doug smith training

Beams Afoot As much as we wish for that creative spark, some people are afraid of the flames. Let creativity help you conquer your fear. -- Doug Smith

Planet Waves People don't always recognize creativity and may wonder what the heck you're doing.  Tell them. -- Doug Smith

What creative project are you working on this weekend? Here's a little video written and directed by Daniel Vaughn that I acted in a little while ago. Oh yeah, we made it over a weekend. Create a fabulous, inspirational day! -- doug smith

Do you want a sudden burst of creativity? Tickle yourself. I don't mean put a feather on your feet and get yourself to laugh, I mean find a way to surprise yourself. Seek the unexpected. Tickle yourself. Go to a comedy and laugh. Listen to that lame joke your friend is foisting on you and find the humor in it (or in your friend!). Tickle yourself. Find the joy in watching a kindergarten kid play with complete joy and abandon. Tickle yourself. Really listen to your partner, your best friend, your lover, your boss (hopefully, they aren't all the same person!) and feel the love. Tickle yourself. -- Doug Smith

What have you done lately to encourage someone else' creativity? Is that up to you? Maybe. What if there were someone in your life who was stuck and needed just enough encouragement to get creative enough to become unstuck? I'm sure that person exists. Someone, somewhere, needs just a little nudge from you to be more creative. Maybe it's seeing you draw. Maybe it's hearing about a creative project you're working on. Maybe you could sing together. Supporting someone else's creativity will boost your own. When we share creatively, our creativity grows. And that's a wonderful thing. Who do you know who needs some positive feedback on staying creative? Why not elevate their day? -- Doug Smith

How many strings are on a 12-string guitar? No, it's not a trick question, but if you're in my house on the right day, the answer could be eleven. That's not the right answer, but it is the true answer. Why? It's not intentional. The strings come in various gauges, simplified on the container as Light, Medium, and Extra Light (an interesting logic of its own) and the mediums are hard to find. Using light gauge strings on a 12-string guitar means that the thinnest string is so thin (.08 cm) that it's very easily broken. Sometimes, I can break a string while I'm tuning it, that's how easy they are to break. When that happens, it's eleven-string time until the next trip to the music store. If you don't tell anyone, an eleven-string guitar could go undetected for weeks (I've done it). The sound is pretty much the same and the strings are so close together to begin with that you'd need to really get close to see the gap. It's not ide

Have you ever been surprised by a flash of creativity? Maybe it helped you solve a problem, maybe it gave you the answer you'd been looking for, or maybe it helped you develop something beautiful and new. Creativity is the source for much of our joy. When it comes to achieving our goals, we benefit greatly by keeping ourselves open to our creativity - and the creativity of others. That means letting the element of surprise get a fair hearing from our brains as we move forward on our plan. It could be something so new that we don't consider it important at first. It could be something so different from what we thought we were looking for that we overlook it completely. Instead, let's stay open to surprise. Let's let our creativity show us better ways of doing things. Are you ready for your own creativity to surprise you? You'll be glad that you did! -- Doug Smith doug smith training: how to achieve your goals Front Range Leadership: High performance lea

Who judges your creativity? Yes, we do need to analyze our problems and yes, we do need to evaluate our choices but when it comes to creativity we are better served to leave the judge behind - at least for awhile. Have fun with it. Go wild! Let your creativity find its flow and go where it wants to go. Safely, of course. With some dignity, perhaps. But let it fly. Creativity has no need of judges. Analyzing has its role and I'm all for supporting that role when the time comes. When it comes to creating new things though, whether they are works of art, splendid performances, or evolved processes, creativity flies best unimpeded. What creative work are you ready to open up today? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals

Have you ever been stuck in a routine? It happens to me sometimes - I get really comfortable doing things in a certain order, eating certain types of food (I'll never get tired of pizza) and working at certain jobs. These little ruts are comfortable but not where I want to live. To live creatively we do better to break out of those routines. We need a change of scenery. We need to meet new people. We need to rock our own world enough to get off center long enough to know what our center really is. But it doesn't need to be earth shaking. We don't have to turn our lives upside down. We could even be happy with the way things are. That still leaves plenty of opportunity to see new, hear new, feel new, experience anew what may have been right in front of us all along, but brings a breath-taking newness to our life. There is something completely new about this moment in time. It's unique. No matter how familiar it seems, we've never lived this moment before

LEARNING ACTIVITY (allow about 20 minutes) Purpose : To help the participants focus on their vision, their mission, and their key measures. It's also an opportunity to practice drawing. Materials : At least one sample baseball card for everyone in the group (you could use cards from another sport but I'm partial to baseball cards). Blank index cards for each person as well. More than one is recommended in case they need to do-over an early attempt. Process : Review the sample baseball card. Identify what makes it so useful. What does it report? Note the picture - what does it say about the person on the card? Write your vision and/or mission at the top of the back of your card. Do your best to keep it to ten words or less. If you don't currently have a mission, now's the time to write one! Think about what is important about what you do for a living and how those things are measured. Identify 3 to 5 key measures that you are held accountable for. Write a

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe What would we do without creativity? Life would be so much less colorful. Songs would not be sung. Pictures would not be painted. And leaders would use the same old strategies that irritated people before. Creativity helps us grow. Creativity IS growth, and we must never stop growing. Creativity is a necessity. The next time someone implies that you don't have enough time to be creative, ask them how they'd feel without the things that make life worth living - joy, celebration, examination, and love. Yes, even love - for how much can we love without getting creative?  What creative work of art (or commerce!) are you working on today? -- doug smith doug smith training: developing creativity

What are you afraid of? Just kidding. I'm afraid of lots of things. Losing my phone. Falling over a cliff. Wandering naked in the street. Just kidding. But, aren't we all afraid of some things that are irrational to be afraid of? Don't we all hold ourselves back far more than we need to in order to protect ourselves from embarrassment, from harm, from making mistakes? We will make mistakes. We will hurt feelings. We will stub our toes. That's part of the creative life. That's part of living. Creativity needs a certain fearlessness. We must be able to let go and let loose. We must be able to laugh at the fear that paralyzes our impulses and push through those walls of warning. Full speed ahead! Imagine what we'll learn! Developing Creativity: Talk to someone who scares you just a little. Not an actual criminal or dangerous person, just someone who scares or intimidates you a little.  See a scary movie, whether or not you like scary movies. Not

Could you be more creative? I could. I think I'm already plenty creative but I know that there is always an unlimited amount of creativity there for me to grab. I can always pull up some more. How about you? You are about as creative as you want to be -- and your creative potential is unlimited. Let's go! Being Creative: Draw a picture. It doesn't matter how great it is. Draw it. Take a picture of something at an unusual angle. Get all Orson Welles with it. Feel the difference. Describe it. Write about it. What if it were used for something completely different - what could it be? Tell yourself this: "I am becoming the most creative person I know and I love it." -- Doug Smith doug smith training: how to achieve your goals   Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success What have you learned today?

How deep is your deepest relationship? Do you know everything about them? Can you talk about whatever is on your mind? Do you know each other so well that you can make each other laugh with the slightest gesture or word? We can't get to know everyone that deeply. It would likely wear us out. But, we can get deeper on so many more relationships. So many of our friends and acquaintances barely know us. We can change that. We can creatively build relationships that help us smile, grow, learn, and solve problems. Isn't it through our deeper relationships that our happiness blossoms most prominently? Aren't we most creative when we are with other creative souls? The faster path to solving problems and achieving goals is thru deeper relationships. Who can you get to know better today? -- Doug Smith doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success What have you learned today?

Do you limit your partner's growth? Whether it's a business partner, organizational partner, creative partner, or life partner, do you ever expect them to stay exactly the way they are? I know I've done that. In love with the person who was, I sometimes yearn for more of that same person. I want that same perfect person. But that person changes. We can't stay exactly the way we are. We need to keep growing. Expecting our partner to be perfect is a harsh judgement on ourselves. Relax the judge and watch that wonderful partner grow. Who have you held back a little lately? How can you liberate their creative self today? -- Doug Smith doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success What have you learned today?

Why would anyone hold back their creativity? And yet, we do it all the time. I know that when I am at my most creative it becomes my happiest as well. There's no separating the higher quality of life from the greater degree of creativity. And yet, we let things get in the way. Let's break the bonds that tie us down from creating great things. Let's cut the cords that wrap us into distraction. Let's tear down the walls that come between us and our creative best. Unleashing our creativity makes us more valuable to ourselves and others. Ready? Set? Go! -- Doug Smith What have you learned today?

A learning activity from the program "Developing Creativity" Purpose : Make a point by clearly creating a collage with a figure (point of focus) and a ground (background). Build a sense of artistic perspective. Practice shifting fields to create flexibility and possibilities. Arts concept : Figure/Ground Materials : Magazines, paper, glue, scissors, pictures. Process: In art, the concept of figure/ground refers to a way of looking at a piece so that part of the picture is the main focal point while the rest is the field or background. In some famous optical illusion pieces the figure andP field can shift creating the se nse of illusion. Here’s what to do: 1. Gather a set of collage materials. 2. Cut shapes and pictures as you think about a theme. (your theme could be your topic or part of your program/event topic, or the participants could select one such as building relationships, solving problems, leading effectively, staying positive, devel