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Tag Archives: Lifelong Learning

November 14, 2012 Ways To Kick-Start Creativity

This week I came across an insightful talk on creativity Julie Burnstein gave at a TED Talk conference. As a radio host, Bernstein has interviewed numerous artists, creators and innovators, and began seeing similarities in their take on finding a creative spark. While a bit unconventional, I feel her 4 lessons on creativity ring true for us all:

1. Pay attention to your surroundings. 

“That’s hard to do when you have a leather rectangle in your pocket that takes all of your focus.”

Sometimes we’re so wrapped up in our own little bubbles that we forget there is a busy, beautiful world all around us, right now. Creative people don’t live in bubbles; they engage with the world. Doing so fuels their work. So keep your eyes open. Opportunities, inspiration and unique ideas surround you at this very moment.

2. Some of life’s difficulties create the best breakthroughs. Difficulty, hardship, and failure boost positive creativity by forcing us to think in new ways. For instance, someone having ongoing trouble finding a job will need to eventually adapt by getting creative. Whether it’s modifying their goals or their strategy, they’ll most certainly need to think in ways they hadn’t before, i.e., creatively.

3. Pushing up against the limits of what you can do will help you discover what you thrive at. Using the example I gave above, it would be easy for this job-seeking person to get discouraged and simply give up, but she doesn’t have to do that. Instead, she should acknowledge her personal limits, which we all have. She has found what doesn’t work for her and now possesses a better sense of where her strengths lie. To put it simply, discovering what we can’t do forces us to look, think, and act creatively with the strengths we have.

4. The embrace of loss.

“In order to create you have to stand in that space between what we see in the world and what we hope for, looking squarely at rejection and heartbreak, at war and death.”

This morning, I heard a radio story about an entrepreneur with a pretty simple idea: selling soccer balls. But his inspiration came from seeing Afghani children kicking around a wadded up ball of garbage. So, he created a line of virtually indestructible soccer balls to be donated to impoverished communities around the world. While the “loss” of a ball is a much lighter example of the loss many of us encounter in life, it shows how loss itself can act as a catalyst for positive creativity and innovation.

Bernstein concludes as such:

“We all wrestle with experience and challenge, limits and loss. Creativity is essential to all of us whether we’re scientists or teachers, parents or entrepreneurs.”

It’s true. Creativity is attainable and important for us all. Every kind of job relies upon creative people, and more importantly, creativity enables us to successfully navigate through life.

You can watch Julie Burnstein’s full talk here:

4 Lessons In Creativity

“4 Lessons in Creativity,” TED Talks, accessed November 13, 2012. http://www.ted.com/talks/julie_burstein_4_lessons_in_creativity.html

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November 21, 2011 Have You Stopped Learning?

By Margaret Smith, Speaker, Career Coach, and Certified Insights Discovery Practitioner

In a recent newsletter a friend of mine posed the following question:
How often are you consciously and intentionally being a learner?

His subject prompted me to think about all of the different places in my life where I learn, and I wondered at whether or not I was learning intentionally and consciously, instead of just out of necessity.

I have always encouraged those I work with to be lifelong learners, and I strive to be one myself. Because of this, I’ve decided to revisit this amazing habit.

Why YOU Should Be a Lifelong Learner:

  • Learning boosts your self-esteem
  • Learning keeps your mind fresh
  • Learning gives you a personal and inner source of fulfillment
  • Learning can make you money because you may advance your professional skills and learn new skills
  • Learning makes you more valuable at home, work, and in your community
  • Learning makes you a more interesting person because you can converse with a variety of people about a variety of topics

Tips for Keeping up the Habit of Learning:

  • Read books: No matter your pace of reading, keep a book with you to fill your unanticipated open time.
  • Engage others interested in learning: Spending time with other learners benefits you because you share knowledge and encourage one another.
  • Look for opportunities to apply your knowledge: Have you studied a second language, but haven’t used it in years? Join a conversation group or sign up for community education!
  • Be more open-minded: try things that you may have previously eschewed. After all, how do you know until you’ve tried it?!
  • Finally begin that project: You know the one, the project you’ve been meaning to get to for the last year that requires you to try something new and possibly develop a new skill.
  • Accept feedback from others: Listen to the advice and observations of those you trust and be willing to change.

Do you have a story about your own lifelong learning? What are some habits you’ve formed to make learning a part of your life today?

Interested in learning more about listening or working one-on-one with a professional career coach to gain a competitive edge? CONTACT MARGARET TODAY to learn about career coaching and UXL’s public workshops!

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