Hello everyone and welcome to Poema Women's Success Coaching. This is our Carrying Through COVID video series. But you're thinking, wait a second, Piper, I don't see you on video. Well, we are doing something different. This week we are drive diving into how creativity can be used in the middle of crisis. So obviously, all of us are in the midst of this crisis. We don't know what to do. We are frenzied in mind. We're stressed out. Well, creativity can help us, especially those of us, especially those of us that are struggling, that are struggling with our businesses, that have lost our businesses. So does creativity belong in business? Does creativity belong in your life? I think the first thing we need to do is define what creativity is. I love this quote. Excuse me. It says, creativity is a combinational force. It's our ability to tap into our inner pool of resources, being knowledge, insight, information, inspiration, and all the fragments populating our minds that we've accumulated over the years. Yet being present and alive and awake to the world and combining them in extraordinary new ways. Wow, that's exciting, right? So if you have ideas, this is what I want to say. If you have ideas but you don't act on them, you're imaginative. But are you creative? I don't know. And do you believe that creativity is something that you can bring into business, something that you can bring into this COVID-19 crisis? I think so. First, I also want to define the difference between creativity and innovation. And are they really that different? So innovation is the implementation, excuse me, of new or significantly improved products, services, processes that create value for business or governments or society. Is that innovation? Absolutely. Are you being innovative with trying to deal with your kids at home and making yourself a work desk and the kids need their desk? And how do you do this? You are being innovative. So how do we bring in creativity? How do we bring it in? The first thing that I want to say is I believe every single individual is creative. Absolutely. It is a discipline, it is it is absolutely something that we need to work on. The creativity is something that we have within us. I believe it is a muscle. What I love in Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind, Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future, he talks about, he really talks about the fact that the analytical age, the computer-like thinking is really going to be replacing the right brain thinkers or replaced by the right brain thinkers. Excuse me. They're empathetic, they're inventive, they're understanding different skill sets, all of those things. And we are seeing that right now, aren't we? We are seeing people being creative and innovative and pivoting during this crisis. So as I said, creativity. I believe creativity, it is a muscle. I believe that we lose our creativity. So you have to work at it. You have to continue to develop the creativity muscle. So when you think about creativity, when you think about creativity in the midst of this crisis, how can you be creative? For myself, I'm trying my hand at a podcast. I've tried this before in the pot past, and uh I don't know. I don't know that I necessarily uh enjoyed it. I've been doing the videos uh for carrying through COVID, but it's really interesting in the midst of all of this, I'm finding great um stress relief within creativity. So some of the things that I have done in the last few weeks since being at home and sheltering place, I've re-finished furniture. I've actually done coloring, believe it or not, and I actually really enjoyed it. I got back to my chefing roots. Some of you know that I chef, and so I've been playing in the kitchen, which I don't know if that's a great thing while we're at COVID with all the food I'm making. I've gotten back to developing fitness programming, which is really creative and it's fun to think about all the different things I'm doing. I have dove back into writing my book and being creative with that process. But the other thing is, is these are all actions that I'm doing. But in the midst of that, in the midst of that, I'm also allowing myself that opportunity just to think and just to just allow my mind to just creatively think and innovate. Like many of you who are listening today, uh, my business has been hit. It has been hit. And uh, you know, I've had some bad days, but I've taken this opportunity to say, how can I use creativity to spur innovation? How can I look at poema in a new way? How can I deliver to individuals in a creative and fresh and innovative way? That's what I'm working on. Clay Christensen, a wonderful um gentleman that did pass away, unfortunately, this year, talks about there's five key behaviors to optimize your brain for discovery. So the first one is associating. So you want to draw connections between questions, problems, or ideas and unrelated fields. So, in regard to myself, when I'm trying to be innovative and creative with how do I pivot during coronavirus and my business and coaching, I'm trying to draw connections and ask questions. I'm really trying to ask questions. I'm really more not trying to focus on problems because I think that stifles the creative energy and the ability to innovate. The second thing is questioning. Again, it goes back to seeing those connections with questions, but then you sit there and you pose those questions and challenge what somebody else does, right? What you always do. I'm questioning why did you do this, Piper? What can you do now? The third way that we can really discover and optimize our brain for discovery and creativity and innovation is by observing. So, what you should be doing right now, if you're listening in as a business owner, scrutinize your the behavior of your customers, uh, your suppliers, or even your competitors, and identify new ways of doing things. I have to be honest with Poema Women's Success Coaching, I'm doing that right now. And what's extraordinary is what I'm observing is the LinkedIn platform was especially abundant just three weeks ago. And my views have just pummeled, are just they're in the dumps. It's awful. Um, and at first it really kind of thought, oh, this stinks, you know, what's going on? I wasn't having the community and the communication. But as I took a step back and I observed, well, everybody's on Facebook. People are scrolling Pinterest, people are scrolling Instagram. So I needed to observe what's taking place with the behavior of my customers, of my clients. So observe what's going on and look at new ways that other people are doing things or observe where your clients, your your customers are going. The fourth thing is networking. And I have to be honest, I've really jumped into networking this year. It's not my thing, going to networking events. And now it's obviously all come to a screeching halt with sheltering in place. What's really interesting though is that through this, I have continued networking. In fact, that's why I do my lunch and learns. I bring people on that have different ideas and different perspectives, and I have them bring this information to you. I'm continuing to network. I just was creative in the process. I pivoted, I was innovative. So, how can you meet people in with different ideas and perspectives? How can you team up? Because here's the thing when we network with people, when there's a creative process, when there's people in a creative mindset, things come up. Action happens, ideas are imagined. It's a great process. The fifth step, the fifth step is to experiment. You have to. And especially right now, all of us are throwing everything out the window of the way we used to do things. And we are experimenting, aren't we? We're experimenting with how do we interact with our customers. We're experimenting with how do I connect with future customers. We're experimenting with having our kids at home and having to teach them and you know, still have our business. So experimenting, we are having to do that. And here's the thing experimentation is really going to provoke some real interesting insights and responses. So allow yourself experimentation, even if it doesn't work out. That is the great thing about where we're at right now during this crisis. So when we talk about creativity and using it in a crisis, and using it in a crisis, it really does involve, you know, four things. Number one, opportunities. Look for the opportunities for creativity. Like I said, creativity, it's a muscle. We have to practice it. The older we get, the less creative we are. So you have to practice that creativity. Try things that you think maybe are silly. Believe me, when I said to my husband, I think I'm going to color, and he just kind of giggled at me, but my husband's an artist. And so he said, Great, why don't you try it? It's a great stress reliever. So I looked for opportunities that made me feel kind of silly. And I'm also looking for opportunities with other individuals in my life. The second thing is with creativity, with anyone, with our children, with all of us going through such this crisis and just feeling such strain, is you've got to really encourage the process, encourage individuals to be creative under stress. I understand if you're sitting here going, Piper, I don't have, you know, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever you want me to do to be creative, because I'm in the middle of the crisis right now. I really encourage you, I really encourage you to take five minutes or 10 minutes. Maybe bracket your day, five minutes in the morning, five minutes at night, and practice someone, something, excuse me, creative. I really encourage that and encourage it in others because again, it's going to allow, I've talked about this before, you get into a flow state when you can really harness creativity. Um, and and it it just is going to expel some of that strain and stress. And of course, I'm going to give you some ideas on creative practices. The third thing is that you've got to train your brain. You've got to train this creative muscle. So again, you've got to block this into your day, encourage this with your staff, encourage us with your family. The other thing that's really amazing about creativity and harnessing creativity in the middle of crisis is it builds motivation. It really does. It's fostering a different thought process and it helps you get out of your way. It helps you sort through the muck and not be so focused on, you know, what's not working. So, what do you think about this? What do you think about when it comes to creativity and developing creativity and how you can harness this in the middle of this crisis? What are some things that you can do? Well, I'm going to be talking to you more about that this week. And I hope that you really dig into this thought process of you were designed to be a creative being, your poema. I believe every person is designed with a poema, your workmanship or a masterpiece. And it's a matter of really taking hold of what we believe ourselves to be, being innovative and working hard to create that creativity within ourselves. And remember, to get yourself primed for discovery, which that's creativity, right? Creativity and innovation, you've got to draw conclusions through associating between questions, problems, or ideas in unrelated fields. Look outside of your field for myself and coaching. Where else can I look? I can look at other corporations. I can look at, I have a friend who does SEO. What does she do? I have another friend who is an author. What does she do? So draw connections and between questions, problems, or ideas in unrelated fields. This is going to help that creative juice get going. Number two, don't forget to question, question and challenge common wisdom or your common practices. It's time to throw those things out the door. Number three, number three, observe, scrutinize, scrutinize, excuse me, the behavior of your customers and your clients right now. Identify new ways of doing things. Number four, network. I know you're stuck at home. I know you know it's hard not to have human contact. I'm right there with you. But we can still meet people with different ideas and different perspectives. And boy, what a way to innovate and create creativity within ourselves. And lastly, you got to step into it. You've got to experiment with these different ideas and experiences and insights. You've got to put it into play. So this week we are jumping into creativity during crisis and what do we do? Please make sure that you join me this Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, where we will be meeting with Kenisha Griffin. And she is a creative author. She is an author of multiple novels. And she's going to speak with us on Friday about how we can use this crisis to spur creativity through writing. And that through the use of creativity, we can lessen, lessen our stress, our cortisol. That's the whole point of this. So I hope that you join us. Please make sure that you register for this webinar. You can head over to any of my social media, and there's going to be a link there. You can head over to Facebook and it's at Poima Women's Coaching. You can go to LinkedIn and it's LinkedIn slash Piper Harris Coach. You can find me or send me a note. I would love to hear from you how you are being creative, how you are being innovative, how you are pivoting through this and looking for ways to redesign your thinking, to creatively process what's going through, to lessen your stress and strain. So send me a note. I would love to hear from you. Send me an email, Piper at piperharris.net. And in the meantime, head on over to my website at piperharris.net slash COVID. There you're going to find multiple free resources just for you. I know this is tough. I know you're going through a lot, and I am right there with you. So I'm providing resources, anything I can think of for free for you right now. So are you creative? Can you continue to be creative during this crisis? Can you innovate during this crisis? I think you can. Thanks so much for joining me today. I again am Piper Harris, a coach and CEO of Poema Women's Success Coaching. Thanks for listening in today to the Carrying Through COVID video ish series. I'll talk to you again tomorrow on how we can harness creativity during crisis.