The Deliberate Creative

Do you ever feel like you are a fraud? The Imposter Syndrome haunts many people, especially if you are successful. In the episode, learn about the Imposter Syndrome and how it might be hurting your creativity. The good news - once you understand it, it's easy to change. Listen and learn four steps to combat the Imposter Syndrome and start being more creative in your personal and professional life.

What You'll Learn

• What the Imposter Syndrome is.
• How to know if you have the Imposter Syndrome.
• Four steps to move past the Imposter Syndrome and be more creative.

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• Podcast Steal the Show
• Book The War of Art
• Book The Artist's Way
• The Imposter Syndrome on Wikipedia

The Weekly Challenge

This week, pay attention to when and where you experience the Imposter Syndrome. Where does it creep in? Write down what those situations are. Do you see any trends? Then, follow steps 2-4 in the podcast to combat the Imposter Syndrome. Share in the comment section or send me an email and let me know how it goes.

Most of us have been in bad meetings that felt like such a waste of time. Don’t be that leader! In this episode, you will learn three simple tips to make your meetings more powerful, more meaningful, and more financially responsible.

What You’ll Learn

* How an unproductive meeting can waste your organization $500 0r more.

* Three simple facilitation tips to improve your meetings and stop wasting time and money.

* Why you should avoid icebreakers

* How to engage participants and create meaningful dialogue that leads to results.

Most of us have been in bad meetings that felt like such a waste of time. Don't be that leader! In this episode, you will learn three simple tips to make your meetings more powerful, more meaningful, and more financially responsible.

What You’ll Learn

• How an unproductive meeting can waste your organization $500 0r more.
• Three simple facilitation tips to improve your meetings and stop wasting time and money.
• Why you should avoid icebreakers
• How to engage participants and create meaningful dialogue that leads to results.

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• Artist Hollis Chatelain
• Book Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers. This book has some great meeting techniques.
• Book The Back of the Napkin (Expanded Edition): Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures - sometimes images can be more powerful than any verbal explanation. This book will teach you how, even if you can't draw.

The Weekly Challenge

This week, try one of the three techniques mentioned in the episode. How does it change your meetings? Share in the comment section or send me an email and let me know how it goes.

Climer Cards are a fun, powerful tool that can be used to help teams expand their creativity, increase their engagement, and get to know each other better. In this episode, learn how this inexpensive, simple deck of cards can be used for many activities whether you are facilitating the Creative Problem Solving process, teambuilding activities, or having a conversation about meaningful topics. You can also modify the activities to use other images or playing cards. The options are endless!

What You'll Learn

• What are Climer Cards
• Activities to help teams get to know each other
• Activities that facilitate deeper conversation about specific topics
• Where to buy Climer Cards (they are only $20)

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• Climer Cards Free eBook
• Climer Cards website
• Episode 5: Ideation

The Weekly Challenge

Buy a deck of Climer Cards and try one new activity! Share your experience below or on the climercards.com website under "stories."

Conflict has a big impact on a team's level of creativity. You may be surprised to learn that teams need conflict in order to be creative. In this episode, learn what the research has revealed about the best types of conflict and the best approaches of conflict for creativity. You'll also learn about creative abrasion and 4 tips on how to achieve the optimal level of conflict with your teams.

What You’ll Learn

• Two types of conflict - one that is helpful for teams and one that is harmful
• Five approaches to conflict and the three that increase creativity
• The definition and importance of creative abrasion
• Four simple things you can do to get the optimal level of conflict in your team

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• Groupthink article by Jonah Lehrer - this is the article I talked about that I shared with the team
• Jehn, K. (1995). A multi method examination of the benefits and detriments of intragroup conflict. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 256-282.
• Badke-Schaub, P., Goldschmidt, G., & Meijer, M. (2010). How does cognitive conflict in design teams support the development of creative ideas? Creativity and Innovation Management, 19(2), 119-133.
• Episode 5: Ideation
• Episode 17: Seven Norms of Collaboration

The Weekly Challenge

Try one of the four techniques to increase creativity in your team. What happens? Share in the comment section or send me an email and let me know how it goes.

There are many ways to enhance your creativity. This episodes explains seven tips for how to become more creative. It requires you to be deliberate, but the results can be spectacular.

What You’ll Learn

* Seven ways to boost your creativity

* Tools and resources you can use to become more creative

Resources

* Book The Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron

* Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way website

* 750words.com – a tool for writing Morning Pages online

* amyclimer.com

* Pinterest

* Evernote

* Strict Workflow

The Weekly Challenge

Try at least one of these creative boosters this week. What happens? Share in the comment section or send me an email and let me know how it goes.

Upcoming Workshops with Amy Climer

From Conflict to Resolution: Managing and Mediating Conflict at Work – November 6, 2015, Milwaukee, WI

Transcript

Feel like reading instead of listening? Download the free PDF Transcript or read it below. Enjoy!

Transcript for Episode #022: Creative Boosters

Amy Climer: Hi Everyone! Welcome to the Deliberate Creative Podcast Episode #22. My name is Amy Climer and today we are talking about creativity boosters. Basically, how to bust through those creative blocks that I walked through last week on Episode 21. These are various ways of how you can help yourself become more creative. You’ll find that it requires some deliberateness. No surprise this is The Deliberate Creative. It does require a little bit of work. If you want to be creative you have to put the time into it. I want to share with you a quote from Pablo Picasso, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain one once (s)he grows up.” That’s what creative boosters are all about. It’s how you hold on to that inner artist, that inner creative that all of us have. I don’t know if I have ever seen a child that wasn’t creative, wasn’t an artist. If you have been listening to previous episodes you know that when I mean creative, I’m not just talking about just art and artistic-ness, but creative in a very broad sense. What I think Picasso was saying is that we have the capacity to be creative, it’s just a matter of figuring that out and not letting go. Or if you have let it go, how to reclaim it and refine it.

So I’m going to share with you seven things that you can do to boost your creativity. The first two are from a book very inspirational to me called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I stumbled across this book in 1998 while I was in Colorado. The following year, I ended up taking a class about the book. The book is divided up into 12 segments, which are actually 12 weeks. So I chose this class where we followed the book and it seriously changed my life. The book is about reclaiming your creativity that so many of us lost.

There are many ways to enhance your creativity. This episodes explains seven tips for how to become more creative. It requires you to be deliberate, but the results can be spectacular.

What You’ll Learn

• Seven ways to boost your creativity
• Tools and resources you can use to become more creative

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Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• Book The Artist's Way by Julie Cameron
• Julia Cameron's Artist's Way website
• 750words.com - a tool for writing Morning Pages online
• amyclimer.com
• Pinterest
• Evernote
• Strict Workflow

The Weekly Challenge

Try at least one of these creative boosters this week. What happens? Share in the comment section or send me an email and let me know how it goes.

Upcoming Workshops with Amy Climer

From Conflict to Resolution: Managing and Mediating Conflict at Work - November 6, 2015, Milwaukee, WI

Transcript

Feel like reading instead of listening? Download the PDF Transcript. Enjoy! (will be uploaded in a couple of days)

What is your story? The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves impact so many aspects of our lives, from our physical health to our success and happiness. Mindsets are the way we think about our skills, abilities, talents, intelligence, and attributes. Do you believe your intelligence is set or that it can be cultivated with effort and practice? How about creativity, the quality of relationships, or personality attributes? Find out how the research of Carol Dweck and others is making a big impact on people's lives.

What You'll Learn

• The difference between the Fixed and Growth Mindsets
• Why your mindset impacts the stories you tell yourself
• How the stories you tell yourself impact your happiness and success

Resources

• Book Mindset by Carol Dweck
• Carol Dweck's TED Talk

The Weekly Challenge

If you are really honest with yourself, there is probably at least one area of your life where you hold the Fixed Mindset. Identify that area and see if you can begin to shift your thinking to build a Growth Mindset. Notice what changes for you.

In this episode Amy Climer examines the research on how to build creative teams and provides six actions leaders can take to enhance their team's creative output.

What You'll Learn

• Two myths about creativity that are common in teams and business
• Six ways leaders can build creativity in any team
• Three ways to build trust amongst your team

The Weekly Challenge

Which of the six actions can you begin this week with your team? Talk with you team to see which areas they feel are most important. Make one step towards helping your team become more creative.