Common Thinking Traps. No. 7 – Emotional Reasoning

To ‘cut to the chase’ it’s the unconscious mind that governs emotion. I like to think of the unconscious as a young puppy. Often wildly responding and out of control unless we keep a loving, but tight, reign. The limbic part of the brain (at the heart of the unconscious mind) deals with the ‘Freeze, Flight or Fight’ Response. (It’s in that order of response, by the way, and not ‘Fight or Fight’, as it’s so very often referred.). What happens with Emotional Reasoning is that we ‘reason’ that what we are believing is true without questioning its validity.

The very phrase, ‘Emotional Reasoning’ is actually an oxymoron. Emotions aren’t reasoned responses. They are just ‘played out’ by the Limbic System / unconscious mind. That’s why we ask ourselves after our response: “Why did I do that?” The neocortex part of the brain is seeking to reason the emotional response.

Further, what psychologists call cognitive dissonance abounds in Emotional Reasoning. We create reasons that justify our behaviours, and ignore, as well as delete, behaviours that don’t fit in with ourEmotional Reasoning. Cognitive dissonance exists when conflicting beliefs and attitudes exist at the same time within someone. One of those beliefs must give in to the other one. Humans are remarkably adept at dropping one belief to allow another one to dominate. Practise it for long enough and we can justify any behavioural response, never questioning whether it is a helpful thing to do or not!

I feel guilty.

Guilt is a very powerful emotion. I believe that it is one of the most damaging and destructive emotions. Guilt grinds us down, freezes us from releasing change and creates excessive levels of stress with long-term damage to our bodies. Yes, guilt is that powerful.

We should challenge guilt at every opportunity. But how? An excellent website with some very practical advice can be read here. There are some very powerful questions that we can ask ourselves when feeling guilty. They involve asking what someone else might be feeling, thinking, saying and doing if they were in the situation that we find ourselves in. The very act of asking this question helps to calm the emotion (the unconscious/Limbic System) and allow our conscious mind to consider, reflect and enable a more desired response. For example, asking ourselves how our trusted friend, John might be feeling if he was in our situation may well give us a different perspective to our own. John might behave in a different way if he were in our situation and he might also say something more helpful in the long-term.

Acting this way (yes, it’s good to act) can help reduce the emotion, will help stop us saying or doing what isn’t helpful and will free us to live the life that we want to live.

I generally find that forgiveness helps too. It might be forgiving others for what happened; it might be forgiving yourself for what happened. Forgiveness frees us. It’s the opposite of guilt. Whereas guilt grinds us down, forgiveness frees us up. The more we are freed up, the more satisfied we will find our lives.

As a Christian, I believe that Christ has bought me freedom from guilt through His death and Resurrection. By believing in Him and not letting guilt have any power over me it’s helped me to look up and live the kind of life I want to lead.

Whatever your personal beliefs, getting rid of the power of guilt will make such a positive difference to your life. It will probably feel like a massive weight has been lifted off your shoulders. There are things that I wish I hadn’t done (regrets) but I refuse to let the guilt of those events take a hold. Those events are what I’ve done; those events are not who I am. I’m looking up and moving forward and no event or belief is going to hold me back or down.

How might you free yourself up today?

Summary:

Challenge: I feel guilty.
Opportunity: If (someone you trust and respect) was in this situation what would they say/feel/think/do?
Reflection: emotions can mist. What evidence can I find to disagree with my judgement and how might I think and behave differently if I did?
Saying: Guilt grinds me down; forgiveness frees me up!

 

Common Thinking Traps. No. 3 – Blame Culture

Welcome to the third in the series of common thinking traps and how to avoid them. The first one was catastrophising and the second was Generalisation. The third one that I’m discussing today is called Blame Culture; in my opinion it’s rife within society.

The first in the series, catastrophising, made it clear that we need to fully accept and take responsibility for the life that we lead if we are to affect powerful and desired changes in our thinking and actions. I discussed what I refer to as the ‘Adam and Eve Syndrome: “She made me eat it; the serpent said it was ok.”

The Challenge to Blame Culture is self-explanatory: namely, we are constantly on the look-out to blame others for what has happened to us and not accept responsibility. The famous musical Westside Story features the wonderful song: Officer Krupke. In that song there are lines such as:
My grandpas’s always plastered,
My grandma pushes tea.
My sister wears a moustache,
My brother wears a dress.
Goodness gracious, that’s why I’m a mess!

Do these events help shape Action’s life? They probably didn’t help. Are these events the cause of Action’s life being a mess? No.

Apportioning the blame to those around you, as the cause of your life being like it is, is to absolve yourself of personal responsibility and ownership of your life. After the moan’s over what’s going to change? The people that you are blaming are unlikely to, or literally can’t, change (they’re no longer alive) the way that they behave.

A far more effective process is to demand change in yourself. You can change you. You are wasting your time if you expect to change them.

My wife and I are involved in Marriage Preparation at the church that we attend. It never fails to raise a smile when we present one particular section called: Isle, Alter, Hymn. Namely:
Brides: Remember, walk slowly down the isle, stop near to the altar and once you’ve sung the first hymn you’ll feel more relaxed. So, as you walk down the isle with whoever’s giving you away, just keep saying over and over again: “Aisle, altar, hymn; aisle, altar, hymn; aisle, altar, hymn…
I’ll alter him; I’ll alter him…”

Blaming others for our disappointments, our character and our exam results is a waste of time and energy. Seeking to change another person is, by the same token, a waste of time and energy. Accept responsibility for the situation you’re in. You’re in it after all, no one else.

The Opportunity for questions to ask could include:
How can I take responsibility here? What can I do?

There is much to reflect and I’ve written about that above. Two further thoughts are these:

When you blame others, you give up your power to change

- Robert Anthony

Acting lame leads to acting blame

- Stephen Long

Take the opportunity to act decisively and take control of the situation that you find yourself in. Blame no one. You have the power to change, to make decisions and lead a blame-less, or even better, blame-no one life. It requires you to let go: to let go of blame.

Say to yourself along with the two quotes above: I banish blame and I accept full responsibility.

Here’s the summary:
Challenge – She’s at fault! He made me!
Opportunity – How can I take responsibility here?
Reflection: Acting lame leads to acting blame
Saying – I banish blame and I accept full responsibility

 

Overcome Presentation Fears – Part Three

It's lovely when your audience clap you isn't it? Read this and the previous two posts and it might be happening to you as well! Image used courtesy of Ambro. Ambro's portfolio is: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1499

In the second part of Overcome Presentation Fears we explored a further three strategies to use. You can read about them in detail by clicking or tapping here for the second session or here for the first session but in summary they were:

1. The audience is on your side
2. Know your material / know its contents
3. Practise in front of an audience
4. Remember to breathe!
5. Never do these things
6. Focus on the audience and not yourself

The last three that I’m going to explore are:
7. Imagine and plan for potential issues
8. Communicate
9. Control the atmosphere

7. Imagine and plan for potential issues

Visualisation is a technique that proponents argue allows the person to influence the world around them by altering their thought processes. A change in thought process and a redirection to imagining success with a particular desired skill or goal in general leads to accomplishment of that goal.

Wallace Wattles (1860-1911) was one of the first people to use this technique and many organisations, athletes and establishments have advocated this strategy ever since such as: Ronald A. Finke, who wrote about this in Creative Imagery: Discoveries and Inventions in Visualisation.

I challenge that single approach to success, as I believe from my studies that there is a much more effective tool to use; it seems that psychology today agrees with me too. I wrote about this more effective tool that is called doublethink in a previous post on my personal blog and you can read about it here. The simple fact of the matter is that, contrary to what advocates of visualisation indicate, the overwhelming evidence is that visualisation alone will seldom bring the successes desired. Many studies (1) such as those carried out by, among others, Professor Oettingen have shown that those who solely use visualisation techniques are not as successful in reaching their goals as those who use doublethink strategies. (Please see the footnote for two such research sources.)

I strongly encourage you to read about doublethink by clicking here. It really is significantly more effective at helping you to reach your goals than merely visualisation. 

My reason for stressing the importance of employing doublethink is that imagining how you are going to perform, imagining the audience’s various responses and imagining the atmosphere in the room while simultaneously giving due diligence to how you are going to address any issues that arise is a highly effective toolset for overcoming the fear of presentation. “When it came to it, I just couldn’t cope!” is not something that you want to be saying. Using imagination and addressing hurdles to overcome, at the same time, put you in much greater control and you are far more likely to reach your desired goal of delivering a confident, well presented performance. 

Be very specific at this stage. What atmosphere do you want in the room? What expressions, questions, attitudes and behaviours do you envisage your audience showing? What will you do specifically when things ‘don’t go quite as you planned’? What awkward questions might someone ask and what bank of answers do you have that you can use to reply with? When someone fidgets or looks clearly disinterested in your direct line of sight how will you cope? How do you imagine delivering that key message and what will you do to ensure it is clearly expressed and then adopted by your audience? Or, in a musical scenario, if there’s an awkward musical phrase that you’re having difficulty playing imagine yourself playing it just as you want to as well as employing all the strategies you have put in place to play it to your best ability.

8. Communicate

One could spend a whole book on effective communication; there is so much that can be said. So as not to make this blogpost hours in length to read!, I have highlighted some of the most critical points to remember. 

- Make eye contact with as many people in the room as possible, as often as possible. If you don’t know your material and its contents (see point 2 in the first post) you will simply not be able to maintain eye contact as much as possible with your audience. You might even start reading your slides and using them as your prompts! That is one of the worst communication errors that you can make. Remember, you are presenting, not your slides. Know your slide’s contents well enough that you only need one or two words (a short sentence at the most) to be able to present. The biggest error you can make is to display slides with dozens of images and symbols as well as reams of text. That is one sure-fire way to switch off your audience! 

- If you fail to recognise the difference between presentation and conversation you are actively encouraging your audience to ‘switch off’. I have discussed some of this in Part Two under number 4: Remember to breathe! but I want to explain this in more detail in this last post. Powerful motivational forces run when we are conversing with someone. We recognise ‘turns’, we pay attention so that we can reply with a point or even change the direction one the conversation and, if we’re confused or disagree with a point made, we invariably voice that confusion or disagreement in the hope that the person speaking will further clarify their point and then continue, with perhaps ourselves or others going in the conversation. No such opportunities exist when presenting. There is no ‘turn-taking’; the presenter is doing just that: presenting. They understand that for all intents and purposes they will not be interrupted, they generally won’t need to clarify their point since most people are too afraid to raise a query and if confusion arises in the audience: tough on them! When confusion arises in the audience, rather than immediately querying with the presenter in the hope to getting back ‘on-track’ in the conversation – which is what would naturally happen in a conversation with someone – the confused person ‘back-tracks’ in their mind in the hope of checking their confusion and hopefully increasing clarification. The speaker, of course, hasn’t waited for this to happen (they don’t after all know!) so they carry on speaking. This means that the confused person is now behind what is presently being spoken about. Often, the effect in the audience is to ‘switch off’, clearly, this is absolutely not what you, as the presenter, want to have happen.

How do you avoid audiences ‘switching off’? Aside from making your presentations so much more interesting!, as a presenter you must make sure that your audience doesn’t ‘switch off’ and the following suggestions will help prevent that happening:

a) People attending presentations naturally assume that they are going to listen – not speak. It is the psychological drive to ‘take turns’ that you must therefore harness. ‘How many of you agree with me?’ might be a question that you ask to your audience. Better yet, if you can engage a ‘crowd response’ you are really on to a winner! Find ways of expecting your audience as a whole to respond e.g. ‘Share what you’ve learnt in the past 10 minutes with the person next to you.’; ‘Hands up if think what I’ve said is true for you!’ .

‘Crowd responses’ like you get at pantomimes are even better. All that collective ‘Boo-ing’ and ‘Cheering’ is immensely powerful at getting us engaged, and staying that way. I’m not suggesting having your audience boo you is good on any level but having your audience sincerely laugh with you at something you’ve said is a powerful retentive influence. They will actually listen out for further opportunities to do something that they enjoy doing: laughing. Don’t tell jokes (unless you’re a successful comedian!) but humorous anecdotal experiences are effective ways of engaging ‘crowd responses’.    

b) Avoid ‘um-ing and er-ing’ 

Your audience will ‘switch off’ from hearing the meaning that you are wanting to communicate and will start counting the ‘ums’ and ‘ers’. It’s OK to ‘um’ in conversation; it’s not OK in presentation. People who ‘um’ are looking for inspiration, to give themselves more time to articulate their answer or what they are going to say on the next slide. If you’re thoroughly prepared you know what you’re going to say and what might be the possible questions your audience might ask so the likelihood of ‘um-ing’ is dramatically reduced. If you’re ‘um-ing’ a lot practise a lot more.

c) Show enthusiasm and passion about what you’re presenting. If you’re not showing positive emotion: you shouldn’t be presenting. Simply put: if you’re not passionate about what you’re saying how can you expect your audience to be? Remember though intonation dissipates with distance. You need to exaggerate your intonations and expressions so that these characteristics reach the back of the audience. Speaking slower, pausing every 6-10 words and repeating and emphasising key words will all help to communicate your meaning as effectively as possible. 

If you find yourself wondering how you can communicate more effectively contact me by clicking here.

9. Control the atmosphere

The reason Control the atmosphere is no. 9 is simply because doing all the previous 8 will generate the atmosphere that you want and allow you to control it in the ways that you want. If you recognise that the audience has come to hear you (so you must be worth it otherwise they wouldn’t); are thoroughly prepared in what you are going to say or do and have a good grasp of what the audience might ask you; have practised - a lot (the late Steve Jobs practised and practised for days before his world-renowned Keynote presentations); let your presentation breathe; avoid saying things you shouldn’t (start being your biggest fan; not your biggest condemner); focus on the audience and not on yourself to deliver the best presentation that you can; use visualisation and address the hurdles to overcome, together; and communicate as effectively as possible not only will you have the atmosphere you want in the room but you will have the kind of presentation that people will want to hear again and again and again!      

(1) Oettingen, Pak and Schnetter: “Self-regulation of Goal Setting: Turning Free Fantasies About the Future into Binding Goals” (2001)

(1) Oettingen and Gollwitzer: “Self-regulation of Goal Persuit: Turning Hope Thoughts into Behaviour” (2002)

 

Overcome Presentation Fears – Part One

The strategies in the next three posts have come from training sessions that I have led, courses that I have attended and material that I have gleaned from books. Possibly, not all the strategies here will work for you; we’re all different after all. However, I am confident that you will find a number of strategies that will work for you. Please do let me know what you tried and how you got on!

While the title might indicate that this post is primarily for those presenting in front of an audience the strategies here will also work for any person performing such as those singing or playing in a concert or exam and no doubt many other situations too.

I am going to present the strategies over the next three posts. Today’s post will focus on the first three.

What are the first three strategies?

1. The audience is on your side
2. Know your material / know its contents
3. Practise in front of an audience

1. The audience is on your side

In fairness this might not always be the case and certainly won’t be if you’re a politician attempting to persuade doubting voters to vote for you! The reality though is that few of us will face situations where the audience is quite so hostile. And if you do, point 2 becomes even more important!

In the majority of cases the audience is on your side. They may well have paid to hear you, you may be their relative or friend and they may well be genuinely interested in what you’re saying or doing. Audiences are vastly more forgiving than we think, don’t notice what we do and want us to do our best. Focus on the audience working for you. Take due diligence of point 2 (and 6 in the next post) in particular though otherwise they might stop being on your side!

2. Know your material / know its contents

Fail to plan; plan to fail. It’s as simple as that. There are an incredibly small number of people who can perform on stage without rehearsing. In my opinion no one should do this, however good they are. Steve Jobs, one of the best presenters in history and someone sadly missed by many including me, rehearsed and rehearsed until he not only knew the material in terms of fully comprehending it but barely if at all needed notes when actually presenting it. He knew not only what slide was coming next but crucially its content too. It’s essential that you not only comprehend what you’re going to be saying or performing but you have a good grasp of what’s coming next in your presentation.

Too many presenters or performers have learnt this lesson the hard way. There’s only so much that you can control; IT in the form of laptops, projectors and memory sticks has a funny habit of failing just when we need it most. Just think how impressed your already on your side audience will be when you can carry on without the slides! Remember, you are presenting, not your slides. Far too many people rely on PowerPoint to do the presenting when the audience came to hear you present. Practise your presentation, or recital!, without your material several times at least. OK, it might not be flawless but if it’s ‘pretty much there’ you know that you grasp and can present your material as well as manage an effective solution if software, hardware or other failures occur.

3. Practise in front of an audience

There’s one thing being able to perform it in front of yourself; it’s quite another when it comes to performing to the audience. If I had a pound (dollar) for the number of times I’ve heard, “I was fine when I practised on my own but when I performed in front of others it all went wrong!” I’d be a rich man. We can do little about failing technology; we can do a lot about failing nerves. Simply practising in front of an audience (it’s highly likely that they will probably be in the last performance audience as well, smiling away – see point 1) will help give you the feel of what it will be like on the day. Notice, like, it won’t be exactly the same. However, we need to start somewhere and practising in this way will help you develop and control your nerves.

While not as effective as performing to an audience (see the quote above), if there’s no one to practise with, performing in front of a mirror will help you to control your anxieties. A mirror also allows you to see what the audience sees (facial expressions and your body language in general) and could give valuable feedback of things that you can change for the better.

Next post will explore three more techniques for overcoming presentation fear. Let me know what happens when you try these techniques by posting comments below. Until next time!

 

If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t you’re right!

If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t you’re right!

Closed and Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck is a psychologist at Stamford University. Her interest in all things to do with the mind began at school. Her teacher arranged the children’s seating in the classroom in terms of their IQ; Dweck finding herself at the front of the class since she possessed the highest IQ in her class.

This post is not about the somewhat dubious educational strategy of organising your class by IQ; rather, it’s about what this sparked in Dweck in terms of her thinking and what would eventually become a passion in her to help people view their mindset not as pre-determined and fixed but something that could be changed.

It was psychologist, Dweck who also coined the phrase Growth Mindset. This post will explain what that is and what you can do to change your mind.

Growth Mindset
Dweck’s studies revealed an interesting discovery. She found that people tended to fall into one of two groups: those who believed that their talents and abilities were pre-determined and were unable to change (Dweck called this a fixed mindset) and those who believed that they could constantly improve their skills and abilities (what Dweck called a growth mindset). Those who fell into the fixed mindset saw failure as defining who they were so life’s constant challenges generated constant failure and low self-worth. The net effect was that future challenges were shied away from.

Those who fell into the growth mindset saw ‘failure’ as opportunity to do better next time. ‘Failure’ was simply a learning opportunity for skills to improve next time. And, as you can see from the speech marks used, ‘failure’ was not a word that growth mindset people accept as defining them.

Dweck is quoted as saying, “People in a growth mindset don’t just seek challenge, they thrive on it. The bigger the challenge, the more they stretch… The fixed mindset doesn’t allow people the luxury of becoming [someone or something better]. They have to already be.”

Simply put, growth mindset says that your mind can grow and improve. It will take practice and determination but it’s something that you can do.

Techniques that work
What follows are some useful techniques that encourage a growth mindset approach not just in yourself but in those around you.

You personally

If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t you’re right!

This is a very powerful quote. Deciding that you can do something is half the battle. Now, I’m not talking about things that are clearly beyond your present skill-set; I’m referring to things that given different circumstances you can do; yet, for various reasons you find yourself saying, “I can’t!”

This can be particularly the case in performance circumstances. The point is: if you can do it, you can do it! What’s preventing you thinking that you can? Identify what that is and your half way there to changing your mind! Actually resolving what it was that was preventing you might take a little longer but it can be done. If you need help doing this please contact me.

You can, you know! My mum, a very wise lady, used to tell me what she was taught at school. ‘There’s no such thing as can’t. Take off the ‘t’ and it’s can!” How can you lose the ‘t’ today? Let me know; I’d love to hear your stories.

For others
Firstly, giving praise for effort is a vital self-esteem and therefore growth mindset per-requisite. Those lacking in self-esteem may well be so for two reasons: 1) they never received any or enough praise 2) what was praised was their ability or intelligence and not their effort. Point 2) needs some explanation.

If we praise ability and intelligence: “You are such a clever person for solving that…” we reinforce that intelligence is defined by solving the problem. The issue comes when someone faces something they are unable to solve. Praising intelligence and not effort means that the person unable to complete the task has it reinforced that they are now not clever. What then tends to happen is that the person won’t accept and take on new challenges. In effect their mindset becomes fixed. Incidentally, this is particularly significant for those who are naturally successful in what they do. A praise culture that rewards ability and not effort becomes unstuck when the ‘successful’ person meets something they are unable to do. Rapidly, their mindset closes.

What we should always praise is effort. Comments such as, “You’ve worked so hard on that, well done!” clearly focuses on the effort involved. Effort is a growth mindset word and countless research from Dweck and many other psychologists validate praising effort as the key to a life of continuous improvement.

No one’s a mind reader!
We might wish that they were but they’re not. If we expect them to be we’ve adopted a closed mindset: we’re assuming that they can’t be anything else other than what we think they are. They shouldn’t be expected to mind read. If they can so much the better, just don’t expect them to be! What would it be like if you just told them? And: “What would it be like if you made the effort to notice what the other person might need in the first place?!”

In summary, commit today to a growth mindset. To a mindset that says: “I’m going to give this a go!” No, you might not reach your goal. But remember, what you do is what you do, it’s not who you are. You might reach your goal too! If so, reward yourself for the effort that you employed.

I would love to hear about your stories of closed and growth mindset as well as stories of challenges undertaken focussing on effort. Write your comments below. If you want to know more about Growth Mindset and how you can change your mind contact me here or by using the links on the homepage for a free, informal chat.

 

Be curious this Christmas and onwards

Let us put it another way: the lackof curiosity is the Dementor that sucks all hope, joy, possibility and beauty out of the world.

The Second Book of General Ignorance page xiv

How true! How might you be curious, this Christmas? Better still, stay curious. You never know what avenues might open to you.

 

This week saw a sad day for millions of Apple fans the world over; me included. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple announced his retirement and Tim Cook was appointed permanent CEO. I’ve read quite a lot about Tim Cook and I, for one, think that Apple is in safe hands. After all, it’s not difficult to steer the ship that Apple sails with its millions of devoted, loyal fans and its outstanding array of products. Yes, I am one of those loyal fans. While the stock Market might not, yet, agree (Apple stock fell dramatically following Jobs’s announcement) it will bounce back. The King might be gone; the Kingdom is very much alive and kicking.

Of course Apple, like any successful company, doesn’t ‘sell’ what it first appears it sells. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz doesn’t sell coffee (he sells a third place to meet). John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, doesn’t sell switches and routers [yawn] but human connections that change the ways that we work in the modern world. Apple don’t sell iPods, iPhones and MacBooks: they sell the means to change the world; to “put a dent in the universe”, as Steve Jobs once said.

What is it about this charismatic, erudite, visioned hands-on workaholic with a prolific ability to encapsulate in a short sentence technology that changes the world and the way that we interact with it that makes him so engaging and influential? Well, I think I just answered it. Jobs was a very hands-on CEO determined to make a difference. There are many accounts of him being up all night working on a product, a presentation or just ‘where next to go next’. I suspect that this has taken its toll but it reflects the man and his desire and passion to change the world.

It is to his ability to encapsulate and connect that I want to devote the rest of this blog to explaining. Jobs possessed the remarkable ability to say what he wanted to say about his products in about 10 words what so many CEOs tried to say – and often failed – about their products in ten times that many words. The launch of the ipod epitomised this with the phrase; “A thousand songs in your pocket.” Headline writers no longer needed to think of a headline for the iPod launch; Jobs had done it for them. There are reasons as to why this was such an impacting headline. If you want to know more please contact me.

This ability to encapsulate is something that many of us could learn from. “Questions with the power to change your mind. Permanently.” is my current headline for my Powerchange business. It is those questions that I sell in my business. The advantage in being able to summarise in ten words or fewer what you stand for, sell, represent or simply do is that it’s much more easily assimilated by people and allows you consistency and clarity in your own mind. And it’s not just businesses that benefit from doing this. Whatever we do find a way to summarise it in ten words or fewer. It will help bring clarity to you.

Are you going for a job interview? This technique will benefit you enormously if you consider what impact you can have on the organisation. Remember, what is it that the company is actually selling? How can you help them do that better? That will be your way in. I have helped people find work and I can help you too.

I’m writing this, not in Starbucks, but in Costa. It is my ‘third place’ to write my blog and the buzz of people around me gives me inspiration. You see, I write this blog for them. I write it to make a ‘dent’ in their lives. By ‘dent’ of course I mean in the positive sense of alter. If what I write can put a ‘dent’ in their lives and cause a change for the better then I have been successful. I’m passionate about changing people’s lives and I believe that I have a ‘story’ for them that will bring about permanent change for the better.

What I’ve worked on this summer is my statement: mission statement if you like about what I’m selling. We ‘sell’ to people all of the time in the words that we speak, the actions that we do, the lives that we lead. If that lifestyle that we lead is desired by others they will adopt it too. Frances of Assisi famously said: “Preach the Gospel and if necessary use words.” The question is: am I selling what I want to sell by the life that I lead; the example that I set? If it is, carry on doing it. If not, do something different.

In summary do you know what you stand for, ‘sell’ or do? Can you encapsulate it in ten words or fewer? What ‘dent’, or impact if you’d prefer, are you having in the lives of those around you? Is it the impact what you want?

Do you want to know more and how you can change your life for the life you want to lead? How about contacting me for an free, informal chat (I’m on Skype with the name stephenlong22) or by visiting my website? Alternatively, by all means write a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

SCAMPER – Further ways to increase creativity

The technique known as SCAMPER has been around for a while. It was probably first devised by Alex Osborn who was an entrepreneur in the brainstorming-world. As it might imply, SCAMPER is a mnemonic. I have slightly altered it. SCAMPER stands for:

S = Substitute

C = Combine

A = Alter

M = Modify

P = Put (to other uses)

E = Exclude

R = Rearrange

The principle behind SCAMPER is that there’s nothing new in the world. Rather, everything now created isn’t new; merely a modification of something that already existed. That’s rather a simple view but I’m sure that you appreciate what I mean. Just think how many items made of plastic there are! They all came from petroleum and were modified in some way.

The key behind using SCAMPER is to find exactly what it is you want to apply the SCAMPER technique to: the object in question and them ask any or all the questions that pertain to the SCAMPER mnemonic. Using the SCAMPER principle has been shown on countless occasions to increase creativity especially if stuck on a solution or looking to create something novel.

Here are possible questions for the letters but there are many possible questions; be creative in what you ask!:

S = Substitute

What elements can I substitute for something else?

C = Combine

What could I combine with what I have to make something different?

A = Alter

How can I alter this and what might happen if I did?

M = Modify

If I modified what I’ve done so far [and added much more of that] what might happen?

P = Put (it to another use)

Where else could I use what I’ve got?

E = Exclude

What could I exclude from the procedure and what effect might that have?

R = Rearrange

If I rearranged how I put this together what might that give me?

These are just some of the questions that can be asked that apply the SCAMPER mnemonic. What follows are some specific examples in the history of invention that illustrate the application of SCAMPER.

S = Substitute

Perhaps one of the most flexible, widely used and constantly improved instrument over many years is the piano forte, or piano, as we know today’s modern instrument to be called. Cristofori (c. 1700) is said to be the inventor of the instrument that resembles the piano of today. Neither the harpsichord and clavichord quite cut the musical mustard, as one was too quiet for performance on a large-scale (clavichord) and the other didn’t give the dynamic (loud and soft) range required (harpsichord). They both featured plucked strings as well unlike the piano forte that would feature hammers striking the strings.

Over the next 100 or so years the piano’s components were constantly substituted and improved, as one part after another was substituted for a better, more responsive sound. This was perhaps most notably made when felt hammers were used, as a substitute for layered leather or cotton. The famous Steinway family continued to improve the piano to give us one of the most flexible and responsive instruments that we have today.

C  = Combine

Combining one field of science with mathematics has led to many new discoveries or inventions. Most notable was Gregor Mendel who discovered that certain traits (he used peas) correlated to specific mathematical patterns: Mendelian Inheritance. He went on to explore what would happen if mathematics and biology were combined and created the field of science that we know of today called genetics. It wasn’t until the 20th century that independent research verified Mendel’s inheritance theory but it still serves as a foundational model (although it has been improved) for the modern science of genetics today.

A = alter

Thomas Edison constantly altered things to develop and improve them. In fact he’s quoted as saying, “Make it a habit to keep a look out for… interesting ideas that others have used successfully” and alter them. Very wise thinking. We can thank Edison for that ‘light bulb’ moment with the invention of… You guessed it. [Ehem...]

M = Modify

Coming right up to date, well, almost, in the history of invention we have Yuma Shiraishi: the Japanese inventor who created the rapidly becoming obsolete VCR. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say. Shiraishi worked out how to lengthen tapes previously used so that they would be sufficiently long enough to record movies. The VCR, as we know it, was invented.

P = Put (to another use)

How many uses can you find for a peanut? George Carver discovered 300 uses for it! Former president Jimmy Carter must have been delighted!

E = Exclude

The Hungarian László József Bíró noticed that newspaper ink dried especially quickly. That in itself isn’t remarkable; many of us would have noticed that. What distinguishes great inventors though is application. Bíró wondered what would happen if he put this ink in a fountain pen. The effect was that because the ink was too viscous it wouldn’t flow out of the fountain pen. Bíró faced a choice: exclude the use of the ink and keep the fountain pen or visa versa. He decided to exclude the use of the fountain pen and invent a new product that utilised the fast-drying ink. I suspect you’ve already worked out what he invented: it was the Biro. It was a brave decision to forego the fountain pen in favour of a new creation. The fountain pen is a design dream: aesthetic beauty and delight in my opinion and I’m sure others too. It was the correct decision though: the Biro took the world by storm and over 14 millions Biros are sold world-wide every day.

R = Rearrange

Sports managers and coaches seldom realise how many rearrangements of their players are possible. A baseball manager, for example, has 362, 880 arrangements for their players so there should be a formation to provide any defence!

And what about the humble computer or typewriter keyboard? Amos Densmore rearranged the positions of the keys on a typewriter to give the familiar QWERTY layout that we have today. You might be surprised to know that this happened in 1875. What was the reason for the rearrangement? It was to prevent commonly typed letters that were close together on the original typewriter layout sticking to one another when typing.

Of course, this is irrelevant on a computer keyboard but we’re all so used to this layout that having alternative layouts is disorientating. Have you ever typed a label using a Brother ™ P-Touch 1010 label maker? If you have you’ll know what I mean.

Are you in education?

For those who are involved in education you might like to know that Bob Eberle took the principles outlined above and utilised them extensively throughout his education career. Here’s what he presented in the classroom for pupils. I have added my own words in squared ‘[' brackets:

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. [Also known as Alter]

M – Modify – increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes [e.g. colour, shape, size]

P – Put to another use

E – Eliminate – remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality. [Referred to by me above as Exclude]

R – Reverse – turn inside out or upside down, also use of Reversal. [Referred to by me above as Rearrange]

Let me know where you use SCAMPER in the coming days. What’s the most creative way that you you could SCAMPER in your personal, work, social etc life? Better go, got to SCAMPER…

 

How to boost creativity – Part 2

Image used courtesy of jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last time we explored three of the six recognised and widely researched techniques that lead to an increase in creativity. In this post we explore the remaining three:

4. Combining concepts

5. Abstract thinking

6. Allowing your mind to wander

Image used courtesy of gameanna / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

4. Combining Concepts

Combining concepts is all about combining those concepts that seem to be in contradiction with each other. The psychologist Rothenberg is attributed with this technique and it’s often called the Janus technique. Janus was the mythical figure that has two faces that faced in the opposite direction from each other.

Perhaps, in some respects, this bears a resemblance to Doublethink that I have written several posts on before. Suffice to say here: Doublethink involves holding two apparently contradictory thoughts simultaneously and is a remarkably successful technique for overcoming stumbling blocks and remaining motivated.

In regard to combining concepts it’s a technique that allows us to make connections between apparently contradictory scenarios. When we make new connections we literally form new connections in the mind. This in itself is useful. When those new connections link apparently unrelated concepts through analogy the new connections in the mind can lead to a significant boost in creativity.

This technique has been widely used and has certainly stood ‘the test of time’. Aficionados of combining concepts through analogy include Einstein. He used this technique when attempting to formulate his thinking on gravitational force. How? He imagined a person falling with a rock from a sufficiently high height that both the person and the rock fell at the same rate of acceleration. Galileo had also imagined this earlier in history by two dropping stones of different mass from The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Rest assured though: in Einstein’s experiment no humans were actually harmed! But in Galileo’s experiment the two stones required Italian apothecary care of the highest order! [Ehem...]

As for the science, we know that both the stones, irrespective of their mass, and the human and the stone fall at the same rate. (It’s all to do with their surface area and the upthrust applied.) Interestingly therefore, the two objects seem to each other to be stationary even though they are both falling. You’ve had that experience when you are in a car or train and next you is a car or train accelerating at the same rate. If you ignore the world passing you by around you it looks like the car or train next you is stationary.) In Einstein’s Dream Experiment, since that’s what Einstein called them, he could use this analogy relativity condition to formulate his creative thinking on gravitational force. Find yourself dreaming? Good! Just apply your dream to what you’re meant to be solving and see what happens! More on this in point 6.

What psychologists have found out is that Analogical Thinking (using analogy to draw conclusions) is one of the best ways to boost creativity. How can you apply this thinking?:

• Focus on the gist of the problem and not the specifics, at least to begin with
• Change specific words to general words. So, rather than referring to something specifically e.g. what it actually is refer to it as what it belongs to. Acrylic (specific) is paint (general). So, if stuck with your art project, rather than ask, ‘How might I use acrylic here?’ ask, ‘How might someone use paint in general?’ The removal of the specific allows a more abstract view and previously constrained opportunities are now possible. Scientists and engineers have used this technique on countless occasions. Exploring how someone else did something can lead to all sorts of revelatory discoveries and possible applications for you, as Gassman and Zeschky discovered in a series of engineering problems to overcome. (See ‘How to be Creative‘ by Jeremy Dean.)
• Finally, zoom out! By this I mean not get ‘bogged down’ in the details, at least to begin with, focus on the overview. The often used analogy here is with stepping-stones. When you are in the midst of the stones, stepping from one to another your means of stepping from the one you’re on to the next might seem very difficult. However, when you ‘zoom out’ the stepping-stones suddenly appear much closer: may be even touching! Incredibly, the apparent connections that now exist allow you to make new connections yourself. How can you do this? Reduce the problem at hand to its most general. Take away all the specifics. Now, how can I solve this drawing on parallel examples? It does work!

Here’s another apparently contradictory-to-logic example to discuss. Stuck on a problem? Go and solve another problem at the same time! Lowenstein and Kurtz, in 2007 published an article called Converging on a new role for analogy in problem solving and retrieval: when two problems are better than one. Memory and cognition. They discovered the extraordinary fact that when no solution is in sight in one problem solving another problem helps bring new insight to the previously insolvable problem; in some cases actually leading to it being solved! Somehow it enables us to fuel ideas and solutions that we hadn’t thought about or understood into the unsolved problem.

There are other techniques that work too.

When facing a problem:

a – Explain it to someone else

b – Explain it to yourself

c – Imagine explaining it to someone else or yourself!

d – Imagine someone else explaining it to you or someone else and you’re listening in

All these techniques remarkably bring understanding and with it the opportunities to boost creativity.

I’ve spent a lot of time – and words – explaining combining concepts so I’ll explain the remaining two techniques to boost creativity in many fewer words.

Image used courtesy of chrisroll and / freedigitalphotos.net

5. Abstract thinking

Which might prove more useful? The abstract or the specific? It might come as no surprise after the previous section that the abstract is often more useful. But not always. It depends upon what you’re wanting to achieve. Psychologist Jens Förster (2009) explored this with the abstract concept of love and the specific concept of sex. (We won’t explain her research!, but you can read all about it here.) Suffice to say, abstract (lose the details) thinking is excellent for creativity, as we previously explored. However, for analysis, specific thinking (all the detail) is more beneficial.

Time is an interesting concept and we can experience time in very different ways. Time can seem to ‘fly by’ or ‘drag’; yet, that’s not possible scientifically. Time explored in abstract as well as in detail can benefit creativity. How so? We tend to experience distant events in the abstract; whereas, tomorrow’s events are in detail. Ask someone about their planned holiday in 2012 and I doubt it details where they’ll be going on the Tuesday at 11 am (I hope not anyway!) but ask someone who’s going on holiday tomorrow they will be able to give you a detailed itinerary (I hope so here too!).

We can use the different ways we experience time to our advantage too. Imagine doing the task you’re about to do, as if you were doing it in a year’s time. The ‘zooming out’ technique boosts creativity (as researched by Jia, L; Hirt, E. R. & Karpen, S. C. In 2009: Lessons from a Far Away Land: The Effects of Spacial distance on creative cognition.)

By association, imagine doing a task in a year’s time tomorrow. Now detail is the ‘rule of thumb’ and you can become much more aware of possible pitfalls.

Image used courtesy of Boaz Yiftach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

6. A wandering Mind

A wandering mind helps creativity! You can read about it here. This might bring a look of despair on the faces of teachers, as they think about all their pupils who regularly gaze out of the window and a look of euphoria on the faces of those that do. What’s the thinking behind this? It apparently allows the counter-factual ‘What if…?’ question to run around unguarded leading to all sorts of discoveries and inventions. How often have we heard teachers remark that pupils – or pupils themselves remark for that matter – that they didn’t listen in class: that they were bored and couldn’t concentrate?

I was in an excellent Primary School in Redbridge earlier this year and while waiting to present a session on coaching read the children’s displays on various giants of the science world. Time and time again I read of these minds, as children, failed to concentrate in class and were lambasted and in some cases excluded as a result. And yet, these apparently insubordinate pupils made some of the most influential scientific discoveries. It’s not that daydreaming is an excuse to say that you’re mind’s working on quantum theory but then again…

So, how can you use this technique to boost creativity?:

Think like a seven-year old before undertaking a task. Unless you’re actually seven in which case think like another age. This frees us of constraints, broadens the picture and permits ‘What Ifs’ that you probably wouldn’t have asked.

What can the successful business entrepreneurs teach us about a wandering mind, I wonder? (I was determined to write that!)

It’s actually a case of knowing when to wander and when to focus. Creativity comes from wandering; sustainability comes from focus. We need both a wandering (exploring ideas and possibilities) and a focused (concentrated, exclusive) mind. It’s knowing when to do which that matters and the ability to switch between the two states that matters. Successful entrepreneurs have masted this technique. And it goes further: the more creative a person the greater their ability to switch between abstract and specific.

To further explore these concepts and the previous three I highly recommend Jeremy Dean’s book ‘How to be Creative‘ where these six techniques have been taken from and further explored by me. Creativity, while being an elusive concept demonstrated by geniuses throughout history, is in reach of all of us through applying these techniques. No, we probably won’t be another Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Maria Callas, Garfield Sobers, Estée Lauder or Gary Kasparov but who knows where our new levels of creativity will lead us…

 

How to boost creativity – part 1

Image published courtesy of Photostock

But out of limitations comes creativity

Debbie Allen

Defining what actually makes someone creative has shown itself to be one of the ‘Holy Grails’ for psychologists. In many cases creative geniuses just do not know what makes them so creative and so can’t share their wisdom with others. This represented a challenge to psychologists who, as a result, set about resolving the mystery of creativity by tackling it from a different angle. If creative people find it so difficult to show what makes them creative perhaps replicating the circumstances and situations (factors) where creativity is shown might let ‘lesser mortals’ produce those factors and thereby boost their own creativity. After several years of research the factors that most benefit creativity have been identified. Over the next two posts I will name what those six factors are and briefly explain how they can be used to boost creativity. Please do try them out for yourselves and let me know what happens. Here, are the first three, with the next post containing the remaining three:

1. Knowledge
2. Constraint
3. Emotion

1. Knowledge

I wrote about this in last week’s post so I’m not going to say very much here. The important thing to remember, as counter-intuitive as it might seem, is that too much knowledge can invoke a tendency to go down the same, ‘tried and trusted route’ when creativity is desired. Over-reliance on the same-each-time method of problem-solving results in a lack of creative flexibility. Put simply: ‘When all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail’.

Possible solution

Try something different, however counter-intuitive it is to you. You may well have to ‘fight’ your training and all your knowledge acquired; perhaps even your colleagues! Alexander Pope (in his Essay on Criticism, 1709) wrote that ‘a little knowledge was a dangerous thing’; a lot of knowledge can be your worst enemy too. If your knowledge is getting you nowhere think ‘outside the box’ – and every other cliché you can think of that exists! – when stuck. Perhaps ask yourself, “If I didn’t know what I know what might I suggest?” or “What might [name of person] suggest in this situation?”. You might be quite surprised with the outcome.

2. Constraint

Some constraints have been shown to actually boost creativity. (See also the quotation that heads this post from Debbie Allen.) The constraints that we impose on ourselves can in fact be the very catalyst that we need for creativity.

Possible solutions

There are several strategies that can be employed here. One is to do with the art of questioning. There are several powerful questions that can ask yourself. One such question to ask yourself is: ‘What would happen if…?’ The intention here is to impose restrictions and create a more restrictive boundary. When you have fewer choices you’re compelled to be more creative with what you’ve got. So, discard something that’s ‘needed’. You might find that not only are you more creative at finding a solution but that it wan’t ‘needed’ anyway.

There are other questions too.

Some of the most creative solutions come about when we ask, ‘What if…?’ This is known by psychologists as a ‘counterfactual’ question: an alternative to the reality if nothing was to change in what I was doing. Psychologists such as Ruth M.J. Byrne (2005) have argued that cognitive processes underlying alternatives to reality are similar to those that underlie the cognitive processes of the present reality. Therefore, there is great power in such questioning when a ‘dead end’ is faced. Powerchange has developed a powerful tool called ‘Questions that Change Your Mind’. Effective coaching is all about asking powerful questions and waiting for the answer. If you want to know more please contact me.

Another strategy is to give yourself time too to fully grasp the problem, whatever it is. ‘Gut-feeling’, instinctive-behaving people might not agree with this, as their gut feelings have served them well. If this has been the case: great! If it hasn’t there may well be an opportunity to try something new. Getzels J.W. & Csikszentmihalyi (1976) published a paper called Problem Solving Strategies that Distinguish Creative Arts . They discovered that artists who spent longer analysing the challenge they faced to come up with original, more creative, solutions actually produced more original solutions compared with others who didn’t do this strategy and somewhat ‘rushed in’.

Finally, use the Doublethink strategy, as well as pay due diligence to problems to overcome and how you’re going to do that. You can read all about Doublethink in a former post that I made by clicking here.

3. Emotion

Using emotion to increase creativity on face value seems like a good idea. When our mood is happy and we’re ‘full of the joys of spring’ then surely ‘creative juices would be flowing’ and solutions left, right and centre would be found? True. However, what’s it like to hear that, counter-intuitively, sad moods can also help us? Read on…

Possible solutions

I want a broad approach. I want to see an overview. What should I do?

In this instance creativity comes from, perhaps not surprisingly, happy moods. They help create a more ‘cavalier’ approach to creativity and support us in generating an effective overview of the situation. By ‘cavalier’ I mean more likely to discard ‘in the way’ ideas – and be more open to include suggestions from others as well. Further, “Let’s give it a go!” tends to be more of the mantra uttered by people, as well as the asking of, “What if…?” counterfactual questions.

I need to critique this article and I’m having trouble concentrating and finding ways through this. What can I do?

While happy moods might obviously lend themselves to creativity there are times and places where a more melancholic atmosphere may be conducive to problem solving. Karen Gasper (2003) wrote a paper called When Necessity is The Mother of Invention: Mood and Problem Solving. In her research she noticed that sad moods helped people notice failings and errors in their work and were also more likely to correct them; they became more critical. (She also noticed that when the atmosphere was happy errors were more likely to be unnoticed, and uncorrected if they were!).

Therefore, do you want a broad approach to a problem? The solution may well be to generate a happy atmosphere. Do you want to proof-read a document or find a creative solution in your written content to express yourself more coherently? If so a more reflective, melancholic atmosphere may well be the answer to generate a creative analysis.

Be aware though of very high (extreme anger) and very low (depression) arousal emotions. One makes us want to sort the world out; the other, cower from it. An excess of either emotional stimulation is not conducive to creativity because the key emotional influence (whether happy or sad) and their respective benefits is that we need to be transported into an active mood state. Emotionally stretched to extreme through either our heightened state or emotionally numb state is not what we want; here the mood state generated in both cases is passive; we do nothing. There are other undesired knock-on effects too.

So, these are three of the six principal factors that boost creativity. Next post, I will share and discuss the remaining three factors.