Creativity is intelligence having fun. – Albert Einstein

Okay…so I have been preaching consistency, planning, persistence, systems….and the things that you just really need to do to grow your business.

Now —->  I need to confess.  This is not my strong suit.  I don’t like worksheets, tax forms, phone meetings….These things get done because they HAVE to be done.  I CAN turn business planning, financial forecasting into a fun activity as long as I can approach it from a creative angle.

I have the FANCIEST Business Plan for The Health Coach Group  – in a PowerPoint for …hahaha….myself.  Sometimes we have to outsmart ourselves.  That is like a triple layer of creative.  I like pretty things…so, I have a pretty business plan and I like creation, review and adjustment of the boring #’s.

C R E A T I V I T Y

You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use the more you have.  — Maya Angelou

 

Here is a secret, though creativity is a necessity for some of us to enjoy our work.  Creativity has never been so important to people in business.  It goes beyond “thinking outside the box”.  Sometimes you just need to toss that box.  The fact that there is a box may just be WRONG!

Don’t get me wrong.  There will always be a need for planning, systems, infrastructure…. those are just REALLY important.

I M A G I N A T I O N

Imagination, the ability to see what might be! Here you will find inspirational quotes about using your imagination. – Catherine Pulsifer

 

As we prepare for “Building Abundance”, I ask our students to read the book “Blue Ocean Strategy” by W. Chan Kim.  This book teaches “How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant.”  The book looks at some of the businesses who have approached planning creatively and then be able to avoid the competitive mess that some organizationss get themselves into.

It is creativity that sets these businesses apart from the existing market place.  It was someone’s wild imagination that started Cirque du Soleil and made competition irrelevant to them.  They do not compete because they are not similar enough.  They speak to a different audience and provide a whole different experience.  Creativity in today’s market place, not only makes doing business fun – it makes doing business profitable and memorable.

O R I G I N A L I T Y

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.  — Herman Melville

We worry about being ripped off.  People who copy our ideas.  Online it is easier to steal other people’s ideas.  When I first started out I was really nervous about this.  I sent people notes when I saw them copying my ideas….that doesn’t do any good and it wasted all my time fretting about it.  I look back now and I see that these people really never did get far with it.  They were not original – they didn’t think it up or figure it out on their own, so it didn’t grow.  It was always a cheap imitation.

You have to have more than an end product…the creativity that brought the product into the world – keeps it there…because creativity grows and if you are a hard working creative…watch out!  I work day and night because I love it.  I was talking to my personal trainer….I told her that I HAD to make my workout as much fun as my work…because I LOVE what I do.  So the product will never get any better or grow without the original creativity or the drive that conceived it.

So….to make a short story long, don’t worry about someone stealing your work.  It needs you to have the same value.

H E A L T H   C O A C H ‘ S   S P E C I A L   T O O L S

 Every child is an artist.  The problem is staying an artist when you grow up.  — Pablo Picasso

 

As a health coach, you have special tools for business.  I am going to teach you how to take advantage of the things you may teach to your clients every day to build your creativity in your business as it becomes healthier…

• MINDFULNESS –  Spend 15 minutes a day and experience all that is around you.  Notice colors, sounds, textures, smells, reflection and the way the sun is or isn’t falling on you.  This exercise allows you to experience thoughts, ideas, input, without judging it… just entertain the idea.  This can open you up to growth in your business.  

• VISUALIZATION – Visualization is a cognitive tool accessing imagination to realize all aspects of an object, action or outcome. This may include recreating a mental sensory experience of sound, sight, smell, taste, and touch.  (Jennifer J. Baumgartner, Psy.D., Psychology Today)

• JOURNAL – Journaling puts all your creative (conscious and unconscious) thoughts onto paper and into a clear form.  There are a million ways to journal, regardless of how you choose,  it clarifies, prioritizes and sometimes presents grand ideas out of the blue!

• TAKE ACTION – Yes!  You can have all these ideas…creative, imaginative and mind blowing, but if you don’t put them into action – they are only ideas and dreams.  Nothing more.  Never will be.  That is where (haha …yep, I am going back there)… all those systems, infrastructures, business plans…..you need that.  If you play your cards right, you may hire people to do the things you don’t like to do – or find creative ways to approach them.

Join in the conversation below!  What are some of your spectacular creative wins?  Do you have any secrets to bringing out the creative in you?