The power of words: Making Mistakes - Making Learnings?

I've been thinking about how I sometimes avoid doing things because I'm worried about making a mistake. I wonder how things might be different if instead of calling them mistakes, I realise that each mistake has the potential to contain a learning? What if, at the end of the day, we could say "Wow! I had 10 new learnings today" rather than think that I've made a mistake. This would open up the possibility of risk-taking, as an avebue to greater creativity and innovation in our lives, our workplaces and our society.

spoken through SpinVox

How to use a Flip Chart for Fun

I disovcered this on Viv McWaters blog while researching information on Open Space Technology, after my week long training last week. I'm glad I stopped to look.

Guilt & Shame concept sketch

Here's another concept sketch for the new website. This time, Guilt and Shame harass a poor unfortunate. What do you think of the style? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

The Needs - Strategy Iceberg

Here's another illustration I used in a recent GoFlow session to explain the difference between strategies and needs.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

We tend to get hung up on the strategies (the surface behaviours) that people employ. We say that they are doing 'this' or 'that' on purpose, as if their intention was to purposefully inflict harm. This may be the case on occasion, but more often than not, the person - be it an adult of child - is using the best strategy they believe is going to help them to get a certain need met. The strategy is what we experience - the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. What we miss is the underlying need that is driving the strategy.

And what are needs? They are universal drives that we all share. We can have a need for security, creativity, understanding, respect, play, meaning and purpose, food, rest, sexual expression, and so on. When we connect with these needs, we can say "Yeah, I get how you might want to meet that need...but man, that strategy you are using isn't meeting my need for X." Try it now. Re-read the list of needs, and consider whether you would have any problem with someone wanting to meet one of those needs? Chances are you wont, because you recognise them as universal drives.

The problem is that we tend to focus on the strategies employed by people / organisations / cultures, and do not make the time to connect with the needs - either our own, or those of others.

The next time you find yourself ready to criticise, blame or evaluate another person's behaviour (or your own), pause, and ask...

"What need was he/she/I trying to meet by that strategy?

You may find your perspective shifting ever so slightly to a place of greater empathy, understanding and compassion.

Concept sketch for 3 chAgents

Recently, I've been developing a brand idea for the Creativity Hub with the help of my Rory's Story Cubes. Here is some concept copy that was inspired by using the dice.

The Story so far...

The forces of Change are gathering momentum. Uncertainty, Apathy and Fear continue to grow in strength. They are taking control of our lives, workplaces, schools, universities, communities and governments.

In the face of this seemingly overwhelming force, how can someone like you be expected to navigate the challenges of your daily life, let alone have any kind of impact in today's world? Wouldn't it be easier to just ignore it all and go back to surfing the 'net, retail therapy or drowning your worries in your substance of choice? Do you seek out the latest Guru promising to sort out your life in 5 easy steps? Or maybe you are waiting for a hero more powerful than you can imagine, to rescue you from this mess we call Life?

Well, that hero lies dormant in you, waiting to be awoken. And the world is waiting...

Welcome to the Creativity Hub, powering-up ordinary folk like you, to become Agents of Change, in this great Age of Change. If you want to restore balance to your life, unstick what is stuck in your business, and learn to ride the waves of change in the world, you will need to become adaept at three key skills - to ability to Solve, to Resolve and to Create.

I see the Creativity Hub as a Dojo or base for people who wanting to develop the ability to Solve-Resolve-Evolve. I call these people chAgents (Change Agents).

Visualising the characters

After writing that text, I wanted to visualise the characters. Below you can see a sketch for the 3 heroes - Solver, Resolver and Evolver.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

And here are some concept sketches that visualise the abstract challenges we face in our lives and workplace - apathy, fear, guilt and shame.

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The Boy Who Slept His Life Away - a Rory's Story Cubes tale

"Ok. I'm gonna try and tell a quick story using my Rory's Story Cubes via SpinVox.com's blog message service.

Once upon a time there was a boy who was sound asleep. He was unhappy with his lot in life and decided to sleep as long as he could, waiting for the day that he would die and hopefully have a better experience. But during his sleep he was struck by a bolt of lightening which woke him up, and he realised that if he was gonna learn anything about himself and life he'd have to get up and get out into the world.

When he went out into the world he met a sheep who told him that all life hangs in the balance. And so, while he was sleeping there was somebody else out experiencing the fullness of life, and does he not want to do the same himself? So this set the boy's heart on fire and his passions alive and he set out into the world ready to fully experience it as much as he could before he died. The end."

spoken through SpinVox

Here is the photo of the dice roll that sparked the story.

Test Message from SpinVox.com

"I've been experimenting with a great tool for getting your voicemail message into text and into your blog. It's called SpinVox and you can find out more about it by visiting www.spinvox.com"

spoken through SpinVox

The Lonely Frog - a Rory's Story Cubes tale

I was doodling in Skitch the other day with my Wacom Bamboo drawing pad, and found myself sketching the 9 images below. They are arranged in a manner similar to my first prototype for Rory's Story Cubes which was based on a Rubik's Cube. For the fun of it, I decided to make up a story. You can read the result below.

Once upon a time...there was a lonely frog. He didn't like being alone, but was alone nonetheless. One day he signed up as a lab frog for a space flight. "I'm bound to meet interesting frogs now" he thought. However, he soon learned that nobody wanted to talk to him. No one except the astronaut that he was travelling with. And he just talked and talked. He never asked the frog how HE was feeling. Distraught and depressed, the frog decided to make his escape. He put on his space helmet, and leapt from the rocket when no one was looking. It took him a long time to fall back to earth, and into the sea. It is here that he now spends much of his time, living on a sleepy little island in the middle of the pacific ocean. The End.

Now, what story can you make up, based on the nine images shown?

To learn more about Rory's Story Cubes, visit TheCreativityHub.com

What's your Frequency, Kenneth?

I was facilitating a GoFlow one-to-one session with a client last week, and the conversation came around to "finding your purpose in life." As we talked, I used this image below to explain how i think about it.

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The way I look at is this...everything is energy, vibrating as either particles of waves. And waves vibrate at different frequencies. if you have any doubts about this, read The Field, by Lynn McTaggart. Especially the experiment about the Adrenaline and the Pig's Heart!

Similar frequencies resonate with, and amplify each other. Think of the tuning fork and the glass, that starts to vibrate in sync with the fork.

So this got me to thinking about the frequency I am choosing (consciously or subconsciously) to resonate at? If I can send out a clear signal, in my actions, behaviours, branding, it will resonate with, and appeal to others of a like mind (or frequency). At the same time, it will have the opposite effect on those on a different frequency. They may simply ignore it, or repel those who are not in the same 'place' of thinking. And that's fine too, as we probably would not work well together.

How do you find your frequency? There are a variety of tools you can employ from creative problem solving, to visioning and energy psychology to help resolve limiting believes that result in a confused signal. If this sounds like something your would like to explore, you may want to book a GoFlow session, designed to unstick what is stuck, and get things 'flowing' again.

The question for today is:

What frequency are you choosing to resonate? And are you choosing it consciously or subconsciously?