Without fail, the need to “drive innovation” has appeared in all business strategy documents that we have worked with during the last 12 months. Frequently, this requirement goes against the grain of the business cultures we are working in, many being risk averse. Shifting this internal permission in a ‘safe way’ is a big picture dilemma that requires a cultural shift led through behavioural, process and symbolic change; tactically, building individual and team capabilities in innovation and creativity is another.
Many organisations have made positive steps forward on this agenda, with the implementation of ‘think tanks’ and the reinstatement of ‘continuous improvement’ initiatives. Our observation is that we have a lot further to go! Every employee needs to feel truly engaged in the innovation agenda.
Vanda North, a Space2BE partner has kindly written for us providing a tool for increasing your ability to be creative. Shifting each individual’s ability to think differently will change your culture. Thank you Vanda:
What’s the relationship between your mental energy and Creativity?
I believe that your Mind Chi, or mental energy, is the stimulant, the nourishment and the fertiliser for creativity. It is the bed onto which an idea
or seed may fall and find the food and water to encourage growth.
I think that there are several internal mental factors that are important for the cultivation of creativity and the flow of this energy in the individual: your self-concept; your self-talk; your motivation; your outlook and your confidence. These factors tend to interact either synergistically (when harnessed in a positive way) or antagonistically.
These attributes, which will be enhanced when your Mind Chi (mental energy) is flowing strongly through your body and brain, is also your level of self-confidence. Authentic self-confidence is the ‘open sesame’ for the creativity to pour through. It may appear quiet or bubbly on the outside, inside it is a deep river of knowing that you can create whatever is necessary to find a solution to this problem or goal. You just have to keep your Mind Chi flowing and know you will ultimately succeed.
I think that creativity, stress management and mental energy are intertwined.
The reason that I teach ‘Mind Chi creativity on demand’ is that I believe (and have experienced) that if I am feeling the strain of stress, it stems my mental energy and I am hard pushed to be creative. If I am positively pulled (as opposed to negatively pushed) and my Mind Chi is strong, then I am encouraged to produce creative output. So we teach that it is crucial to manage the strain of stress through the Mind Chi Basic 8 step routine and your ability to create will naturally be enhanced.
I would love to briefly share the 8 simple steps of the Mind Chi Basic Routine, which take only 8 minutes to perform:
‘Mind Chi – Re-wire your BRAIN in just 8 minutes a day – strategies for success in business & life’
Mind Chi is your attitude, your motivation;
your outlook; your willpower; your whole wayof facing life; your inner control;
your resilience; your goals and purpose….
really all that makes up – YOU!
Introducing Mind Chi
Mind Chi offers you a simple and revolutionary way to improve your mental energy, (re)gain control of yourself and thereby solve your problems, master your stress and achieve your goals.
Mind Chi is a synthesis of ancient wisdom, positive psychology, recent brain research and eudemonics (the study of happiness). The eight steps (taking just 8 minutes) of Mind Chi are grounded firmly in established theories of memory, psychology, mind and motivational development, leading edge brain/mind research and are the distillation of over eighty years’ combined personal experience and development by the authors. The techniques are designed to improve your control, willpower, attitude, resilience, self-concept, memory and focus, and in so doing increase your success in business and life.
What are the aims of Mind Chi?
They are to:
- assist you to build, manage and direct your mental energy for increased success in business and life
- build resilience to the ravages of stress and the resulting strain
- develop your self-leadership and will power
- reinvent yourself in these constantly changing times and
- re-wire your brain in just 8 minutes a day to achieve all this!
Step | Process |
---|---|
Breathe | Place one hand on your belly and make sure that it rises and falls more than your other hand which is placed high on your chest. Do deep ‘belly breaths’ for a minute (make a ‘square shape’ in-hold-out-wait for 3 seconds each). |
Attend | Look at a second hand on a time piece and think of the word ‘One’ for a full minute. As soon as an intruding thought comes in, move up a number. Notice what number you reached by the end of the minute. The object is to keep your score at ‘one’. |
Adjust | Rewind the tape to see where you might have acted / spoken / been more helpful. Count these times on your non-dominant hand. |
Associate | Review the tape to see where you did perform in a helpful and positive way. Link these with your feelings of success. Count these on your dominant hand. |
The next two steps look at ‘NOW’ and are of great importance. This is where you can experience (re)gaining control over yourself. |
|
Be Aware | Check in with your Body, Emotions, Actions and Thoughts (BEAT) to observe how they are functioning. |
Choose | The crucial step, because IF they are not what you wish, this is where you get to change them! |
And the final two steps give you the ‘FUTURE’ you desire. | |
Plan | Project 24 hours, how would you like to be / act / think and feel? Multi-sensorially experience yourself in a forward ‘video’. |
Be Grateful | This is for all that you have received and may receive – it sends you on your way with a happy heart, a spring in your step and an expectant frame of mind… |
On the next page is a Mind Chi map of the 8 steps. There are four segments to
the Mind Chi routine, each with two steps, making the 8-minute total.
The 8 steps to your Mind Chi Basic routine map
After the Mind Chi Basic 8 minute routine, you may apply Mind Chi to any specific problem or goal. 50 of the most often requested topics are already crafted for you in the book. The book ‘Mind Chi’ is on sale at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
For details on the Mind Chi Mentor program, go to www.MindChi.com.
Here is the Mind Chi BEAT to develop your CREATIVITY:
Thanks Vanda. This is definitely taking some of us out of our comfort zone – and isn’t that what innovation needs?
If you would like to pilot a 2 hour ‘mind chi’ workshop designed to enhance the creativity of your employees contact us at: connect@space2be.co