World Creativity and Innovation Day. A maverick mindset is something anyone wanting to go against the societal grain has to have. It’s not easy to do something that no-one in your immediate circle has done before, or something you haven’t been introduced to growing up.
That was a challenge I found myself facing head-on (like I’m sure many of you have as well), when I realised the job I had paid £10,000+ training for, turned out to be much less than I had hoped for.
Like many of you, at school I flip-flopped my way around classes, and when it came to crunch-time decisions such as “what do you want to be when you graduate?” or “what do you want to study more of later in life?” I looked to the traditional advice that everyone has more than likely been told at some point; “Just do what you’re good at.”
But what if what you are “good at” isn’t the subject itself, but rather a subset of a subject that you have yet to explore deeply?ck
● What if you’re good at science, but only really like the investigative aspect?
● What if you love art, but really only like matching colours?
● What if maths is your jam, but you only like it because of its predictable nature?
It wasn’t until I started my handmade jewellery business, that I felt a ‘coming together’ of all these things that I had been traditionally “good at”.
A bit like you dear reader, you might feel like these subject/job boxes don’t really fit you, like you colour outside the lines.
In honour of World Creativity and Innovation Day, I’m going to challenge you to think a little differently about how you unleash your gifts in your career, business or home life.
Embrace the beginner mindset.
Personally, my best creative solutions to a problem come when I rid myself of “the rulebook”. As many of you own or operate in businesses, you know all too well the invisible constraints that people who have ‘gone before us’ have laid out for us. But what would happen if these rules were removed? What would the solutions look like if you were heading into this like a beginner? How would the problem look different if you were looking at it for the very first time?
Look to your language.
They say that we are the sum of the 5 people we spend the most time with, well one of those people is ourselves.
When I work with creative business owners, the best way I can get a gauge as to what’s holding them back is to listen and let them speak. Quite often I’ll hear phrases such as “It’s just a small side business”. Or “I just want to sell 1 item a week for a bit of extra pocket money, nothing too extravagant”. Or I’ve even heard “It doesn’t matter if I don’t reach my goals this month”.
You see/hear many words such as “it’s just …” or “it doesn’t matter …” or “nothing too much …”.
What this says to your brain (and me as a coach) is either;
a) You don’t really care (not usually the answer)
b) You are scared to become too emotionally invested
c) This mindset will hold you back
Hint: option A isn’t usually the case.
So the next time you are speaking or thinking about your business/career look at your language for clues as to how your subconscious is really thinking about it, and instead change that language to something more accurate
“It’s just a small side business” becomes “The business has got room to grow, and real potential!”
“I just want to sell 1 item a week for a bit of extra pocket money, nothing too extravagant” becomes “My goal to start with, is to sell one item a week, but I’m ready to surpass that”.
“It doesn’t matter if I don’t reach my goals this month” becomes “I am aiming for my goal of X this month, if I don’t reach it I will reevaluate”.
Guard your mental bank.
Here’s a challenge, open your phone and look at how much time you spent on it last week.
What were you looking at the most?
At the time of writing, I can see I spent 6 hours and 5 mins on YouTube, 5 hours and 17 minutes on Zoom and 4 hours 24 mins on Instagram.
100% of whatever I’m consuming or looking at as a phone user, is having an effect on my mental wellbeing, my mood and how I will approach certain obstacles in my day. If my 4 hours on Instagram is spent looking at business owners who are getting better engagement on social media posts, you can bet the next time I need to post something, I will be less likely to step outside of the safety of the “normal” social posts.
If a portion of my 6 hours on YouTube is spent looking at videos talking about how coaching is dead and how anyone doing it is playing a losing game, it’s another safe bet that the next time I need to show up live to do something, my energy will be off.
Pay attention to what your eyes are looking at, even if you’re not really looking at it, because somewhere, that is having an effect on how you will show up today, tomorrow and next week.
I’m betting you didn’t just come to read this article to get some nifty little mindset tips, but also to find out how to turn your passion into profit. You probably have that little idea that’s been rearing its head every so often, as a quiet voice that begs for a little attention.
My best advice to start to turn that creative passion into some profit, is to first look at who would want the thing you make.
● Who is the perfect person for this?
● What purpose would it have?
● What occasion would this be bought for?
● Why?
● What’s unique about your take on it?
Just by starting to expand your awareness as to who would need/want this and why they would purchase is a fantastic way to begin looking at your hobby as a fully fledged business, and answering those questions is a perfect way to unlock a part of you that’s ready to bring your special gifts to the world.
