Creative Solutions for Business & Education

In short, many!!

But let’s start by considering what we will avoid.

When we are continually dragged down by low self-esteem and low self-confidence the impact is much wider than our work; it affects our whole life!

Biologically, our bodies set-up defence mechanisms against infection to keep us healthy, but the prolonged stress caused by poor self-image counteracts those mechanisms and renders us more susceptible to infection.

In addition, prolonged secretion of hormones and other natural chemicals which usually help us maintain good health, become imbalanced all over the body.

• We suffer skin rashes and conditions such as eczema
• Our breathing suffers and we can precipitate asthma
• The lining which protects our stomach from the acid it contains erodes and eventually the acid digests our stomach tissues leading to ulcers
• Other digestive disorders
• Heart conditions
• Increased risk of stroke
• High blood pressure
• ... etc.

The emotional drain can

• Lead to bouts of low mood
• Precipitate full-blown depressive illness

The severe lack of confidence affects everything we do ...

• We become less inclined to try anything new (or even continue doing what we are doing)
• We hide ourselves away as a defence mechanism, trying to avoid the possibility of anything else that may reinforce the low self-image and pain we feel
• We become less inclined to go out, either for exercise or to be sociable.

So the detrimental effects can be catastrophic on a personal and professional level.

Confident people with a good level of self-esteem are less prone to the above list of horrors (although as with all things, over-confidence and inflated levels of self-importance can also be detrimental to our own health and the health of others).

When we are confident, we are more likely to

• Think clearly
• Contribute ideas to discussions and meetings
• Be able to speak candidly about serious issues affecting us or our workplace
• Help each other
• Be more creative and innovative.

Creativity and innovation are clearly more complex entities than simply being a function of our self-confidence or self-esteem. They involve different patterns of thinking and assembly of ideas, but they are much more likely to occur where we can interact with others, openly, candidly, confidently.

In my next post I'll be looking at a few ways in which we can start to build self-esteem in others and how that affects our living and working environments.

Labels: avoiding illness, barriers to self-confidence self-esteem, benefits of self-confidence, business effectiveness, holistic benefits, importance of self-esteem, improving relationships, positive impact

Lately I've been thinking about how our achievements in life are shaped and moulded by our history and experiences, with some of the strongest stimuli for success or failure being in our childhood years. I know this can be an over-simplification but listening to life stories, I find it very interesting how often there are clear trends. First the negative impact ...

Interviews with many porn stars and ex-porn stars show a clear relationship between childhood abuse, neglect, violence and family break-up and the tendency to enter the sex-industry, ultimately leading to appearance in porn films ('porn star' status). The heart-breaking truth behind these people is that their self-esteem and self-value has been shattered at a very early age, their level of expectation is low, and even more worrying, they are left feeling that they have no intrinsic value. So, they sell their bodies, lock down the emotions and tell the world how glamorous it is, whilst dying inside. If you want to read some stories of people who has managed to escape the industry try this link ... http://www.thepinkcross.org/pinkcross_articles

Secondly the positive impact ...

Many successful business people (and in broader life) can recount times in their childhood when they were actively encouraged by their parents or mentors to 'reach for the skies' and give it a go. Great musicians frequently cite back to the encouragement they received from their family when those around them (siblings, teachers etc) were being negative about their prospects in life. Tony Campolo, an American sociologist recounts how every morning he was sent packing to school. His neighbour, a boy of similar age to himself, was always sent out with the words 'Go and conquer the world'.

Okay so this may sound rather cliched but the truth is that our expectations will often drive what we do and what we achieve. And those expectations, in most cases, are nurtured and inspired by others who believe in us, see our potential and encourage us to use it.

Sure there are also people who have an amazing strength of will and who, despite being repeatedly put down, are determined to achieve. This is frequently a response to escape from their surroundings to a 'better life'. But somewhere desperation, self-belief or a combination of the two drive success.

So what am I saying?

I guess it's that each and every one of us has a responsibility to encourage others to achieve their potential, whenever and wherever we can. Put down the fears that we will be overtaken, or someone else will get our job. We all have the potential to be a mentor and the fruits can be huge, both personally and financially.

Equally, we have the potential to block others, prevent them from discovering their dreams and stop them achieving these.

Sure, we may stay on top of the pile but at what cost to us personally?

What if we encouraged someone to reach for the skies and they just happen to achieve this goal ... and take us with them.

It's a risk we take. But until we try we'll never find out.

Labels: business success, community values, confidence, encouragement, improving relationships, mentor, mentoring, porn, price of success, risk, self-esteem

'Articles for the Blind' frequently fall through the letterbox of my blind friend.

I use the term blind rather than the PC 'visually impaired' because many of us sighted people hear the term 'visually impaired' ('VI' to those in the know!!) and think instinctively of someone who 'can't see very well'. I use the term blind because this friend does not have any perception of light or dark, let alone image discernment; her vision is 100% impaired … plus some!!

I have learnt a huge amount from this friend, including that two of the most frequent misconceptions are:

• Guide dogs are not so well trained that you say, “Take me to the corner shop” and then just follow them. It is the owner, not the dog who learns the route; the function of the dog is to get their owner to the destination in one piece … most of the time!
• They are 'Guide Dogs' not 'Blind Dogs': it's the owners who are blind, not the dogs!

So, why do I choose to tell you about a blind friend in particular? Well, despite a complete lack of visual function she is incredibly creative!

Surprised?

Isn't creativity a visually inspired thing?

Obviously not.

When I first discovered that my friend had no perception of light and dark, I was intrigued to find out what she 'saw' when she closed her eyes: Was it black? Was it white? Was there colour?

Her response made me take a step back … "No! There is just nothing!"

Yet, as we talked about colour and shade and clothes and house decorations I was staggered that she had the most amazing concept of colour and co-ordination. She could go into her wardrobe and pull out clothes that matched and then go to her jewellery and find an appropriate necklace and earrings. It didn't matter to me whether what I saw as green related to how my friend saw green. I was confronted with was a lady who, when she closed her eyes (or kept them open for that matter) could 'see nothing' yet could perceive in her mind colour matches and co-ordination to fine degrees of detail.

My friend could describe pictures she saw in her mind, musical pictures that were stimulated through conversation, sounds, taking a walk … many things. During discussions new light would be thrown on old problems simply because she was able to see things from a different perspective. And it was amazing how many times those ideas were the key that unlocked the door to new discoveries and new ways of doing things.

I was struck how differently we could see situations; metaphorically and physically (though she had a slight disadvantage!) and yet how synergistic these views often were. They weren't 'right' or 'wrong'; they complimented each other, rubbed against each other, challenged each other and in so doing released something new. One of the great things about creativity is that it can be sparked when we come face-to-face with people who see things very differently from us, in this case, quite literally! Some magic moments occur when my view is challenged or even destroyed by that of my friend. These are the times when connections are made between things that don’t naturally connect for me and true creativity is born.

I know that my perspective on life has been greatly enriched by knowing this friend. I hope that each of us can find something fresh from relationships that we have in business or our personal lives that may have become stale or contentious because of our very different views.

Perhaps if we see the potential rather than the problem we will all benefit.

Labels: blind, blindness, creative, creative sparks, creativity, creativity in blind people, improving productivity, improving relationships, lessons we can learn, opposites attract, relationships, visually impaired