.

A questioning stance sensitizes the mind in a very special way and it is able to sense what would have been missed otherwise.

2. Creative people are problem-friendly.

When there is a problem, some people can be seen wringing up their hands. Their first reaction is to look for someone to blame. Being faced with a problem becomes a problem. Such people can be called problem-averse.

Creative people, on the other hand, are problem-friendly. They just roll up their sleeves when faced with a problem. They see problems as opportunities to improve the quality of life. Being faced with a problem is never a problem.

You get dirty and take a bath every day. You get tired and relax every day. Similarly, you have problems that need to be solved every day. Life is a fascinating rhythm of problems and solutions.

To be problem-averse is to be life-averse. To be problem-friendly is to be life-friendly. Problems come into your life to convey some message. If you run away from them, you miss the message.

3. Creative people value their ideas.

Creative people realize the value of an idea. They do not take any chance with something so important. They carry a small notepad to note down ideas whenever they occur.

Many times, just because they have a notepad and are looking for ideas to jot down, they can spot ideas which they would have otherwise missed.

4. Creative people embrace challenges.

Creative people thrive on challenges. They have a gleam in their eyes as soon as they sniff one. Challenges bring the best out of them – reason enough to welcome them.

5. Creative people are full of enthusiasm.

Creative people are enthusiastic about their goals. This enthusiasm works as fuel for their journey, propelling them to their goals.

6. Creative people are persistent.

Creative people know it well that people may initially respond to their new ideas like the immune system responds to a virus. They’ll try to reject the idea in a number of ways.

Creative people are not surprised or frustrated because of this. Nor do they take it personally. They understand it takes time for a new idea to be accepted. In fact, the more creative the idea, the longer it takes for it to be appreciated.

7. Creative people are perennially dissatisfied.

Creative people are acutely aware of their dissatisfactions and unfulfilled desires. However, this awareness does not frustrate them. As a matter of fact, they use this awareness as a stimulus to realize their dreams.

8. Creative people are optimists.

Creative people generally have a deeply held belief that most, if not all, problems can be solved. No challenge is too big to be overcome.

This doesn’t mean they are always happy and never depressed. They do have their bad moments but they don’t generally get stumped by a challenge.

9. Creative people make positive Judgment.

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn. It can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a right man’s brow – a businessman Charles Brower

The ability to hold off on judging or critiquing an idea is important in the process of creativity. Often great ideas start as crazy ones – if critique is applied too early the idea will be killed and never developed into something useful and useable.

This doesn’t mean there is no room for critique or judgment in the creative process but there is a time and place for it and creative people recognize that.

10. Creative people go for the big kill.

Creative people realize that the first idea is just the starting point. It is in the process of fleshing it out that some magical cross-connections happen and the original ‘normal’ idea turns into a killer idea.

11. Creative people are prepared to stick it out.

Creative people who actually see their ideas come to fruition have the ability to stick with their ideas and see them through – even when the going gets tough. This is what sets them apart from others. Stick-ability is the key.

12. Creative people do not fall in love with an idea.

Creative people recognize how dangerous it is to fall in love with an idea. Falling in love with an idea means stopping more ideas from coming to their mind. They love the process of coming up with ideas, not necessarily the idea.

13. Creative people recognize the environment in which they are most creative.

Creative people do most of their thinking in an environment which is most conducive to their creativity. If they are unable to influence their physical environment, they recreate their ‘favourite’ creative environment in their minds.

14. Creative people are good at reframing any situation.

Reframes are a different way of looking at things. Being able to reframe experiences and situations is a very powerful skill.

Reframing allows you to look at a situation from a different angle. It is like another camera angle in a football match. And a different view has the power to change your entire perception of the situation.

Reframing can breathe new life into dead situations. It can motivate demoralized teams. It helps you to spot opportunities that you would have otherwise missed.

15. Creative people are friends with the unexpected.

Creative people have the knack of expecting the unexpected and finding connections between unrelated things. It is this special quality of mind that evokes serendipitous events in their lives.

Having honed the art of making happy discoveries, they are able to evoke serendipity more often than others.

16. Creative people are not afraid of failures.

Creative people realize that the energy that creates great ideas also creates errors. They know that failure is not really the opposite of success.

In fact, both failure and success are on the same side of the spectrum because both are the result of an attempt made. Creative people look at failure as a stopover on way to success, just a step away from it.

]]> http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/16-habits-of-highly-creative-people/feed/ 48 http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/how-to-purposefully-increase-our-natural-creativity/ http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/how-to-purposefully-increase-our-natural-creativity/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:59:40 +0000 Shalu Wasu http://tickledbylife.com/site/?p=357

There are three different kinds of creative responses.

Back-to-the-wall creativity

There are times when you are stuck in a difficult situation. Your back is to the wall. Your survival instinct comes into play very strongly. There is no option but to find your way out.

Suddenly your mind becomes very creative. It is as if you had a huge reserve of creative energy which is now available to you in one powerful burst. You do your best to come out of the predicament you have got into. And you do.

You can call this sort of creativity back-to-the-wall creativity. You are compelled to be creative because your survival is at stake. You find a solution because you can’t afford not to.

Manna-from-heaven creativity

You are driving on a highway. The weather is great. The landscape is beautiful. There is something in the air that connects you to some childhood memory. Soon your mind starts flitting from one memory to another. You feel very good.

Suddenly, something wells up in you and you are struck by a perfect solution to an unresolved issue. Or it can be a blockbuster of an idea capable of changing the course of your life. How it happens is a mystery.

You can call this sort of creativity manna-from-heaven creativity. It happens unexpectedly. It is a godsend. Some connections are made and magically an idea knocks at your door.

Conscious-and-purposeful creativity

You want to design a new product or launch a new service. Or maybe you are just looking for ways to enhance productivity. You consciously look for a creative solution. You collect all the information.

You get other people’s views.

You look at the problem from several angles and examine it clinically. You spend sleepless nights racking your brains. Then after several days of hard work, you hit upon the perfect solution. You are happy that your efforts have borne fruit.

You can call this sort of creativity conscious-and-purposeful creativity. This is the result of effort, hard work and discipline. It is a cool-headed, deliberate attempt to arrive at a creative solution.

It is all well-earned!

All three kinds of creativity have their due place in life. While the third kind is the result of your own sweat, the first two kinds are seemingly dependent on outside circumstances.

Interestingly, when you use the third kind of creativity more often, it sharpens your creative responses and builds some kind of a ‘reserve’ of creativity in you. It has the effect of enhancing your overall creativity including the first and second kinds.

While the third kind of creativity is obviously ‘well-earned’, the first two kinds are no less so because eventually they too are more or less dependent on the ‘reserve’ built by the third kind!

When I heard some for the first time, it was in the context of a training program that I was myself going through. My first reaction was: ‘Wow! That sounds incredible.’ In the enthusiasm of the collective wows that were generated, I accepted the myths as truth.

But I soon realized I was not comfortable believing in them. Intuitively, I knew they could not be true.

Now all these myths seemed to be backed up by solid research though. So I wondered if I was being my usual arrogant self by questioning these supposed universal ‘truths’.

But I started my probe anyway and what I found really warmed my heart! These were myths for sure, very similar to urban legends that get popularized without any sound basis. Read on and join me in smashing them.

You remember 10% of what you read, 20% of what you hear, 30% of what you see and 90% of what you do.

This is a widely repeated statement by trainers all over the world. Maybe you’ve been subjected to this statement at some time as well. I hope you have not made it though! The round figures are easily remembered but completely wrong.

The findings can be traced to one D.G. Treichler, an employee of Mobil Oil Company, who put forth these figures in 1967.

However, the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science has laid claim to the figures, saying they are based on research in the early sixties and bizarrely adding that ‘we no longer have – nor can we find – the original research that supports the numbers’.

Though, there are many arguments against these figures, one that is most obvious is that all the percentages are perfectly round. What research into human behaviour ever resulted in four different round numbers?

In communication, only 7% of the meaning is conveyed through the speaker’s words, 55% through his facial expressions and the rest 38% through tone of voice.

I am sure you have come across this lulu too, especially if you have attended communication or NLP programs. In one sweeping statement, words are reduced to an insignificant role in the great game of communication.

Yet, when we think about this deeply, the fallacies start becoming obvious. Is it really possible that if I get lost in Shanghai and ask a passer-by for directions, I’ll have to work out the correct route mostly from their facial expressions and tone of voice, and not from the words they use?

The findings are attributed to research done by Mehrabian but, in reality, they are just a distorted version of what Mehrabian himself has to say on his website. He expresses the results of his research in the form of an equation:

Total liking = 7% verbal liking + 38% vocal liking + 55% facial liking

He explains that “this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e. like-dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable.”

We use 10% of our brain (or anywhere from 1% to 15% depending upon where you have read it).

This one is so popular, even Albert Einstein is usually roped in as one of the endorsers! The media too has played a role in orchestrating this myth. Many of us therefore look at it as given.

Scientists have tried for years to change this misconception. They have clearly stated that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains. In fact it is very hard to say what using just 10% of your brain means.

It could mean that I could cut 90% of my brain and be just fine or that I just use only one out of every ten nerve cells at any one time. Let’s attack this one with common sense.

First of all, it is obvious that the brain, like all other organs, has been shaped by natural selection. Brain tissue is metabolically expensive both to grow and to run.

It strains credulity to think that evolution would have permitted squandering of resources on a scale necessary to build and maintain such a massively underutilized organ.

Secondly, losing far less than 90 percent of the brain to accident or disease has catastrophic consequences. Various medical tests reveal that there does not seem to be any area of the brain that can be destroyed without leaving the patient with some kind of functional deficit.

Likewise, electrical stimulation of points in the brain during neurosurgery has failed so far to uncover any dormant areas where no percept, emotion or movement is elicited by applying these tiny currents.

Having dug hard and deep, I find no evidence at all to support this myth.

The most powerful lure of the myth is probably the idea that we might develop psychic abilities, or at least gain a leg up on the competition by improving our memory or concentration.

All this is available for the asking, the ads say, if we just tapped into our most incredible of organs, the brain. It is past time to put this myth to rest, although if it has survived at least a century so far, it will surely live on into the new millennium.

The next time you are subjected to this one, just ask the speaker politely “Oh? What part don’t you use?”

Read these interesting articles to find out more about these myths and other myths related to training and learning.

Myths about adult learning

Myths about coaching

We use 10% of our brain

Myths about communication

Myths about NLP training

Myths about train the trainer

1. Get the audience to stop looking at the screen IMMEDIATELY.

There are times when you feel that you are losing the audience Рwhen ironically they are too busy checking out your wonderful slide! You are about to make an important point and you want the audience to focus on what YOU are saying and not look at the slide that you have put up! The solution is simple – press the key ‘B’ for the screen to go black or ‘W’ for the screen to go white. All heads will turn towards you! Hit ‘B’ or ‘W’ again to bring back the slide show.

2. Know how the slides will behave when you are making them!

When I am preparing a presentation, I do like to check how the slide will behave in the slide show mode. The fastest way to check out the slide is to hold down the CTRL key while clicking the slide show view button; this will open a tiny preview window showing that slide in slide show mode.

3. Draw on the screen for a dramatic effect!

Sometimes it can be valuable to be able to draw on the screen during your presentation to illustrate a particular point or item. Press the Ctrl-P key together to display a pen on the screen. Then, using the mouse, draw on the slide as you wish. To erase what you have drawn, press the E key. To hide pen, press the Ctrl-H key combination. This one is my favourite! It is simple, is very effective and it usually leaves the audience dazzled!

4. Insert YouTube Videos in your presentation

Inserting regular videos in presentations is simple, but how about YouTube videos? Using videos at any stage in your presentation can liven things up very quickly! Since YouTube is the biggest repository of videos, once you are able to insert YouTube videos you will never be short of an interesting video for your presentation. Here is how to go about it.

1. Identify the video and the url on YouTube
2. Go to www.mediaconvertor.org and paste the url
3. Follow the simple instructions to download and save the file (download it in the AVI format)
4. That’s it! Now you can insert this video like any other normal video. (Insert ‚Äì> Movie ‚Äì> “Movie from file” to put the YouTube video in the current slide)

5. Oh! But I never received the ppt.

If you are tired of people telling you that they never received the ppt file which you had emailed to them for the third time, probably the size is too high and cannot go through their mail box! If zipping up the file is not helping, try changing the BMP files to JPEGS. Sometimes, as you’re working on a presentation, you’ll notice that the file seems to get bigger for no reason. To get rid of this “bloating”, save the file using “File/Save As” and give the file a new name. ¬†This can reduce the file size up to 50%.

6. Use any symbol you want

Till recently I was not able to insert these and then I came across this simple solution!

• To insert the copyright ¬© symbol, enter (c).
• To insert the Trademark ‚Ñ¢ symbol enter ™.
• To insert the registered ¬Æ symbol enter (r).

You can make your own special symbol shortcuts in Tools > AutoCorrect (copy from character map and paste into replace with…).

7. Leave handouts when you finish but make them special

In ‘Avoiding Death by PowerPoint’ I recommended never distributing handouts before the presentation. In the same article I also pushed for slides with little or no text (only pictures). It may be a great idea though to leave a handout that would reinforce or strengthen your key points. Now, slides with no text are great for presentations but do not make good handouts! I like sending my PowerPoint slides to MS Word and then creating my handouts (if any). Here is how to go about it.

1. Choose Send To from the File menu.

2. Select Microsoft Office Word from the resulting submenu.

3. In the Send To Microsoft Office Word dialog, choose the Outline Only option to send only the content.

4. Click OK.

Once your content is in Word, you can apply formatting and printing options that aren’t available to you in PowerPoint.

If you use PowerPoint 2007, you can use the Publish command to send content to Word. Choose Publish from the Office menu and then choose Create Handouts In Microsoft Office Word.

8. Confused between different versions of the same presentation? Identify differences in a jiffy. (This trick does not work in PowerPoint 2002/XP)

Many times, I end up with multiple versions of the same presentation – modified for different audiences/occasions. So much so that I forget what were the changes made in each of the versions. This is the easy way out.

• Load both presentations into PowerPoint.
• Make sure you’re on normal slide view (edit mode).
• And both presentations are on page one.
• Set the page zoom to “Fit”.
• Here’s the interesting part . . . Hold down the CTRL key.
• Press the “Tab” key.
• Press it repeatedly or even hold it on.
• Any changes between the two presentations will stand out like a sore thumb!
• You can repeat for all slides.

9. A great looking summary or opening slide in no time!

1. Open your presentation in PowerPoint.

2. Click the “View” menu.

3. Select “Slide Sorter”.

4. PowerPoint will then display a miniature view of all your slides in your presentation. You may like to choose a smaller viewing size to display all your slides. This is done by clicking the “edit” menu, select “zoom” or by clicking the “zoom” button Then enter a really small number, like 25.

5. Select every slide that you would like to include in the summary slide:

To select multiple slides, press and hold: – use the “shift” key for PowerPoint 97 – use the “Ctrl” key for PowerPoint 2000 2002 XP while you select the slides you would like to include with the left mouse button

6. When you have selected all the slides. Click the “Summary Slide” button.

7. PowerPoint will then create a summary slide from all the “titles” of the slides you selected. It will be placed in front of the first slide that you selected.

Unfortunately, this feature does not exist in Office 2007. If you use office 2007, you will need to create a summary slide manually.

10. Changed you mind about the case (upper case/ lower case)? Avoid any rework.

I often start by using upper case in my presentations only to change my mind later and switch to lower case. But I no longer need to do any rework! To save rewriting all the text again in the correct case, PowerPoint has a handy function to help you cycle through various case settings of your selected text until your text is as you wish it to be.

To change the case settings of your text:

• Select the text.
• Press Shift+F3
• Continue to press Shift+F3 until the correct case settings appear on your text, for example, ALL CAPS, or ALL LOWER CASE, or grammatically correct text.

11. Oh! As I mentioned on slide 21…(which was 42 slides ago)

While making a presentation there may be occasions when you need to refer to an earlier slide. Usually that means pressing the back key many times till you reach the desired slide. This process is clumsy and not professional and can distract the audience. Here is the solution:

Hit the slide number you want to display and press ‘Enter.’ Note down the current slide number to use when you want to resume the slideshow (good idea to keep a printout of your slideshow for slide numbers).

12. Get rid of the irritating pointer

During a presentation, it is very annoying to have the pointer (the little arrow) come on the screen while you are speaking. It causes movement on the screen and draws the audience attention from the presenter to the screen. The pointer comes on when the mouse is moved during the presentation. To prevent this from happening, after the Slide Show view has started, press the Ctrl-H key combination. This prevents mouse movement from showing the pointer. If you need to bring the pointer on screen after this, press the A key.

13. Presenter view

PowerPoint has a great feature called Presenter View, which allows you the presenter to see a different view of the presentation from your audience. In Presenter View, your monitor shows not only the slides, but also your notes as well as the current elapsed time in the presentation. This makes giving a presentation far easier. To enable Presenter view, go to the Slide Show ribbon and check Use Presenter View. In that same section, you can also change the monitor which the presentation is shown on. (The Use Presenter View checkbox can only be checked if you already have a second monitor connected and enabled)

14. Become a super-presenter with these short cuts!

Some of these may be obvious for many of you but I hope you find something new here! Once you get used to them, these tricks will save you a lot of time.

• Ctrl +A: Select all
• Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V: Cut, Copy and Paste the selected object (respectively). Works even better when you use it together with Alt+Tab.
• Ctrl+Z: Undo.
• Ctrl+B: Make the selected text bold.
• Ctrl+I: Make the selected text Italicized.
• Ctrl +T: PowerPoint will bring up a Font dialog box, where you can easily change your fonts, style, size, color effects, and color.
• Ctrl+H: Go to the next hidden slide
• Shft+F3: Whenever you change your mind about using upper case or lower case, (I do this all the time) use
• Shift+F3 to switch case from UPPER, lower, and Initial Caps.
• Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+End (Function+Home or Function+End in some machines): In Outline view, move to the top and bottom of the presentation, respectively. Within a slide, move to the top or bottom of the placeholder text. In slide show mode, move to first or last slide.
• Ctrl+S: Save a presentation.
• Ctrl+M : Insert a new slide. It is automatically copy the layout of the current slide.
• Ctrl+D: Make a duplicate of the selected slide (or selected object). This command is much faster than a copy and paste.
• F7: Check spelling, prevent embarrassment I love it!
• F5: Run a slide show.
• Page Down: In a slide show, move to the next slide.
• Page Up: In a slide show, move to the previous slide.
• Esc: In a slide show, press Esc to end the slide show.
• F6: Switch to the next pane (clockwise)
• ALT+SHIFT+ ARROW KEYS: Promote a paragraph / bullet point, demote a paragraph / bullet point, move a bullet point up or down.
• F4 or CTRL+Y: Repeat your last action
• CTRL+BACKSPACE : Delete a word
• CTRL+K: Insert a hyperlink
• Ctrl+Shift+>: Increase font size
• Ctrl+Shift+<: Decrease font size
• Ctrl+Spacebar: Remove formatting from selected text

I hope you could find something useful from my bag of PowerPoint tricks. Do let me know your favourite PowerPoint trick in the comments below.

This is perhaps the biggest difference between real life and school. But by the time we finish school we are so conditioned that we are unable to bridge the gap. We unconsciously try and avoid situations which could result in failure. We therefore live our life like the straight line stock!!

Failure and creativity

Fear of failure hampers creativity. It’s not unusual for an individual to present a new idea, see it fail, then never again try something new. Fear of adverse criticism narrows creative potential.

On the other hand, a truly creative person thoroughly examines the failure to identify what went wrong and why. He turns failure into a learning experience.

Every bit of solid theory and evidence demonstrates that it is impossible to generate a few good ideas without also generating a lot of bad ideas.

The greatest failure of all, of course, is not to attempt a new idea.

Failure is not the opposite of success

Are success and failure opposites of each other? The answer is NO. The energy that creates great ideas also creates errors. Not achieving success is usually termed as failure. And ‘failure’ is so looked down upon that we sometimes avoid taking a shot at success. We forget that success and failure are actually neighbours or pals and success may only be an inch away from failure! Looking at failure as an antithesis of success is to lose our creative powers. In any case, if we are successful every time, it means our goal is not big enough!

If you aren’t allowed to fail, then you won‚Äôt risk anything. Then every idea has to be a “safe” idea, and you are no longer creating. You are simply doing it the way it has always been done.

A useful phrase to keep in mind is ‘THERE IS NO FAILURE, ONLY FEEDBACK’. This is a great thought that works especially well when we are trying out new things and thinking of new solutions.

We need not fear failure but we should try and learn how to fail intelligently!! When we try and not succeed, it is a good failure. The only ‘bad failure’ is not trying and not learning from mistakes.

1.    Do not work with your mail box open.

Do NOT leave your mail box open when you are working. You will end up checking every new mail that arrives and deal with it immediately. Give more respect to your work. Do not let emails disturb you and break your flow unless your work IS checking mail. I am NEVER able to stick to my schedule if I work with my mail box open. Also, if you are working on something important and an important mail pops in, not only does it take away focus and attention but is also a waste of time because you are anyway going to respond to it later after you have finished the task on hand. Just knowing that an important mail has come in does not help at all!

2.    Using MS Outlook (not outlook express) to manage all your email accounts – company, yahoo, gmail, ymail, etc.

There are huge benefits of doing this. Doing this alone saves me 15-20 minutes every day.

• You do not need to login again and again into separate accounts to check mail.
• When you are sending mail, Outlook allows you to choose the email ID you want to send from.
• All your mails are in one Outlook account. Therefore if you need to take a back up or transfer account to another PC, it can be done in one shot rather than taking multiple backups.

3.    Use rules to manage incoming emails.

For example my mails coming in from different sources – key customers, partners, Linkedin, Facebook, Mybloglog, Yahoo groups, etc., all get deposited into different folders that I have designated for the same. Makes it easier to respond to and find old emails.

4.    Check mail at predetermined times.

Bunch up checking of mail at predetermined times. I try to limit this to twice a day and I do not stretch beyond thrice. I usually do this at my ‘low productivity time’ – usually afternoon or late at night, thereby using up more productive time for better things.

5.    Check mail ONLY when you have time to respond.

The worst situation is having an email pop in that requires a response which may require some time to think. In this situation I simply used to add the mail to the to-reply list and get back to whatever I was doing. This is such a waste of time. Now I only check mails, when I am prepared to respond to them at the same time – however, difficult/inconvenient/time consuming it may be.

6.    Bunch up low priority email.

Examples of low priority mail are – messages from Facebook, Linkedin, Yahoo groups, newsletter, forwards etc. I let these mails bunch up automatically in pre-designated folders and deal with them even less often – once a day and sometimes once a week.

7.    Using Auto Response

Most of us attach undue importance to being able to respond quickly to emails. Thus, we are constantly struggling with eating food with one hand while replying on our Blackberry with the other. If we are travelling or otherwise unable to access mail for more than 24 hours, simply use an auto response with a number where you can be contacted in case of an emergency.  Separate auto responses can be configured for different people as well and that makes this feature even more effective.

8.    Do a regular clean up of the folders.

Doing a regular clean up (I do it roughly once a month) has 1 minor and 1 major benefit.
• I delete all unwanted mail and keep things light (minor benefit).
• I am able to get ideas about
o What leads to go after.
o Which friends have I not been in touch with.
o Which customers am I neglecting.

9.    Scan through junk folder before emptying.

Sometimes useful and legitimate emails land up in the junk box. Through experience I have realized that the best way to deal with this is to do a regular scan through the junk folder before emptying it. I have found some gems in there.

10.    If you HAVE to, mark it unread.

If there is an email that you are simply unable to respond to and you need to respond to it later, mark it unread so that it does not get missed out.

11.    Write mails now and auto send them later!

Outlook also offers a feature to write a mail and send it at a pre-determined time and date. I find this very useful in certain business situations, not to mention sending happy birthday mails. The mail stays in the Outbox till the magic hour arrives.

–

Shalu Wasu is a creativity consultant and trainer based in Singapore apart from being guest faculty at select institutes. To attend his one-day open programme on creativity on 15th January, 2009 at NUS, Singapore, please visit www.lifeahoy.sg or contact shalu@lifeahoy.sg.

When still a baby, the elephant is tethered by a very thick rope to a stake firmly hammered into the ground.

The elephant tries several times to get free, but it lacks the strength to do so. After some time, the animal gives up trying, believing that it cannot be free.

At this point, the trainer changes the thick rope to a thin one but the elephant makes no attempt to run away. Even when the elephant reaches adulthood, it continues to be tethered by a thin rope, reconciled to its captivity.

As you grow up and gain experience, you absorb assumptions which then drive your life and limit your choices. They are similar to the elephant’s thin rope tied to a post. You can break away from them with a simple tug if you want to but you don’t.

As you acquire more and more experience, your repertoire of blind assumptions grows too, correspondingly limiting your choices. Your experience becomes a hindrance in your being creative.

Here is a list of 15 elephant tethers that possibly hold you back from being creative. Look at them and do identify the ones that apply to you. Are you willing to do something about them and break free?

Tether 1. What will people think?

Your selfconsciousness is one big hurdle in your being creative. You don’t even try to do so many things in life because you are afraid of making a fool of yourself. You waste a lot of your energy in protecting yourself and presenting a ‘good’ image.

You had no such inhibitions as a child and therefore you were naturally creative. It is perhaps the fear of the unknown and what might happen that makes you selfconscious. It holds you back and hinders your creativity.

When you walk into something in spite of the fear, it simply vanishes because by then the unknown turns into the known. The trick is not to think in terms of conquering fear but being with it.

When you let go of your selfconsciousness, you turn more creative.

Tether 2. But I’ve never had any great ideas!

Most people don’t have enough opportunities to bring out their creativity. So their creative abilities remain untapped. It seems to make no difference because not being creative is not too inconvenient.

Being creative is actually a search for a better way and in today’s world most solutions come ready-made. Most of the things that you do have been researched and the ‘best’ ways to do them have been arrived at.

Most people follow the standard ‘best’ ways without questioning Рhow to clean teeth, how to reach office, etc. They do a great number of tasks automatically.

Trying a ‘different way’ may in fact be inconvenient in most situations Рdriving speed, the route to office, how to tie your shoe knots, standing in the queues, etc.

Most of these automatic ways are perhaps good. By sticking with them, you are able to accomplish many tasks without thinking. They save time but you end up with the habit of not thinking afresh.

Over time, you develop attitudes and assumptions which prevent you from thinking creatively, locking you into the existing ways of thinking and doing things. You become a prisoner of familiarity. You never have great ideas.

As a result, even when the need arises for you to think differently and generate new ideas, you are unable to do so.

Tether 3. What is the right answer?

One of the worst aspects of formal education is the focus on the correct answer to a question or problem. When somebody asks a question, you generally give an acceptable answer instead of an original one fearing it might be wrong.

While this approach helps you to function smoothly in society, it hurts creative thinking. Real-life issues are ambiguous. There is no one single answer to any problem. There can be several answers if only you think about them. They may all be contradictory and yet correct.

Tether 4. I don’t want to fail.

The fear of failure is something that you learn in school…and it never just goes away. All through school, you perhaps take hundreds of tests, exams, assignments, etc. You are in one big trouble if you fail even once. You are scared of failure.

By the time you finish school, the fear of failure has seeped into your system and you avoid situations which could result in failure. You are extra-careful about whatever you take up. You play safe.

The fear of failure does not let you try new things, crippling your creativity.

Tether 5. That’s not my area.

Creativity requires finding connections between unrelated things. The diversity of your interests and experiences enhances your ability to find connections.

When you explore completely unrelated areas, you are pleasantly surprised by the interrelatedness of almost everything. You start seeing new possibilities when you discover new connections.

In an era of hyper-specialization, the scope of work is getting narrower and narrower. Loss of creativity is the immediate casualty.

When you just stick to your area, you hinder your creativity.

Tether 6. I don’t like uncertainty.

If you are not confused, you are not thinking clearly – Tom Peters

When people are confused, they feel compelled to resolve the situation quickly, making it systematic and orderly again. They are likely to miss the key issues in their haste to do so.

There is something in the culture or perhaps in the education system, which makes people want to be ‘knowers’ rather than ‘find-outers’.

This attachment to ‘knowing’ makes you feel jittery and inept when you ‘don’t know’. This tendency is so engrained that even small kids begin to lose their curiosity in order to become ‘knowers’.

However, when it comes to creative thinking, not knowing is a good thing and ambiguity is a great thing. Certainty is the enemy of creativity.

If you are certain about something, you don’t have much leeway to generate new ideas to solve problems.

Tether 7. That’s the way it is done!

The need for standard ways of doing things is perfectly legitimate. But then it gives rise to an ever increasing number of rules that govern people’s lives.

While some of the rules are legitimate, some are totally unfounded. They are not very different from the thin rope that tethers the elephant.

Tether 8. Everyone says so.

When all think alike, then no one is thinking. — Walter Lippman

The desire to belong is a powerful one and at times it leads to ‘groupthink’. This herd approach is probably a relic from the cave age. It is important to have a mind of your own in order to be creative.

Tether 9. How can a boss lose face ever?

Bosses are generally hung up on being always right. It is unimaginable for them to be proved wrong. They just can’t afford to lose face. Such over-protection of their ego hinders their creativity.

Employees almost always tend to go along with bosses. While harmless minor disagreements are okay, they are careful not to have a difference of opinion when it comes to larger issues.

No boss can be creative if he is surrounded by people who can’t dare to contradict him. He will be provoked into thinking creatively only when his views are challenged by someone.

Tether 10. My work is so boring.

One of the perils of over specialization is repetitive and uninteresting work. It makes you resentful, robbing you of your creative urges.

Tether 11. Smart people respond quickly.

When quick response is valued, you avoid deep thinking missing out on the finer points of an issue. You start giving out readymade answers. In trying to be smart, you sacrifice creative possibilities.

Tether 12. I feel safe when I am like everyone else.

People start off as unique beings. They are very different from each other as children and young adults with their very own likes and dislikes.

Yet, as if by magic, they get into a common mould after they reach their thirties. Their likes, dislikes, wants, needs and goals somehow begin to converge. They seem to become more and more like one another.

As a result, their creative abilities suffer.

Tether 13. I have strong views and firm opinions.

There are people who pride themselves for having firm stands and being inflexible. They have strong views and unshakable opinions. They are too judgmental.

Being judgmental means blocking or ignoring other points of views. It means reducing your options and leaving your mind with much less to work with. It is then reflected in your ability to generate ideas and solutions.

When you are nonjudgmental, you have an open mind. You have more choices. Being nonjudgmental reduces the surface functioning of your mind, stimulating its deeper functioning.

Then you allow your unconscious mind to throw up more ideas into your conscious mind. You are more creative.

Tether 14. Why keep thinking unnecessarily when I have found the answer?

Such is the hurry to find a solution that people are satisfied with the first one that comes to their mind. They stop thinking further.

However, if you don’t share your ‘first’ idea and keep thinking more and more, the subsequent ones are sure to be better.

The more you think, the more the chances to find better solutions. You never know when you will hit the jackpot.

Tether 15. Self-fulfilling prophecy

Two similarly qualified groups of engineers in a company were exhibiting different levels of creativity.

The two groups were alike in all respects. In the research subsequently conducted by the company, there was only one finding.

The difference between the two groups was that engineers on one group believed that ‘I am creative’ and engineers from the other group believed otherwise.

You’ve probably heard this left/right brain dichotomy before. It goes something like this: the left hemisphere of the brain is logical, deductive, mathematical, etc., while the right hemisphere is artistic, visual and imaginative.

The idea stems at least partly from the classic studies of split brain patients performed by Sperry and Gazzaniga in the 1960s. At an intuitive level, I do not agree with this, so I decided to do some research and this is what I found.

There are some functional asymmetries in the brain, and it is true that certain regions of both hemispheres are specialized for particular functions. Speech illustrates this, but also shows that nothing is ever so simple when it comes to the brain.

In most right-handed people, speech is processed in both hemispheres, but predominantly in the left. In some left-handers, speech is processed either predominantly in the right hemisphere or on both sides.

All complex behaviours and cognitive functions require the integrated actions of multiple brain regions in both hemispheres of the brain.

All types of information are probably processed in both the left and right hemispheres, perhaps in different ways, so that the processing carried out on one side of the brain complements, rather than substitutes, that being carried out on the other.

Every mental faculty seems to be shared across the brain, with complementary contributions. It is the combination, not separation, that matters. The mutually exclusive model has all but disappeared from the literature.

People can no longer be characterised or caricatured as right and left brainers. This is now seen as a primitive form of simplistic labelling or phrenology.

It seems like a situation where some results from a study a few decades ago have been extrapolated, distorted and stretched to build this story.

So the notion that someone is “left-brained” or “right-brained” is absolute nonsense. It is like arguing that my left eye is better for movies and the right one is better for reading the newspaper!

Overall, I can’t care less about this whole thing. What matters to me, is not which part of my brain my creativity resides in, but the fact that it does and what I can do to nurture and enhance it.

Shalu is a Singapore based creativity consultant and trainer. His next creativity workshop – ‘Success though creativity and innovation’ is on the 30^th and 31^st October at NUS Extension. To find out more, click here.

]]> http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/right-brain-left-brain/feed/ 2 http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/49-weeks-to-nirvana/ http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/49-weeks-to-nirvana/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:35:53 +0000 Shalu Wasu http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/?p=3327 I have decided to incorporate a new habit/attitude every week for the next 49 weeks. Every week, I will try to add on/inculcate a new habit or attitude. All these 49 may not be for you. Do pick up the ones that resonate with you and add some of your own too!

I will of course keep updating my progress. So can you.

1. Exercise

Everyone knows regular exercise can do wonders for your body and mind! Start small, keep it simple and keep going!

2. Learn to reframe any situation

A reframe is a different way of looking at things. Being able to reframe experiences and situations is a very powerful skill which can help to generate ideas from a different perspective. Read this article – Reframing a situation for creative ideas.

3. Figure out what time to get up

People fret so much about what is the best time to get up in the morning. Getting up early seems to work for a lot of people, but it is not for everyone. The only way to find out the hours when you are most productive is to experiment. So try getting up early for a few days and try moving to a different pattern every few days. Stick to the one that feels most natural and productive. For me, getting up early has never worked, so I work late and get up late.

4. Remove blame from your relationships

Stopping the blame game will remove negative energy and pay rich dividends. Check out these articles – On living life and building relationships without blame, Mars and Venus as each other’s teachers.

5. Patience is bliss

I admire people who do not lose their patience. I am what a lot of people would call a very patient guy, but I see a lot of benefits in developing this habit even more. The good thing is that patience is a skill that can be cultivated. “It’s in my genes” is not a good excuse.

6. Empathize

There is a very old American Indian saying that we should not judge a man till we have walked for a mile in his shoes.

When we look at any situation from our point of view, we are looking for options, ideas and solutions from one point of view. However if we try and look at any situation from another person’s point of view, the options, solutions and ideas that we will get will change and most of the time for the better! If we can make it a habit to look at each situation from multiple points of view, the options, ideas and solutions available to us will also multiply. This is particularly so in situations related to personal relationships. When we have a sense of empathy, there are greater chances that our solutions will be WIN-WIN rather than WIN-LOSE.

7. Passion rocks

Everything seems to fall in place if YOU have figured out what drives you. If you have lost your passion (or never had any) for your work or relationships, figure out a way to get it back. (Changing jobs is 112 times easier than doing the same to your relationships though!) Check out this article – Passion is your real wealth!

8. Eat healthy

Again, a no brainer but so important. Your body (including your brain) is made up of the food you eat. What do you want it to be made up of?

9. Cut down one recurring task every week

It could be putting your bills on auto pilot, some money automatically getting deposited into your savings account, creating rules for your email to get deposited into different folders, electronic payments instead of depositing cheques, delegating responsibility and authority, or outsourcing.

10. Make friends with failure

Failure has such negative connotations, and yet failure is what brings us closer to success every time. Many times failure is essential for us to move on to the next level. Find more in this article – I love to fail.

11. Get comfortable with ambiguous situations

Generally we are uncomfortable with uncertainty. When we are in this state, we feel irritable. We try and resolve the uncertainty in order to be comfortable again quickly. We feel compelled to appear more certain, confident and decisive than we really are at that time. So we would rather leap to a conclusion and then focus our energies in defending it. This, most of the time is the sub optimal solution.

12. Be curious

A curious mind enables you to see what most people generally miss. By keeping your curiosity and a sense of wonder alive, you spur your mind to create new channels of thought. You find new connections and become more creative. Check out this article – Is curiosity a cousin of creativity?

13. Live with a purpose

Have a ‘big goal’ in life. Life without a big goal is dull, meaningless and boring. After you have determined your ‘big goal’, make sure that every day takes you closer to the big goal.

14. Have fun on the way

It is important to work towards big goals and even more important to have fun on the way. The goals are a means to have fun on the way!

15. Have a soulmate

To live is to relate. When you have a relationship of deep affinity, empathy and mutual trust with someone, you have a sense of completion and life suddenly starts feeling rich and bright.

16. Take on debt

Yes, you read that right! Very few people have grown very rich without leveraging. So, be cautious but take on healthy debt. Just make sure your returns are more than the cost of money though!

17. Enjoy the simple pleasures

The simple pleasures are more satisfying, longer lasting and often free! So try sleeping in late, lie down in the grass, stomp in a puddle, call in sick and go for a movie, help someone anonymously. A good idea is to make a list of 25 of these and make sure you do tick off a few every day!

18. Learn to say No

Being able to say NO is perhaps the most useful productivity tool out there. Check out this article for more on this subject – Say NO and feel great!

19. Peace-of-mind fund

Again, something basic but very useful if you have not already worked on it. Having an emergency cash fund that will last you 6 months will give you an extra punch in your next discussion with your boss!

20. Cut down on the news

Watching or reading most news is useless and depressing. A lot of it is an attempt to influence your mind anyway. Give yourself a break. Stop watching or reading news. If something is worth knowing, you will get to know!

21. Create family time

Just do it. You know in your guts that it is the most important thing. Go with your gut feel. Do not allow your conscious mind to win on this one.

22. Be yourself

Don’t waste your energy in wearing masks. Paradoxically, no transformation is possible without self-acceptance.

23. Learn to lose!

Losing an argument (and not feeling bad) is absolutely wonderful for relationships. You’ve got to try it and see for yourself. But remember, the key is losing an argument and not carrying any negative feelings forward.

24. Get out

A lot of us have forgotten the great outdoors! When we are not in our cubicle, we are probably watching TV or surfing the net. The same is true for kids. Spending time in a park or near a lake is therapeutic!

25. Delegate

It’s better for both of you! Find out more here – Dare to delegate.

26. Boost your self-worth

You are what you think. Stop comparing. You are one in six billion with unique strengths. Take some time to appreciate yourself for all your wonderful qualities. It may be worth it to check out what qualities all your friends see in you! Also, keep it in mind that you are never too small to make an impact!

27. Do not fear rejection

The fear of rejection is worse than the rejection itself! Check out Dealing with rejection in your job, you are approved! Certified, signed and stamped by YOU! and Fear of rejection

28. Use email efficiently

It is not uncommon to save many hours a week by being more efficient with your emails. Check out - I save 1 hour every day by using simple email tricks!

29. Hang around young people once in a while

Apart from making you feel energetic, this will trigger off a lot of ideas and probably open up your mind to what is the next big thing.

30. Learn how to present better

Presentation skills are very important. The good thing is that most of us have lousy presentation skills and so it is easy to stand out! Take a look at my first attempts at standing out – Avoiding death by Power Point.

31. If you smoke, quit!

I do not need to read any more. Read this if you are not convinced. – Kick the butt. Get a Life!

32. Brand yourself

In the world that we live in, it is important to treat yourself as a brand. Read this article – Success through Personal Branding!

33. Learn mind mapping

Mind maps are helpful in generating tons of ideas quickly. Read – My journey with Mind Maps.

34. Be more creative

“The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” – George Lois.

Creativity can solve almost any problem. Read these popular articles. Why be creative?, 16 habits of highly creative people and 15 elephant tethers that stop you from being creative!

35. Be good at saying sorry

When you say sorry something magical happens and the world conspires to make you win! Look people in the eye when you say sorry.

36. Be fantastic at saying thank you

Repeat.

37. Keep learning something

Never stop challenging yourself. You could learn a new language, build a website, start a blog, or write a book.

38. Imagine

Some people call it day dreaming! It just works wonders as relaxant and of course it helps in boosting your creativity. Imagination is visualizing something that is not there. It is seeing something with your mind’s eye. It is the bridge between ‘what is’ and ‘what can be’! Check out – Is imagination another cousin of creativity?

39. Stay Positive in negative situations

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

40. Be aware that you are procrastinating

Procrastination itself may not be bad. It may simply be your mind telling you to go slow or maybe your subconscious mind does not agree with a rational decision that the conscious mind has made. Just be aware so that it may not become a bad habit. This might help – Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

41. Review your day

A very useful habit that helps to keep the focus and helps to plan the next day. Just 2 minutes before going off to sleep may be enough.

42. Do not bust other people’s ideas

Even the ability to come up with ideas of your own does not give you the right to bust other people’s ideas. Read this useful article. – Idea Busters at the work place!

43. Keeping in touch with old friends

This is something that I am very bad at. My plan is to make one phone call to a forgotten friend every week.

44. Don’t keep doing ‘something’

Being busy sometimes becomes a habit. We feel uncomfortable when we are doing ‘nothing’. Don’t let that happen to you. It is simply wonderful not to be doing anything (sometimes!).

45. Smile

Something so basic and yet so powerful!

46. Assume the other person genuinely likes you

You will be surprised at the remarkable change in your relationship.

47. Break your regular patterns

Don’t let your brain get too comfortable! Shake it up every now and then. Take a different route home, cook something no one has ever cooked before, go for a movie during lunch time.

48. Get to the root

Every problem usually has 2 solutions. A temporary fix and a permanent solution. A permanent solution may require more time and effort initially but it is in almost all situations, the better choice.

49. Learn to unlearn

Sometimes it seems that the whole world is trying to teach us something. It is overwhelming and can get you into a rut. It is important to do a regular clean up exercise. Check this out – The power of unlearning

See you in Shangri La!

This is a monster article. I could have split this into 9 different posts but I feel having all these techniques together in one place is much more helpful.  Some general guidelines before we begin:

• Mix and match creativity methods and tools.
• Share these tools with your colleagues and friends.
• Have a favourite method. Once you have a favourite method that you use more often, you will gain mastery over it and the process of generating ideas will become more effective and efficient.
• Keep changing your favourite method! This is useful because once you gain mastery over more methods you will be able to mix and match creativity methods with ease, boosting your productivity to a higher level.
• Never evaluate ideas at the generation stage.

Let’s get started now!

(1) Brainstorming – perhaps the most popular idea generation technique

Brainstorming is the classic creativity technique used for generating a lot of ideas. There is no better way to learn or to get better at this technique than to actually practice it. Brainstorming works well in a team as well as individually.

Brainstorming is a lateral thinking process. It asks that people come up with ideas and thoughts that seem at first to be a bit shocking or crazy. You can then change and improve them into ideas that are useful, and often stunningly original.

Guidelines for brainstorming

1. No criticisms or judgments or reactions to be made while ideas are being generated.
2. All ideas must be welcome. No matter how silly or farout they seem.
3. Absolutely no discussion should take place during the brainstorming activity. Talking about the ideas will take place after brainstorming is complete.
4. Use others’ ideas as stepping stones to think of a better idea.
5. If you are doing brainstorming in a group write all ideas on a flipchart or board so the whole group can easily see them.
6. The last step is to evaluate the ideas against some criteria.

Variations in brainstorming

Use the random word association method(coming up later) to spice up your brainstorming!

The final stretch! When your feel that you “can’t think of any more ideas” then give yourself a few more minutes as the best ideas sometimes come towards the end of long drawn out thought processes.

Brainstorming can even be done in groups or individually. In fact, when done individually, brainstorming may even produce a wider range of ideas than group brainstorming as individuals are free to explore ideas in their own time without any fear of criticism. On the other hand, groups are usually able to develop the ideas more effectively due to the wider range of diversity.

If the brainstormers have difficulty in coming up with solutions, we can reframe the problem.

(2) Brainwriting

Brainwriting works very well in a group situation, especially when all group members are aware of the situation. There are many variations of brainstorming, but the general process is that ideas are first recorded by the individual who thought of them. They are then passed on to the next person who uses them as a trigger for their own ideas. It continues like this till everyone has had a chance to contribute ideas on every sheet.

Brainwriting 6-3-5

The name brainwriting 6-3-5 comes from the process of having 6 people write 3 ideas in 5 minutes. Each person has a blank 6-3-5 worksheet like this:

Steps

1. Write the problem statement at the top of their worksheet (everyone needs to do this) word for word from an agreed problem definition.
2. Write 3 ideas on the top row of the worksheet in 5 minutes in a complete and concise sentence.
3. At the end of 5 minutes or when everyone has finished writing, pass the worksheet to the person on your right. You then add three more ideas. The process continues until the worksheet is completed.
4. There will now be a total of 108 ideas on the 6 worksheets! WOW!!

(3) Leonardo da Vinci’s Idea Box

This one is my favourite. This technique was developed by Leonardo da Vinci. He is considered by many to be the most creative man who ever lived! This method is particularly applicable when we are trying to come up with options for a new product or service.  Below is a hypothetical example of a box similar to one that da Vinci might have constructed while trying to come up with different kinds of faces that he could draw.

While the number of items in each category is relatively small, there are literally thousands of possible combinations of the listed features. The circled features indicate only one out of thousands of different groupings of features that could be used. By using this technique we can literally come up with hundreds of possible combinations of attributes very quickly and surely we will find one that we like.

Try it out with an example about choosing the positioning for a new restaurant.

(4) Switching

This creativity method is particularly useful in relationships. The objective is to understand the other person better to be able to adapt our communication and enjoy a better relationship. For good results, take upwards of 15 minutes for this exercise.

1. You are A.
2. Identify a person who you want to improve your relationship with.
3. Gather all the information that you know about this person in your mind.
4. Recollect all your past experiences with this person in your mind.
5. Now, close your eyes and try to BE that person. Assume that you are him/her with all the history, baggage, relationships, education, experience, desire, motivation, beliefs etc. Don’t just pretend, become this person. You are now, this person X.
6. Now, imagine that the original you is interacting with you (person X). What did you (person X) understand from this conversation?
7. What does person X think about A? What does he/she like and dislike about A?
8. If person X was to give advice to A about improving their relationships, what would it be?
9. Now, come back to being person A. Did you like and appreciate the advice? What will you do about it?

(5) The Reversal Method

The reversal method for examining a problem or generating new ideas takes a situation as it is and reverses it! (turns it around, inside out, backwards, or upside down)

A given situation can be “reversed” in several ways; there is no one standard way. For example, the situation “a teacher instructing students” could be reversed as:

• Students instructing the teacher.
• The teacher uninstructing students.
• Students instructing themselves.
• Students instructing each other.
• Teacher instructing himself.
• Students uninstructing (correcting?) the teacher.

Example: A motorist came up behind a flock of sheep in the middle of the road and told the shepherd to move the sheep to the side so that he could drive through. The shepherd knew that on such a narrow roadside, he could not easily keep all his sheep off the road at once. Reversal: Instead of ‘driving around the sheep’, ‘drive the sheep around the car’! Have the car stop and drive the sheep around and in back of it.

Sometimes it’s easier to think negatively first and then reverse the negatives.

(6) Provocation

Provocation is an important lateral thinking technique. It works by moving your thinking out of the established patterns that you use to solve problems. As explained earlier, we think by recognizing patterns and reacting to them. These reactions come from our past experiences and logical extensions to those experiences. Often we do not think outside these patterns. While we may know the answer as part of a different type of problem, the structure of our brains makes it difficult for us to link this in. Provocation, originally developed by Edward de Bono, is one of the tools we use to make links between these patterns.

We begin by making deliberately stupid statements (provocations), in which something we take for granted about the situation is not true. Statements need to be stupid to shock our minds out of existing ways of thinking. Once we have made a provocative statement, we then suspend judgment and use that statement to generate ideas. Provocations give us original starting points for creative thinking.

As an example, we could make a statement that houses should not have roofs. Normally this would not be a good idea! However this leads one to think of houses with opening roofs, or houses with glass roofs. These would allow you to lie in bed and look up at the stars.

Once we have made the provocation, we can use it in a number of different ways, by examining:

• The consequences of the statement.
• What the benefits would be.
• What special circumstances would make it a sensible solution.
• The principles needed to support it and make it work.
• How it would work moment-to-moment.
• What would happen if a sequence of events was changed.

Example: The owner of a video-hire shop is looking at new ideas for business to compete with the internet. She starts with the provocation ‘Customers should not pay to borrow videos’.

She then examines the provocation.

Consequences: The shop would get no rental revenue and therefore would need alternative sources of cash. It would be cheaper to borrow the video from the shop than to download the film or order it from a catalogue.

Benefits: Many more people would come to borrow videos. More people would pass through the shop. The shop would spoil the market for other video shops in the area.

Circumstances: The shop would need other revenue. Perhaps the owner could sell advertising in the shop, or sell popcorn, sweets, bottles of wine or pizzas to people borrowing films. This would make her shop a one-stop ‘night at home’ shop. Perhaps it would only lend videos to people who had absorbed a 30-second commercial or completed a market research questionnaire.

After using the provocation, the owner of the video shop decides to run an experiment for several months. She will allow customers to borrow the top ten videos free (but naturally will fine them for late returns). She puts the videos at the back of the shop. In front of them she places displays of bottles of wine, soft drinks, popcorn and sweets so that customers have to walk past them to get to the videos. Next to the film return counter she sells merchandise from the top ten films being hired.

If the approach is a success she will open a pizza stand inside the shop.

(7) Using Random Words

Random words is an idea creating technique in which we bring in an unrelated idea into the problem and forcing connections or similarities between the two.

Example: Get a friend who is behind in his payments to the store to catch up and pay regularly.

Random word: Potato

Ideas: Feed him, peel him, slice him up–divide his payments into smaller pieces, as in every week, and send in the monthly payment made up from that. Fry him when he doesn’t pay, plant him in the ground. Salt him–give him some “flavorful” incentive to pay, as in some gift or verbal reward. Baked potato, butter and sour cream. Potato-eyes growth–convince him his credit rating will grow and be valuable to him if he pays regularly.

Choose one of the following items and use its assigned random word to stimulate ideas for improving the item.

1. Improve an automatic dishwasher using the trigger concept of stone.
2. Improve a toy store using the trigger concept of hair.
3. Improve a library using the trigger concept of candy.

(8) The ‘what if’ question

A major block to creativity for many of us is the mind’s fierce grasp on reality. This very factor that keeps us sane also keeps us from thinking beyond what we know to be true. What-iffing is a tool for releasing the mind, for delivering us from being blocked by reality.

In its simplest form, what-iffing involves describing an imagined action or solution and then examining the probable associated facts, consequences, or events. Instead of quickly saying, “That sounds dumb,” or “That would never work,” and leaving our criticism vague, we trace as exactly as our reasonable minds can generate the specific implications or consequences of the newly imagined fact.

In more practical terms, though, thinking about what does not exist is about the only way we have of eventually making it exist. In other words, the first step to implementing a new reality is to imagine it.

Some what if examples:

• What if we could read other people’s minds (and they could read ours)?
• What if all marriages were automatically cancelled by the state every three years?
• What if anyone could set up as a doctor?
• What if each home could run the television only one hour a week?
• What if exams and grades were abolished in college?
• What if our pets could talk?
• What if petrol cost $100 a litre?
• What if we never had to sleep?
• What if everybody looked almost exactly alike?
• What if clocks and watches didn’t exist and daylight lasted six months?

Can you think of 5 what-if questions related to a problem or issue that you are dealing with currently?

(9) SCAMPER

SCAMPER is a checklist that helps you to think of changes you can make to an existing product to create a new one. You can use these changes either as direct suggestions or as starting points for lateral thinking.

Developed by Bob Eberle, the changes SCAMPER stands for are:

S – Substitute – components, materials, people.

C – Combine – mix, combine with other assemblies or services, integrate.

A – Adapt – alter, change function, use part of another element.

M – Modify – increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes (e.g. colour).

P – Put to another use.

E – Eliminate – remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality.

R – Reverse – turn inside out or upside down, also use of reversal.

Example:

As an example, imagine that you are a manufacturer of nuts and bolts, and you were looking for new products. SCAMPER would give you:

Substitute – use of high tech materials for niche markets, such as high speed steel? Carbon fiber? Plastics? Glass? Non-reactive material?

Combine – integrate nut and bolt? Bolt and washer? Bolt and spanner?

Adapt – put Allen key or Star head on bolt? Countersink head?

Modify – produce bolts for watches or bridges? Produce different shaped bolts (e.g. screw in plugs)? Pre-painted green bolts?

Put to another use – bolts as hinge pins? As axles?

Eliminate – eliminate nuts, washers, heads, thread, etc.

Reverse – make dies as well as bolts, make bolts that cut threads for themselves in material, etc.

I hope you find this useful!

I don’t know about you but I can’t take it anymore. So I have written this piece to reassure others that they won’t be subjected to the same misery when I am presenting. See if you can find something useful for yourselves here.

I must say that I am equally fed up of the numerous ‘rules for making presentations’ that we stumble across every few days either in a presentation or on the net. When you google ‘rules for making presentations’, you get more than 8 million results! Most of them are standard clichés that irk me no end.  So I have created my own set of presentation rules. I follow my rules to the last detail and I have rarely been disappointed. I implore you, urge you and beg you to follow my rules as well.

Are you ready to see my rules? Are you sure? Do you promise to follow them? Okay, okay, here goes. The following is my list of rules:

Rule No. 1 There are no rules for making presentations. If you have some already, flush them down the toilet. Now.

Rule No. 2 Have your own (personal) set of guidelines for making presentations. Keep them flexible and change them often.

That’s it. That’s my list of rules. If you follow this you will never be in a situation where you torture others with your presentation. Okay, that is the end of the article. Move on to the next one.

—

Oh! Wait. You are probably thinking, ‘If there are no rules, what do I do the next time I need to present?’  Well, sorry. I cannot tell you that. That is for you to figure out. But I can and I will share some ideas and guidelines that I have created for myself to help me prepare a presentation or deliver it.

But remember that while these ideas work for me, they might not work for you.  Ultimately you will need to have your own rules for presenting. All good presenters have them. Look at the following examples.

• Lawrence Lessig: He is a monster slider! He can use up to 200 slides for a 10 minute presentation and he makes them really good.
• Seth Godin: He follows a style which has a lot of visuals, little text and likes to surprise the audience.
• Guy Kawasaki: 10 slides, 10 ideas, one idea per slide, not more than 20 minutes.
• Takahashi: Super size font sizes (more than 120) and obviously very little text.

It’s okay if you don’t have your own ideas ready now. Work on this and develop them over time. Here are the ideas that work for me.

1. Don’t use too many words. Better still, don’t use them at all! I don’t like to use words in my presentations. I use pictures instead. If I have to, I will restrict the number of words to 3-5 (in font size 100+). If your slides contain the full text of what you want to say, you’ll be tempted to just read from them, rather than communicating with the people in the room, and most of your audience will be reading them instead of listening to you. My personal challenge is to go through an entire presentation without using any words at all! I will update this post when I am able to do that.

2. Don’t be professional. Get personal. I try to ‘connect’ with audience. I have found through experience that projecting a professional image that is workmanlike and stiff does not work especially if the presentation is long, say, a half-a-day program.

3. Don’t use PowerPoint templates. Use the blank screen like a canvas. I hate using ready-made PowerPoint templates. I feel that built-in templates are ‘tacky’ and most of them are not suited to my no-rules style of making presentations. If you use these standard templates you will necessarily end up with presentations that are clichéd, riddled with bullets (pun intended) and those that will induce yawns.  Most of the times, I do not use any template. I don’t need to since I mostly use pictures and big font sizes.

4. Don’t dress up. Strip down. Stripping down means removing all the fluff and padding to get to the essence of the message. How to strip down?

• Be present 100%. Do not think of the consequences of your presentation, or the preparation or anything else. Not being present 100% in every moment of speaking is cheating the audience.
• Do not keep the focus on your performance. Instead focus on trying to sell, inspire, help, inform, teach, persuade, train, motivate, provoke…
• Do not present in a dark room where the focus is on the screen. The screen is just one component of the presentation. The audience came to see you as well as hear you.
• Be as near your audience as possible. Let them feel your energy and passion. Use a remote.
• Be yourself. Your core personality should come through in the presentations. Do not pretend to be someone you are not. Your quirkiest habits could turn out to be your strengths.
• Cut out the jargon. You fail the test if you have anything remotely close to the following phrases:

Proactively create enterprise-wide e-services without turnkey systems. Seamlessly enhance resource maximizing technologies for premier infrastructures. Objectively matrix revolutionary meta-services via optimal architectures. Credibly promote adaptive e-business without prospective innovation. Globally visualize worldwide e-markets vis-a-vis business solutions. Assertively disintermediate scalable materials with B2B platforms. Uniquely re-engineer progressive solutions for B2B synergy. Compellingly empower visionary metrics and equity invested portals. Appropriately incentivize professional strategic theme areas through user-centric infrastructures.

5. Don’t love the audience. Provoke them. Your objective is to make them think. That won’t happen if they are not stretched, or if there are no areas of disagreement. The greatest learning happens when people think. It is as simple as that. You need to make them think. To be able to do that, you need to pull them out of their comfort zones.

6. Don’t encourage participation. Encourage co-creation. Rather than just have the audience make meaningful comments, get them to contribute creatively to taking your agenda further. In a presentation about training programs, you could ask the participants to contribute one idea that is not covered by you. Suddenly, a dozen participants will come up with an idea each and you have a dozen more ideas.

7. Don’t hide the nervousness. Share the joy. Presenters spend too much effort and use up every trick in the bag to ‘avoid’ looking nervous! Well, thinking, planning and preparing for not being nervous is a surefire way to ensure that you will be nervous. Instead focus on the positive side. Focus on how happy and thrilled you are to be making the presentation and to have this opportunity to share! Focus on what you have to share rather than your ‘performance’.

8. Don’t can it! Flow with it. I have been victim of over preparation. In such situations, I usually end up making a stiff, workman-like presentation. However, in situations where I am well prepared but not overdone, I seem to flow into the presentation naturally.

9. PowerPoint is not the presentation. You are. PowerPoint is just a tool to present. You are at the core of the presentation. Without you, a PowerPoint deck is just a bunch of facts and figures. You may as well email it and then cancel the meeting. Next time, someone asks you to mail the ‘presentation’, tell them, you cannot travel by email.  You can only forward the PowerPoint deck through email, not the presentation!!

10. Communication is not WORDS+BODY LANGUAGE+TONE. Communication is the transfer of emotion. Facts, numbers, data, charts and logic can be emailed, emotions cannot. Your job as a presenter is to add emotion to the presentation. You can do so by being passionate and by believing in what you are presenting.

11. Never give out handouts before the presentation. Give notes later. Don’t give the slides as handouts in the beginning or everyone will get down to looking at the stuff while you’re talking and ignore you. Instead, your goal is to get them to sit back, trust you and take in the emotional and intellectual points of your presentation. Also remember, since your slides now have only pictures, it may be a better idea to prepare a separate document to give as a handout rather than the slides with pictures.

12. Do not stick to your story. Make the story sticky. Try to follow at least 4 out of the 6 essentials that Chip and Dan Heath talk about in their book Made to Stick. Here is a quick summary.

a. Keep it simple! Find the core of your idea and focus on the core. Only. You cannot find the core of your idea by ‘dumbing’ it down. You can do so by finding what is essential to your message. Strip your idea down to the bare essential. A successful defense lawyer says, “If you argue ten points, even if each is a good point, when they get back to the jury room they won’t remember any.” To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion. We must relentlessly prioritize.

b. Violate people’s expectations by doing something unexpected. The objective is to

• Surprise people and GAIN ATTENTION.

• Create interest to SUSTAIN ATTENTION.

Make your ideas concrete by adding vivid images and sensory information.

c. Make people believe your ideas by making them credible. Vivid details boost credibility. Present statistics in a human context. Find a source of credibility to draw upon.

d. Get people to care about your ideas by adding emotion. Associate ideas with emotions that already exist in others. Bridge the emotional gap between your idea (that they don’t care about Рyet) with something they already are emotional or care about. Research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than to an entire impoverished region. We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions and extrapolations. Sometimes it can be tricky to find the right emotion to harness. For instance, it’s difficult to get teenagers to quit smoking by instilling in them a fear of the consequences, but it’s easier to get them to quit by tapping into their resentment of the duplicity of Big Tobacco.

e. Make people act on your ideas by telling them stories. Use stories as stimulation (tell people how to act) and as inspiration (give people energy to act).

Avoid clichéd presentations. Don’t bore your audience to death. Make your presentations worth their while.

Check out Shalu’s follow up article – PowerPoint is my slave!

That is how the phenomenon of serendipity is generally defined.

But I am not quite at ease with this definition because it implies that serendipity is passive and we cannot do anything about it apart from just sitting back, doing our work and waiting for a eureka moment to pop up!

I look at the phenomenon differently. The key point here is who makes the discovery and how. It is a certain state of mind which registers a discovery when it is ‘primed’ to do so. Else the discovery would go unnoticed.

So there are really two elements – the discovery and the discoverer. They are not mutually exclusive. They do not happen in isolation. They arise together. That also explains why everyone is not ‘lucky’ enough to make happy discoveries.

Let us first see what stops us from making happy discoveries. We have been conditioned to see what we expect. Our preconceptions creep into whatever we come across. We don’t see things as they are but as we expect them to be.

Secondly, we force our preconceptions into whatever we do and want a task to go along predetermined lines. Too obsessed with how things should be, we don’t recognize lucky turns of events and new possibilities.

As a result, we block the unexpected, turn a blind eye to the unfamiliar and miss out on serendipitous happenings.

All the wonderful people who made wonderful discoveries were able to find a connection between the outcome of an experiment and something which was bubbling in their brains because they had an open mind.

If we have an open and receptive mind, we will start seeing what we generally don’t see. Then we will let a task proceed the way it wants to by its own momentum instead of forcing our preconceptions into it.

Then the possibility inherent in the situation will come to surface. Noticing that possibility is what serendipity is about. What we get in this way can be much more than what we were looking for.

What it boils down to is this. The happy discovery does not happen by itself. It is brought into being by a mind that is able to notice it. It co-arises with an open mind.

In other words, an open mind evokes serendipity. Serendipity is therefore not really a passive phenomenon. It is not an accident but an art that can be cultivated. That is how I look at serendipity.

1. You are doing everyone a favour by saying no.

Whenever you are saying NO to someone, remember that it is for their benefit! By saying no, you are

• Giving the person an opportunity to look for someone who can do the job better.

• Avoiding negative feelings about the person.

2. Visualize the alternative (to saying no) in vivid detail.

• You will feel bad and will curse yourself for accepting the task.

• You will do a bad job.

• You will hate the person for putting this on to you.

• The person will hate you for doing a bad job.

• You should not have said yes, if you were not going to do a good job, the person will tell you later.

3. Remember what happened the last time you said yes!

4. Use the situation as an opportunity to build a better relationship.

If you like the person and don’t want to burn your bridges then having to say no can actually be a great opportunity to improve your relationship with this person. This is very much possible, provided you take the extra effort to honestly explain to the person why you cannot do this and why you value the relationship and that you really believe that by doing a half-baked job you will be hurting the relationship.

5. Enjoy!

Sometimes, saying no is just pure joy! The joy gets magnified if you do not provide any reasons at all!

6. Go overboard explaining why you cannot.

The explaining might make the person feel better than if you had said yes!

7. Use the big–picture test.

Focus on the big picture. What are your ultimate goals and objectives? Is this task in sync with your goals? If not, just say no and rest assured that you have made the correct decision.

8. Use a bit of cunning if you need to (in this order).

a. Negotiate. If you can take this off my plate, then I can do that. Or if I can get resources for this, then I can do that.

b. Postpone. Let me think about it and get back to you on email.

c. Deflect. I cannot do this BUT I can help you with that.

d. Bluff. Carry around your dummy calendar (choc a bloc of course) and show it to the person!

e. Throw the ball back. Ask for help in deciding how you should fit in the new task on the list of priorities (especially if it is your boss).

f. Lower expectations. Point out that you might be able to do everything, but not to the usual high standards that are expected.

g. Googly or curve ball. Say yes, then call back or SMS in the next 10 minutes to say why you cannot do it. Why 10 minutes? Well because that is the average time required for homo sapiens to come up with a good excuse.

h. Scare them off if nothing works! It’s just that I have this crazy flu and I don’t want you to get it

9. If they get really pushy, switch gears and think of it as a game.

There is no way you can say yes NOW! Smile and tell them so.

10. And before we end, here are a few statements for you to practice!

• I have another commitment.
• I have no experience with that.
• I know you will do a wonderful job yourself.
• I am in the middle of several projects.
• I am not comfortable with that.
• I need to leave some free time for myself.
• I would rather decline than do a mediocre job.
• I am not taking on any new responsibilities.
• I would rather help out with another task.
• Let me hook you up with someone who can do it.
• I am not the most qualified person for the job.
• I do not enjoy that kind of work.
• I do not have any more room in my calendar.
• I hate to split my attention among projects.
• I need to focus more on my personal life.
• I need to focus on my career right now.
• Some things have come up that need my attention.
• This really is not my strong point.

–

Shalu Wasu is a creativity consultant and trainer based in Singapore apart from being guest faculty at select institutes. To attend his one-day open programme on creativity on 15th January, 2009 at NUS, Singapore, please visit www.lifeahoy.sg or contact shalu@lifeahoy.sg.

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The first ebook is called Panna Lal’s Guide to Boosting Creativity and is a compilation of 10 of our best articles on creativity published over the last one year. We are sure that you will benefit from it. We also welcome and encourage you to forward these ebooks (or the links) to your friends so that they can benefit from this treasure trove of inspirational reading as well.

You can also download it from here – http://bit.ly/32MLAm

I must admit I am a bit tired of it all. Why should I get up early in the first place? What have I got to prove?
So here are 10 points about why you should stay up late and still not feel bad when you come across another article by the self-help gurus who preach getting up early in the morning!

Why you should stay up LATE!

1.    There is nothing ‘natural’ about getting up early in the morning. It perhaps made sense a few hundred years ago when sunlight was the only source of light and you could only get your work done when the sun was shining – so getting up early was required to maximize working time. This argument does not hold anymore – at least in places that have electricity. (If you are reading this, your house/office has electricity).
2.    It is a myth that you ‘save time’ by getting up early. Well, each day has 24 hours and if you sleep for 6 hours, you have 18 hours to do everything else, irrespective of when you sleep and when you get up.
3.    If you get up early, you’ll need to sleep early. If you sleep early, you miss out on all the exciting stuff that happens late at night! Most people start winding down around 8pm and are off to bed soon after. Most people have 1-2 hours of leisure time in the evening before they sleep. But this amount of time is not really enough to plan anything meaningful. On the other hand if you know that after finishing dinner at 9pm, you still have another 3-4 hours, it just opens up so many possibilities. You can read a book, watch a movie, work or simply talk.
4.    Toiling away late into the night while the rest of the world sleeps is such a beautiful feeling! It is so still and quiet.
5.    To just look out of your window or balcony at 3 am is such a moving sight. The whole city is bathed in a warm yellow glow, everyone is peacefully asleep, even your noisy neighbour. I would not miss the feeling for anything.
6.    Some of the meals that I have enjoyed the most have been the late night snacks that I had while I was studying at IIMA. We used to get very hungry when we studied till late and either we used to cook up something around 3 in the morning or walk down to the NR (night retreat – a late night in-campus restaurant). If you haven’t had a meal at 3 am, you’ve been missing something.
7.    There are few things as surreal as a late night jog through an otherwise crowded place (during the day). It is a wonderful feeling to go for a jog around 1 am and just notice the stillness around you. It is amazingly peaceful and you get great ideas as well!
8.    I am at my productive best when I work late. There are no distractions, no noise, no school bus to miss, no newspaper headlines to read. Knowing that there is nothing else between now and sleep time except what I am working on right now is a nice feeling.
9.    When you sleep late, you will usually get up late and that can be so effective because you will do the boring/usual/essential stuff very quickly indeed. It is so much fun to get ready in a hurry. You find out just how quickly and efficiently you can shave among other things.
10.    It is an amazing end to the day if you have been working late and have been able to do some good work. The feeling of satisfaction and contentment that you get as you lie down and close your eyes is not matched by anything else.

So, stop fretting about what time to get up in the morning. Getting up early seems to work for a lot of people, but it is not for everyone. The only way to find out the hours when you are most productive is to experiment. So try getting up early for a few days and try moving to a different pattern every few days. Stick to the one that feels most natural and productive.

Read another point of view here - Addicted to the snooze button?

Once upon a time, many years ago, in prehistoric times, at a time when there were no cities, no buildings and perhaps even no villages, there was a hunter. He had had a successful day and was walking through a forest back to his tribe. He had slung a deer across his shoulder with some homemade rope. He was walking fast because it was close to evening. He came across a branch of tree lying on the ground. He casually picked it up and held it in his other hand for support. To his surprise, the branch was not as sturdy as some of the other sticks he had used for walking. It was a bit flexible. Whenever he put his weight on the stick, it bent a little. The hunter kept walking but did not throw away the branch. Then, suddenly he stopped. Something occurred to him. On an impulse, he threw down the deer, freed the rope, picked up the branch and looked at his rope again. He examined them for a moment and tied the two ends of the branch with the rope, thus inventing the bow. The hunter saw the connection between two seemingly unconnected things. He saw something which no one else had seen. He saw something which he himself had never seen before.

A branch of a tree is a branch of a tree. It has certain uses and that is that. A piece of rope is a piece of rope. It has certain uses and that is that. The preconceived notions about the branch of a tree and the piece of rope prevent us from seeing more into these objects and find some new connection. When we are free from our preconceptions, we have fresh perception and new possibilities open up in our thinking. That is what creativity is about – having fresh perceptions.

That fellow saw something which nobody else had seen. There are so many invisible connections around us and connections between hitherto unrelated things can be the source of new ideas!

Creativity is about making connections – as we saw in the example of the hunter. The ability to see a connection between seemingly unrelated things is a big advantage.

In everyday life we use metaphors to make connections between unrelated things. Metaphors are used to explain complex situations in an easy manner. Many metaphors are parts of our everyday usage Рroot of problem, heart of city. Most of us now recognize our heart as a ‘pump’ but that is a metaphor as well. Mind map is a metaphor! Metaphors help to communicate complex ideas in a short and sweet manner. A computer is a metaphor for our brain. It is so popular that we talk of processing power and our memory being short term or long term even though the way our brain works is very different from how the PC does. It helps to take ideas from one context and apply them to another context.

Metaphors provide us with a new way of looking at things. It is like watching a Manchester United Vs Liverpool match on TV with only ONE CAMERA feed and then suddenly we have more camera feeds as well! The two experiences are incomparable. Using metaphors provides us with new insights, leading to more ideas and better decisions.

Try and provide 5 different answers to each one of the following statements/questions.

And I am really looking forward to hearing what you have to say on this one:

Smoking a cigarette is like talking to your mother in law because…

However when it comes to creative thinking, ambiguity is a good thing, even a great thing. If we are too specific with guidelines and rules to solving problems, it doesn’t give us much leeway to generate new ideas.

Generally we are uncomfortable with uncertainty. When we are in this state, we feel irritable. We try and resolve the uncertainty and become comfortable again quickly. We feel compelled to appear more certain, confident and decisive than we really are at that time. So we would rather leap to a conclusion and then focus our energies in defending it. This, most of the time is the sub optimal solution.

By its very nature, life does not lend itself to close scrutiny. It is fuzzy, indeterminate and paradoxical. There are contradictions everywhere. Wanting to understand life is to expect it to be straight, neat and orderly which it is not. We can say just one thing for sure about the world: “I don’t know.” When we are okay with the ambiguity and paradoxes of life, we know that there are no standard answers in life. We break loose fresh perspectives and look for several possible answers. In the process, we turn more creative.

In fact this article itself is paradoxical – We started by saying that ambiguity is bad and then we said it is good! That’s how life is. Learn to enjoy ambiguity.

So what should we do to get comfortable with uncertainty?

1. Accept that uncertainty is certain

2. Enjoy being confused. Be comfortable without a solution!

3. Be a ‘find outer’, not a ‘knower’

4. ‘I don’t know’ is a GREAT ANSWER!

Sometimes, it is not the circumstances, but our own mind which pushes us to come up with a solution quickly. Our mind is rushed perhaps because it is lazy (or efficient!). It wants to stop working as quickly as possible or maybe because it wants to reestablish the feeling of being effective and in control as quickly as possible. It wants us to choose the first good option. It wants to take decisions quickly.
Being patient allows us to use our unconscious mind’s resources in a better way.

In a research done by Milton Rokeach, it was shown that many people’s creativity was enhanced when they were asked to slow down. When they were prevented from delivering their first answer to a problem, they usually came up with a better answer later.

So the lesson is, when we are not clear, delay the decision and enjoy the options that will seemingly start popping out from nowhere!

In another interesting study by Daniel Goleman, 4-year-old children were left alone in a room (one at a time) with a candy for about 10 minutes. They were told that if they did not eat the candy while they were alone, they will be given 2 pieces of the candy later. In a follow up done many years later, the children who were able to resist temptation in this exercise scored higher on intelligence tests, were emotionally more stable, had better relationships!

Even though our culture today encourages instant gratification, practicing the ability to wait has its own benefits.

•    Being comfortable without an instant solution makes the mind welcoming and spacious, taking away the feeling of strain and urgency.
•    Accept that there will be times when you will not be able to solve a problem by trying to solve it. Sow the seed in your mind and let your subconscious mind work on it for some time.
•    Let the ideas percolate to the top on their own.

The voices of intuition, hunches and insights are at most times not too strong. By being patient, we allow ourselves the best chance to be able to hear these voices which may have valuable ideas.

–

Shalu Wasu is a creativity consultant and trainer based in Singapore apart from being guest faculty at select institutes. To attend his one-day open programme on creativity on 15th January, 2009 at NUS, Singapore, please visit www.lifeahoy.sg or contact shalu@lifeahoy.sg.

• Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties: Gail Sheehy
• Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun: Mary Lou Cook
• Creativity (or “creativeness”) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity

And here is how i define creativity: ‘Creativity is the ability to think of something for the first time’. How do you define creativity?

Here are my favourite quotes on creativity. Please share your favourites in the comments section below.

There is no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Thomas Disch

Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist.

Albert Einstein

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.

Pablo Picasso

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Jean Piaget

The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – men who are creative, inventive and discoverers

Jean Caldwell

The only truly happy people are children and the creative minority.

George Bernard Shaw

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

Ursula K. LeGuin

The creative adult is the child who has survived.

Rita Mae Brown

Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts.

John W. Gardner

The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept.

Mary-Claire King

There are two keys to being creatively productive. One is not being daunted by one’s fear of failure. the second is sheer perseverance.

Abe Tannenbaum

The creative person is willing to live with ambiguity. He doesn’t need problems solved immediately and can afford to wait for the right ideas.

Linus Pauling

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.

Victor Hugo

An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.

1. Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits.  ~Author Unknown
2. Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it’s twice as onerous a duty. ¬†~John Selden
3. Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  ~Oprah Winfrey
4. Every man should be born again on the first day of January.  Start with a fresh page.  Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.  ~Henry Ward Beecher
5. New Year’s Day: ¬†Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. ¬†Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ¬†~Mark Twain
6. Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.  ~Oscar Wilde
7. But can one stillmake resolutions when one is over forty?  I live according to twenty-year-old habits.  ~Andre Gide
8. It wouldn’t be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets. ¬†~William Thomas
9. May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions. ¬†~Joey Adams
10. He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool. ~F.M. Knowles
11. I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s. ¬†~Henry Moore
12. Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year.  Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.  ~Thomas Mann
13. I made no resolutions for the New Year.  The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.  ~Anaïs Nin

Dance in the rain and jump in the puddle with my son.

Go on a raw food diet for at least a month.

Go on a news fast – no TV, no newspapers, no internet for a month.

Grow a mustache.

Start a ‘I hate Golf’ group on Facebook. I bet I’ll get a couple of million people to join in no time!

Do you have secret resolutions to share?

I have been actively making new-year resolutions for the last 3 years with very little success. It is usually regular stuff like fitness, skills, jobs, money, etc. It usually lasts for a few weeks. The longest was last year when I started jogging regularly and kept at it for a few months.

While analyzing why my resolutions have not been working I realized that most of these were ad hoc nice thoughts and did not really fit into any bigger plan. As a result, after the initial enthusiasm wore off, I was not motivated enough to keep following them.

It is that time of the year again and I am determined not to fail this year. So I have decided to take a different approach! I have not yet made my resolutions for 2010 but I have worked upon my strategy. Take a look at my six-step strategy for this year and see if it will work for you.

STEP 1: Reflect on 2009

1. What did I learn last year? If you have trouble answering this question, it’s time to change whatever you were doing. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can and you should learn something new every year.

2. What was my greatest achievement over the past year? Reflecting on your accomplishments is an effective way to track your progress and also to raise self-confidence and contentment.

3. Which moments from the last year were the most memorable and why? It may bring up some below-the-surface passions and goals, or some pastimes worth exploring.

4. What have I struggled with in the last year? The objective here is to learn from your struggles and better equip yourself for future encounters.

5. What should I have NOT DONE in the last year? Steer clear of this in the future.  Set up barriers against this if you have to.

6. Am I carrying any baggage from the previous year that can be dropped? Emotional or physical. Eliminate anything that might pull you down.

7. Is there anyone I should have called? Regular communication can solve problems before they fester. Finish this task before you start planning your next year.

8. Is there anyone who deserves a ‘Thank You’ note? Take time each year to thank the people who have helped you.  People always, always, always remember ‘Thank You’ notes.

STEP 2

After reflecting on each of the questions above for a few minutes, answer the following questions about your biggest goals in each of these areas (not restricted to the next year but life’s goals for all these areas). Do not restrict or restrain your answers. Let the answers flow.

1. Goals related to family and friends: Is it more time that you want to spend with some people? Do some relationships need mending? Think about the people most important to you. Where do you want to take your relationship with each one of them?

2. Financial goals: How much do you want to earn by what stage?

3. Career goals: What level do you want to reach in your career?

4. Health goals: Are there any fitness related goals you want to achieve, or do you simply want to follow your doctor’s advice, or become a vegetarian?

5. Personal goals: Dig deep inside. What is it that you want to do – only for yourself?

6. Self-development goals: Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and skills will you need to achieve other goals? Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Does any of your behaviour upset you? If so, set a goal to improve your behaviour or find a solution to the problem.

7. Self-indulgence goals: How do you want to enjoy yourself? Make sure that some of your life is for you too!

8. Giving-back goals: Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?

STEP 3

Once you have answers for these goals, choose ONE (yes, ONE ONLY) key goal from each of these categories. Also, run them through the following checklist:

• The goals are positively stated.
• The goal are precise.
• The goals are written down.
• The goals are realistic.
• There is at least ONE unrealistic goal.

STEP 4

Break down each goal into:

1. Your life’s objective

2. 5-year objective

3. 2009 objective

4. Monthly/quarterly objective

Step 5

Make an action plan for each of the 8 goals. Also decide on a date every month when you will check your progress. Mark the dates in your calendar/outlook/whatever device you use. Give yourself the flexibility to revise the objective during  monthly sessions.

Step 6

Email the summary to your family and best friends. This is the most important step! Or better still, make your resolution(s) public! Tell the whole world about what you are going to do. Let the power of their collective expectations help you!

Write about your resolutions in the comments section below! Won’t it be fun to come back here and check how you and everyone else has done?

Shalu Wasu is a creativity consultant and trainer based in Singapore apart from being guest faculty at select institutes.

Are you ready for 2010? The editor recommends the following articles.

That's Panna Lal working on the TickledbyLife.com revamp!

We are working on revamping TickledbyLife.com to make it more useful for all our readers. Most of the changes are based on the feedback that we continuously receive from you! (Thank You)

The revamp should be complete by the second week of December and new content will start flowing again!

Please bear with us. We promise that the wait will be worth it!

Happy birthday to Tickled by Life and thank you for being a part of the growth!

On this occasion a certain Mr. Panna Lal is taking over the website! Who is Panna Lal, you might ask.
To find out more about Panna Lal, click here.

We hope you will continue to love Tickled by Life as we grow into our second year. Tickledbylife.com is a co-creative adventure. So we expect you to tickle us back by contributing, sharing and interacting. Please write to and send all feedback to pannalal@tickledbylife.com.

Henceforth, all newsletters will be sent from this ID, so please add this to your address book (so that our newsletters, don’t end up in your junk folders)

We invite you to step in and take a fresh look at Tickledbylife.com and discover the wealth of over 700 life changing articles.

We have some valuable gifts that we will be sending to our readers in our birthday month. So stay tuned.
We also wish to ask you to gift us something valuable on our birthday! If you have enjoyed our tickles, please help us by referring and recommending www.tickledbylife.com to your friends and loved ones.

Cheers and stay tickled!

Team Tickled by Life

Band of 100+ticklers
Editor: Carol Ann
Mentor: PS Wasu
Founder: Shalu Wasu

(Panna Lal will now take over)

Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything. – George Lois

The popular perception is that creativity is just for writers, artists, scientists and advertising people. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Being creative is to have fresh perceptions and experience the world in novel and original ways. Creativity translates itself into better solutions to problems and more efficient management of time and other resources.

 

Creativity is therefore equally important for managers, professionals, students, entrepreneurs and all those who wish to excel in their given fields. In other words, it is for you, you and you – whoever you are, wherever you are and whatever you do.

 

The truth is that you were born creative. You lost it in the process of growing up. All you need to do is to uncover it.

 

Here we are going to discuss what will happen if you uncover your creativity and why you must do so.

 

1. Creativity is fun!

The process of coming up with ideas, making connections and creating something new is fun. It makes you feel good. It gives you a tingling sensation and you feel tickled by life!

 

2. Creativity is the only differentiator!

The playing field is getting levelled in all areas. The internet has removed a lot of barriers. Capital and resources are not difficult to come by. Creativity is the only edge you can have over others in today’s competitive world!

 

3. Creativity to enhance self-confidence!

When you listen to your inner voice, trust your intuitions and translate them into actions in creative ways, you experience an increase in your self-confidence and belief in yourself.

 

The more creative you are, the more confident you become. The more success you have with your ideas, the more trust you will have in your ability to come up with more. Creativity and self-confidence set off a virtuous cycle. Why not make it work for you?

 

4. Creativity to be successful in business and work!

To be successful at any aspect of work, you need to take a series of right decisions. Creativity brings you more ideas that bring you wider choices that bring you optimal decisions that bring you better results that bring you goose bumps of success.

 

When it comes to business, you need to outthink and outsmart your often more resourceful rivals. Creativity enables you to make the optimal use of all your resources, enabling you to outperform your competitors.

 

5. Creativity to adapt to an ever-changing environment!

The world is changing at a faster pace than ever. Playing by the old rules and sticking to your assumptions is a recipe for getting left behind. You need to be creative to adapt to and flourish in the ever-changing world.

 

6. Creativity to become a change agent!

It is an ever-changing world, all right. But then who changes the world? When you uncover your creativity, you are not only able to adapt yourself to the changing world, you also become an agent of change in your own right.

 

When you turn creative, you reinvent yourself continuously, changing the world too almost parallelly.

 

7. Creativity to build deeper relationships!

Creativeness is the ability to see relationships where none exist. – Thomas Disch

Have you ever noticed how some relationships, including friendships, get stale after a while? An element of dullness creeps in.

 

Creativity is important for the quality of communication which can help in building relationships. More than that, creativity is important in shaping mutual perceptions, influencing the quality of relationships at a more fundamental level.

 

Creativity also brings a certain dynamism to relationships making them less vulnerable to the usual ‘tear and wear’.

 

8. Creativity to be an interesting person!

People who are interested in things appear interesting. Creative people are naturally interested in everything and thus appear interesting.

 

9. Creativity to be happy!

The only truly happy people are children and the creative minority.–Jean Caldwell

 

Doing new things, having new thoughts and meeting new people are some of the important stimuli that bring you happiness. Creativity too is about newness. There is thus an unmistakable correlation between creativity and happiness.

 

French mathematician Poincare identified four stages of creativity: preparation (you try to solve a problem), incubation (when nothing works out, you move to other matters), illumination (the answer comes in a flash, when you are not looking for it) and verification (you verify the solution logically).

It is the illumination stage that brings you an inner glow, a feeling of wellbeing and validation. It makes you a happy person. You are tickled by life.

 

Moreover, creative persons are generally happy because they love what they do unlike many people who do their work as a painful duty expected of them.

 

10. Creativity for the world to go on!

“Every animal leaves traces of what it was; man alone leaves traces of what he created.” — Jacob Bronowski

 

People come into the world, make their mark, cause some changes and then leave the world. Then new sets of people take their place. They also come into the world, make their mark, cause some changes and then leave the world.

 

Old individuals are replaced by new ones. It is the changes they bring about that shape the course of life. It is their creativity that gives the river of life its direction. It makes the world go on.