My 21 day commitment of turning off my laptop by 9pm is an interesting project. After the first two weeks, I am finding:
It forces me to concentrate. Watching the clock tick down, I get things done quickly and efficiently before 9pm.
I send more e-mails: I don’t stress over making detailed and comprehensive responses, and am […]
Over the weekend, a colleague in the in open space retreat I attended suggested a method for communicating project status across a team without long, inefficient update meetings.
At the begining of each day, the project team (say 20 people) get together, and in the space of 15 minutes, everyone gives a brief update of what […]
Just as simple as it sounds, the freewrite exercise is about writing without inhibitions.
Freewrite Exercise
Write for a pre-determined limit, such as 15 minutes or 2 pages.
You may use a computer, as it will allow you to write quicker and will cause less strain, but I have found more profound results writing by hand.
Try to write […]
I asked myself this morning, how many times in the last week was I truly creative?
Monitoring my thoughts this week, it is a shock to realize just how persistent the thoughts are racing around my head… I leave no room to be creative… the space is squeezed out with a constant urge to be doing.
While […]
This week, I am taking note throughout the day of the thoughts that race through my head. My thoughts are heavily pre-occupied with not having enough time to get things done. I am quite aware of this (and am actively trying to get a handle on it), but I wasn’t aware of the negative messages […]
One of the biggest inhibitions to creativity and creating mindful work environments is the stress that accumulates from the looming cloud of vague commitments. In an age addicted to the hyper-speed of technology, e-mails, meetings, tasks and “stuff” flying around - the stress from trying to hang on to what we […]
People tend to life seriously and make situations overly complicated. Or is that just me? Does drama ever do anything remotely useful?
One approach I find to be effective in combating this is Rule #6, from Ros and Benjamin’s Zander’s Art of Possibility. The story of Rule #6 is:
An executive […]
Edward de Bono has contributed much to business with his research into creative thinking and teaching thinking as a skill. One of his books, “Six Thinking Hats” is about effective communication.
De Bono created these 6 thinking hats as a means to shift from your standard argumentative style to parallel thinking - taking all sides […]
I stumbled upon an improv workshop this evening, run by Just Add Water. The company’s focus is to use theater, improve and role-play to improve understanding of human dynamics and solve organizational issues in the workplace.
The 4 C’s of Improvisation:
Consistency: Accepting the reality your partner creates.
Context: Building on the reality in the context of […]
The latest exercise from Prof. Rao’s Creativity & Personal Mastery course is about shifting your perspective of reality.The reality that we construct for ourselves is based on the limited information we receive through our experiences. So if something in your world is not working for you, why not change it?Here is what you can […]
