It's annoying to constantly have to pump people up. It's exhausting to continuously play devil's advocate for someone else's internal critic. If it's a ploy for praise then it is an irritating one. To hazard a guess at why... It's draining to constantly be around someone who is always down on themselves and unable to … Continue reading Pumping up others →

'Are you ok?' The honest answer is 'No, I'm not ok' but due to the setting I don't feel enough psychological safety to provide an honest answer so instead I'm just going to say 'I'm fine'. I think it's no coincidence that counselling sessions are done in a quiet private room with only the bare … Continue reading Psychological setting →

It starts with a mistake or a snafu or a mishap. Then we have the inquisitor. This is the person who starts the game. They bring the tension. They get the other players nervous - a crucial ingredient for the game. Some might even say the cornerstone of the game! Then the next step is … Continue reading The blame game →

An observation makes passive watching insightful watching. It takes 3 individual dots and connects them. It shines the light on a pattern and illuminates the path to betterment.

The sword swallower pulled the sword out of his oesophagus to a weak round of applause and you could just tell he was expecting more of a reaction. I feel for the sword swallower. It's a very cool trick and I don't know anyone else who can do it but it's just not interesting enough … Continue reading Sword swallowing →

Some business types might warn you of the risks of sunk costs. Well I think there are sunk costs for admitting mistakes too. I think it's harder for the person who lied about making the mistake to multiple people and then publicly shifted blame on someone else to confess because they have all these mistake … Continue reading Mistake sunk costs →

Sarah was the best player at training today but she didn't see it that way. 'Lousy' was how she described her performance. Her teammates delight in having her on their side but she's thinking of quitting. A limiting self belief taints all evidence. It dismisses contradictory arguments and clings to supporting proof. Sarah has the … Continue reading Super Sarah →

You can't evaluate a painting while it's still being made. The monetary value is only assigned after the artist is finished with it. The same is true of human beings. Whilst they are constantly changing it's very hard to nail down a concrete measurement of worth. This can be infuriating or liberating, depending on how … Continue reading Ever changing worth →

In the last chapter of his book 'Creativity' Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi lists a few tips for enhancing personal creativity. The first tip is curiosity. Mr. Csikzentmihalyi suggests improving your curiosity by: Trying to be surprised by something everyday. Trying to surprise at least one person every day. Writing down each day what surprised you and how … Continue reading Curious creatives →

They say the way to become a better writer is to read a lot and write a lot. Well I think creatives are masters of interesting. And if you want to become one, you need to consume a lot of interesting and produce a lot of interesting.