Yet Another Foiled Attempt

How many times have you failed? How many more can you fail? As Anthony Robbins asked, "how many attempts do parents allow their newborns to try to walk before throwing in the towel?"
Sounds profound, but in all sincerity failing is learning. Learning to fail is learning what not to do.

The important thing to learn about learning to fail is not failing to learn the lesson.


At the end of a project having time set aside to review what happened to a great habit to get into. The value in allocating this time is definitely Quadrant 2 in the Steven Covey time matrix and in a busy business environment, many times the last thing people want to do at the end of a project is to get together and talk about it.

But make the time to talk about it. The last thing needed is repeated wasted effort. Innovation cannot take place when there are bad habits fossilized. The habits need to be rooted and new systems installed.

Again, easier said ...

However, just like the baby learning to walk it takes baby steps. Giving up is not an option, failing is not negative unless we don't learn from the failure. Try taking some small steps and not worry about falling. It's liberating.

Thanks!

Matthew, MB

Beat your Mental.

10 Things you can do to be more creative

We all have trouble sometimes getting started or getting out of bed. Well here are a few tips on how you can get the creative fluids flowing more frequently and faster.

1. Early morning automatic writing.　First thing in the morning, get out a pen and notebook and just start writing. This tip was inspired by Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.
2. Do something different every day. For example if you always take the same route home from work, try a different way. Even better, try a new way home and get lost.
3. Exercise regularly. Nothing inspires inspiration than perspiration.
4. Get enough sleep. This is different for everyone but it is said that eight hours is a good benchmark.
5. Surround yourself with things of inspiration such as images, magazines, objects, animals, and yes, people. Think immersion.
   
6. Learn to mind map. I think creating a schematic from your mind on paper is a magical endeavor guaranteed to jog your creativity. Recently I began using FreeMind - a free mind mapping utility. It's open source, so it's free and it's Java based so its multi-platform friendly.
7. Learn to collect your ideas. Ideas can pop up at odd times. Have a system to collect these ideas. David Allen's Getting Things Done is a great book on the subject. There are plenty of GTD evangelists out there if you want a second opinion.
8. Find your power points. These can be places in your home that seem more conducive for creativity or it could be a coffee shop with a nice view of a lake. Whatever it is, you know it when you find.
9. Take a class at a community college or equivalent. Challenging your mind to new things in new environments is always a way to gain some creativity points.
10. Travel. This doesn't mean down the block. It means to slide to some place outside of your comfort zone. An unknown location (for you). Exploration is key in stirring up some of the old creative juices.

Please feel free to share your ideas on how to cultivate your creativity.

Thanks and Beat your Mental!

Matthew, MB