Archive for the ‘Walk On The Grass’ Category
What Is Your Destination?
Friday, November 12th, 2010
What's Your Press Release?
Take a few moments and imagine it’s April 2011 and the local newspaper has just written an article about your Business, what does it say?
- What would you want it to say?
- What would make you say ‘Wow’ we did that!
- By April 2011, What have you achieved?
If you know exactly what that press article looks like, great, get it down on paper and share it with your team or your friends. If you don’t then by the week let your mind develop a clearer vision because it will both help and amaze your team when they achieve it.
In my experience of decades successfully working in the corporate industry and as a speaker helping leaders improve their emotional intelligence, I know we often spend far too much time thinking about the day to day tasks we need to do before we know what our end goal is, and something magical happens when we know the destination, the people around us have a route to follow, they know what to focus their attention and efforts on.
Imagine if you were to get into a taxi today; the first answer the taxi driver would want to know is ‘Where are you going mate’ . At which point you would tell them and the trip would begin.
Re-wind that tape and think about it if you will, getting into that same taxi and telling the driver to just drive, I’m sure he would be happy to oblige but it would be expensive in many ways:
- It would waste your valuable time,
- It would definitely waste your money and
- And it would be wasteful to the quality of your life or business, after all who wants to stay in a car all the time.
I wrote my own press release in November 2009 and my family thought it was hilarious and that was for January 2010 and the launch of my first book.
My teenagers saw this news article on the notice board and were confused. “Mum you haven’t even written a book let alone got it in the paper, are you seeing imaginary ducks as well?”. I reassured them that I was going to start the following week and they thought it was really funny but strangely curious in case I was serious.
The following week I did start writing and within 6 weeks it was complete, 4 weeks after that it was edited and in print and my book ‘Walk On The Grass’ was a reality. The press release exceeded even my expectations when it appeared in 45 papers both in the UK and Europe
The family still laughed but this time it was more in shock.
It’s very important to know what your business will look like in the future, it will help you focus on what you want to achieve and will help your team to support you in the process. Your mission statement is important but the old saying a picture paints a thousand words, is still very true today.
If I were to ask each of your team what their picture of the business looks like, it would be different for each person; some may focus on making money, others on achievement and the remaining people perhaps the kudos, just being part of it.
It will only help you if your team know where they are going with it, it helps with scheduling time, setting deadlines and recognising achievements on the way and do you know you can also do the same for yourself personally with your career goals.
I know you are inundated with school work as well as the Young Enterprise programme and that’s why I’ll make it easy, you can download a simple newspaper template from my website at http://bit.ly/YourDestination
Even better like most Managers– DELEGATE – get someone to create it for you and give them the content.
Once you have a picture of your business and the words that say what you have achieved in April 2011 then the rest of the jigsaw will start to fall into place.
Because as you grow your business you know what it looks like, and that vision may develop further as you go on.
Let me leave you with one final thought and that is to start the process, what is Your Company’s Best Press Release for April 2011?
"Getting Back To Nature"
Monday, September 20th, 2010I remember the day when I spoke those immortal words to Andy my partner, who has probably been a fisherman well before he could walk! I only went up to Scotland for this weekend for a three day chill out in Scotland, and that included the 11 hour train journey to get there. British Rail should really improve the Spa arrangements on their trains!
I arrived in Forsinard and before I knew it, was whisked off to the Melvich Hotel to find myself having dinner with two English and five Spanish fishermen. The conversations were full of incredible passion about their sport as I listened to the tales of near misses, of triumphs and just darn bad luck, I was enthralled. Within an hour they had me captivated, I knew I shouldn’t have asked questions but I couldn’t help myself and there was no going back. I showed far too much interest and the Spa’s and Shops were fading into the background, being replaced with a fishing rod and a pair of wellies.
The following morning I was kitted out with fishing clothes, apparently high heels are not great for wading in. The clothes were so big I needed a belt to 
keep them up, looking like a cross between a Hobo and someone from the Australian outback.
Apparently the bright turquoise jacket wasn’t the best choice of colour, which I gather is the reason they wear dark green to blend with nature; they was no blending me in that outfit. On the way to the river Andy gave me some advice, “Be careful you don’t hit the power lines with the rod and don’t fall in the river, the first will kill you and the second gets you soaked”. Classic advice that would serve me well, as I bolted in the opposite direction but I was captured and told not to worry. Then my ghillie (the bloke that knows what to do) also known as Andy, demonstrated how to cast a line out. “Can you give me any advice on how to catch a salmon” I naively asked. “Yes he said “if the hook is in the river, you have a chance of catching a salmon, if it isn’t, you’ve no chance”.
I think his advice was in relation to me treating the rod and line more like a yoyo than a fishing tool. Well it seemed fun flicking the line in and out, apparently that’s called casting. After 20 minutes I felt the line pull and I was positive that I had hooked the otter on the opposite bank, well I didn’t like the way he was scowling at me and I was aiming for him! Then I thought the hook must be stuck on bramble, that was until the end of the fishing line leapt out of the water and on the end of it was a 5lb salmon.
I was speechless as I thrust the rod into Andy’s hand; “Nope” he said “You caught it, you land it”. At this point his friend arrived, Andy’s that is not the salmon’s and they proceeded to have a chat about where to eat later that night. It was reminiscent of the scene in Men in Black when Will Smith gets thrown about by the alien baby in the car whilst Tommy Lee Jones carries on with his conversation. Needless to say the odd word of “tighten the line’ or “let the line go” in between the restaurant discussions reassured me that I was doing ok.
After a few minutes I landed the salmon and Andy unhooked it and made sure it was ok before setting it free to swim off again.
I was dumbstruck by the whole experience, people go fishing for twenty years and never catch a salmon and here was I after 20 minutes.
The real lesson for me was how creative salmon fishing really is, I learnt that day how much emotional creativity is used in the process, and it wasn’t all bravado, which I had anticipated. It was explained to me how to feel at one with a fishing rod and that it was just an extension of me not a piece of wood and metal. It was about clearing your mind and being in nature, and if you were lucky enough to catch a salmon then it was a real bonus but you could still enjoy the whole experience regardless.
I think everyone should have an interest that involves being outdoors; because we spend far too many hours within buildings and it can have such a grounding effect getting back out into nature.
Why not make a promise to yourself this week to get out more and not just to dash about in life but to really experience the beauty that is all around us that we don’t always appreciate until we stop rushing around.
The funny thing is my name will apear in the Trout and Salmon in October, all because I broke one of my own rules, which was not to go fishing.
Will I do it again? Yep I’m hooked!
Clear Out The Creativity Clutter
Friday, August 27th, 2010I’m not an artist for a living but I’ve just dropped off my first publically viewed painting at an art exhibition and the proudest moment was when the organiser said to me ‘what a fabulous painting, how much is it, I could see that on my wall’. I was dumfounded, my first venture into the big wide world of Art. I actually didn’t care if I didn’t sell it, that recognition was firmly captured in my self esteem bank.
When I was younger I used to love to paint and draw and in fact anything creative, as do many children but by the time I was 20 and ensconced in Art College, the doubts had started to set in. I absorbed comments from Teachers such as ’You’ll never make a painter’ and sure enough I never got much better, hanging on to the belief that it was all too difficult and out of reach. My self-belief reinforced the fact that I can’t paint so therefore I didn’t, but after twenty five years of ‘not being able to paint’ when I wrote my book ‘Walk On The Grass’ to encourage everyone to get more creative, I decided I was going to break the mould and started to play. The thing about any art is the more you play the better you become at it and the more fun you have doing it; the less anyones opinion actually matters.
So my simple tip for this month is to get creative again but before you do clear out some of the clutter in your mind first.
- Recognise if you have let one unconstructive statement destroy your confidence, you are not a sponge so don’t absorb what you don’t want.
- Try not to compare yourself to Rembrandt or any other artist for that matter, it’s a hard act to follow so be unique. Everything you do may not be perfect first time but you’ll have some happy accidents along the way.
- Find a creative place in your home and turn it into your inspiration den, you need space to be creative.
- Set yourself a time to be creative and work against the clock, time pressure has a way of getting your sub-conscious involved very quickly and inspiring you.
- If you can’t think what you could paint, then use colours to paint how you feel, and break a few rules, put the brush down and get your fingers in. It was the best thing I ever did and so much easier to express feelings.
Expressive creativity for me is about communication, perhaps it’s painting or sculpting but it can shake up your solution based creativity which is what you need when you are looking for answers to issues or problems at work or at home. So wade in and have a go, the only thing you have to lose is the self-belief that keeps you where you are now.
I’m going to the Art Exhibition tonight to see my painting hung on a wall and it will be such a proud moment for me, it’s not about selling it, it is about recognising how easy it is to change your beliefs and how many people are still stuck with such a common belief that they can’t paint.
Remember you did paint at one time in your life so when did you forget?
Aug 17th 2010 – Walk On The Grass
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
The hotel chain, Crown Plaza’s launched an initiative for one week only to install real grass in three of their meeting rooms to improve the creativity of their guests. With all the press coverage of the last few days I think the biggest surprise to me has been the total lack of awareness and negativity by some of the so called ‘Creative’ experts.
If someone is really in touch with their creative intelligence and has a high level of emotional intelligence then negativity has no place in the equation. Perhaps we should question some of the ethics of the creative salesmen on the internet who are selling their wares on creativity, yet they take the first opportunity they can to slam the innovative thinking of Crowne Plaza’s initiative.
It intrigued me even more when one of our leading lights on creativity, was asked who inspired him, he replied “No-one”. That raises a question to me “Is it time to reflect within and set the computer to reboot” because clearly if you have lost the ability to be inspired by anyone in life then in my opinion you are on the decline in your own creative awareness.
Sure it’s not conventional what Crowne Plaza have undertaken but if we all followed what we should do rather than what we can do, we’d still be in caves and the wheel would be a distance dream. Creative people who are in touch with their emotional intelligence will embrace change and whether the initiative succeeds or fails in inspiring the organisations who use the rooms, no lives have been lost in the process so I would encourage the creative critics to lighten up and come down from their ivory towers. Life is there to be enjoyed, to be experienced, to be lived, not to spend it pummeling ideas that may actually make all the difference.
I spent last weekend supporting a friend’s art exhibition locally and was actually even more convinced of our creative decline when I went out into the streets asking people how creative they were. It gives me firsthand experience of how out of touch we really are with our creativity, people between 25 and 65 years old were shocked at the thought of being creative and went immediately into denial telling me they weren’t creative in the slightest.
The only person out of dozens that I asked admitted she was very creative and then went on to thank me for acknowledging her presence in the world because no-one had done that all week. A sad reflection of our times that shows we could do with spending unproductive time helping others to just enjoy life more.
I would say to the people who spend their time looking for what doesn’t work rather than what does, to go out and create something worthwhile, after all if the last thing you created was mayhem, it’s not a good impression to leave.
We are truly driven by rules we set ourselves or are imposed on us by others so maybe the time is right to walk on the grass; the fresh air would be good to blow out some of the self indulgent hot air that some of our so called creatives are full of.
You can read some of the coverage here:
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