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Hello, beautiful humans.
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Welcome to Elevate with Grace, a podcast for people who are short on time and long to take steps to create success on their own terms.
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If you are feeling overworked, undervalued, and stuck in the daily juggle, knowing you are meant for more, then this is the podcast for you.
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We cut through the noise to bring you the most valuable up to date insights, expert wisdom and practical strategies.
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With bite-sized actionable tips, we help you take bold steps to create real progress, real impact, and a career and life that really worked for you.
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So excited for this episode.
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This month, my incredibly talented co host Claire and I are sharing the creativity cure.
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Why cultivating creative expression fuels your success.
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And if we've given you pause to think maybe you're not listening to the right podcast, have no fear, we promise to share with you why creativity is the catalyst to help you unlock better problem solving, better stress relief benefits, and a whole of life advantage that can help propel your leadership journey.
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We weren't built for the type of stress in most workplaces, and we've discussed this in past episodes, this is a critical cure, so we're looking to offer a perspective, protect your wellbeing, and give you more energy to focus on the root cause.
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If you've been a close friend or family member of mine in the last five years or so, you have heard me bang on about this creativity thing and how important I found it for giving my brain a break.
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For me, a crafty session represents high quality me time.
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The benefits have been far better than a mindfulness practice.
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And so I'm really excited to be sharing this with you guys and just making sure that we're not just saying, Hey, stress is a problem.
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Hey, you need to get out of your head.
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But really offering you a cure, offering you some things that can help.
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And this might just be that hidden gem that helps you unlock a missing step in living a whole life.
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And being able to be completely happy and fulfilled with work with life because you've still got enough to fill your own cup, which is seriously what we're always about.
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Before we dive in, let's touch base on the action challenge from last month as this month, we could be teeing up some excellent tilt moments for you.
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I hope the listeners are able to take a moment to reflect and plan out your next key surge period, and then take action to calendar in some small tilts that could make that momentum sustainable.
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Whether surging, tilting, or that wonderful in-between, looking forward to taking control of that rhythm and leading with clarity.
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It's very powerful stuff.
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How'd you go, Claire?
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I am excited to be with you for this episode on creativity.
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Before we jump into the action challenge, I just wanna acknowledge, like you said for anyone that has known you for a very long time, like myself, I know what a passionate, creative you are.
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While I'm probably not quite there in terms of seeing myself as a creative and not quite sure where this conversation is gonna take us.
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I'm really keen to learn from you about how we can bring more creativity into our daily lives.
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I was at the Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl Release Party movie.
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And I was in awe of what a creative powerhouse Taylor is, both as an artist and actually also as a leader and a business woman.
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She's so gracious and thankful to everyone, and also so clear and decisive in her artistic direction.
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You can feel that everyone knows her vision and feels inspired to deliver on it.
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Her blend of artistic creativity and her energy and empathy and precision.
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She knows what she wants and she communicates it really clearly.
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Whether you're running a business or leading a team or just leading your own life, I totally respect how creativity can be more than just about being a traditional artist.
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And I'm really looking forward to diving into this conversation.
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In terms of the action challenge, I'm in the depths of a pretty lengthy surge right now, I'm pushing through until my five week family European trip in December and January.
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And if I'm being honest, it's actually really hard going and so our action challenge from last episode on surging and tilting couldn't have come at a better time, if I'm honest.
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It's helped me keep my energy management front of mind.
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For me, the biggest reflection for the last month is about how I need to pay mindful attention and how I need to be as self aware as I can, even when feeling tired or exhausted or feeling a bit relentless because it's when I notice that I'm starting to lose patience and my temper shortens and I'm feeling agitated, that's really a good cue for me to pull back and tilt.
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And think about what I can do to just reenergize myself, whether it's taking myself for a walk near the beach and the ocean, whether it's going to bed early with a good fiction book.
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Be conscious of my daily screen times and course correct if I'm thinking I'm frying out on digital overload.
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Maybe do a bit of cooking on a Sunday.
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I'm not a cook, but I do every now and then like to do a bit of slow mindful cooking on a Sunday just to wind down.
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And I notice when I'm doing some of those things and I'm giving myself some space to do something for joy that it definitely helps me bounce back a little bit sharper, clearer, and more energized for the upcoming week and the week ahead and the couple of months ahead that I've got.
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I also think it's perfect timing today that we're exploring creativity as a kind of a cure, as you said, not just for stress or burnout, but also as an antidote for the rigidity that can creep into our lives when we're constantly in output mode.
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We can be mindful about doing creative activities that can bring back some possibility, perspective, and play.
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it's such important conversations for leaders too, because creativity isn't just an art.
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It can really fuel strategy resets and innovation in action.
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So I'm really looking forward to talking about that.
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So agree.
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It is such an important conversation for leaders.
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And, we try to be creative in the boardroom with, 12 hours of back to back meetings and we keep thinking we have to push longer hours or we can work to a deadline and, yeah, absolutely we get the work done.
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But is it the best creative outcome?
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Is it going to make wholesale change?
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Probably not.
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It's gonna give you maybe some small incremental shifts bringing all of those heads together.
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But we are putting people through a lot of pressure.
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A lot of time, and it's not the right environment to make creativity.
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So late 2023, I attended a workshop of a very different kind.
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It was called Sunshine, rainbows, and Lollipops.
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So already, you know,, you're up for something a little bit surreal, and it was, it was an absolutely surreal experience run by a gentleman called Myke Dixon.
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Who's a thought leader in this space based here in Melbourne and a bestselling author of the Everyday Creative and an event host and speaker at sort of small and large corporate events where business owners have identified that things must change and you see him posting on LinkedIn where he is going into these big corporate organizations and he's helped them come up with creativity in a different way.
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And he has a great quote.
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Creativity is not about waiting for inspiration.
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It's about making space for it to show up.
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And we all know that making space is incredibly hard.
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So this is something where it's like the more that we engage in these creative pursuits on a regular basis, if we can bring it into a bit more of a routine.
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The more problem solving muscles we build like a physical workout creative practice really strengthens that cognitive flexibility and resilience.
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And when you need it, it's there as opposed to trying to force it when it's not readily available.
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You can't make that muscle work if it's not already there.
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So It was an incredible event.
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And I have followed his journey since, and I just found that that was a really nice way of framing it because pre 2023, I knew I enjoyed it as a social personal thing for me, and it helped me to really reframe, et cetera.
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But I think this is where it's like this needs to pay a lot more into the business space.
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And I've done workshops before with big corporations where you go into an insight session and before a brainstorming, insight sessions always acknowledge that you need like a two minute icebreaker or a little Lego challenge or something.
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But this felt like a whole new way of thinking and vibing And excitingly, this isn't just a vibe.
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It is real.
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There is hard research to back this up.
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So there's a book Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross.
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They're neuro scientists who have been digging into this space.
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And the book is fascinating.
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I can give you a book recommendation.
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I've got two for you in this one.
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So definitely the everyday creative, but then also your brain on art.
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And this is really the arts and activity that changes your biology, your emotional state, and enhances your mental wellbeing.
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You don't have to be great or even good.
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It's not the point.
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It's about the benefits, those experiences, and they talk about how the neuroplasticity in our brain when it engages in creative acts, rewires the brain and creates new neural pathways.
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Improving our ability to adapt and innovate.
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So there you go.
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It's not just a feel, it's backed, in fact So learning this, it feels like one of those things we can't unlearn.
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It's like, okay, didn't know we needed this.
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Let's dive into it and let's bring it to life.
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And I remember my last MD he started learning the piano.
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And I just thought that was awesome.
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He is got young kids, he's running a business but he's also taking that time out for himself to learn the piano was passion he wanted to learn.
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And when you then dive into the studies and the why of it, much like my creative practice, it's about giving yourself that time to really take that pause and I feel it helped his leadership, it certainly helped mine.
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Brene Brown and Liz Gilbert discussed this back early 2021.
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So yeah, I think there's a, definitely a bigger study out there about leaders in this space.
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And I also feel it's just the best kept secret at the moment of leadership.
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For us it could be our next best step to achieving success on our own terms.
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What really stands out to me is how much we underestimate the power of creativity.
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We think of it as something that's soft or optional rather than something that's actually practical and strategic.
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it's always great to know that there's hard evidence that the science backs these things up.
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Obviously in the age of ai we've gotta be careful about making sure that what we are hearing is the truth.
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But it sounds like there's a lot of people out there that are doing some really good work to determine that there's scientific evidence that creativity literally changes our biology, that it helps us release stress and access flow states and reconnect with parts of ourselves that get buried in the busyness of work and life.
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And I think these days that's more important than ever.
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I think everyone is feeling the weight of a lot of things, and so trying to bring some of that stuff to the surface seems like it can have lots of value.
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And it's great to be talking about this in the context of the other things that we talk about in terms of creating success on your own terms.
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The best leaders I know are certainly reimagining and redesigning all the time.
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They're connecting dots that others can't see.
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They're encouraging others to bring new ideas to the table for the long term success of the business and really continually changing things in an agile way.
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And I can see the link between the elements of creativity as well as just the traditional artists view of being a creative.
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Every time you try and think of a different approach to a challenge, experiment with a new tool, or you're inviting your team to think differently, you're actually bringing your creative muscles to the table there's a book from Ed Katnull who's one of the co-founders of Pixar.
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And in his book, Creativity Inc, he talks about how Pixar's culture is.
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a creative culture that wasn't built by accident or it's not a nice to have, it's actually built into their DNA.
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They make space for experimentation, candor, and failure.
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And that's what's allowed them to consistently produce some of the most successful and innovative movies of our time.
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So definitely there's some great business examples out there already, but I think you're right, it's an untapped attribute that we're not bringing into business and into our lives enough.
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Innovative problem solving shouldn't only be happening when we're under pressure and we are forced to do it.
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It should be how we lead our organizations all the time.
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to be consistently and intentionally creating a culture where ideas flourish, especially in this fast-paced technology driven AI world.
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I can just see so much benefits of that.
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And speaking of ai, I'm not sure that we should be having a conversation about creativity without touching on ai.
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I know that there's a lot of concern about how gen AI might erode human creativity, but there's a recent Harvard Business Review article called How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity.
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That's a bit of a mouthful for an article title, it takes a different perspective.
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The article positions AI as our collaborator.
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I know we've talked about this before in our AI episode, but we need to see it as a tool that can expand our imaginative reach.
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The writers talk about how it can help us with divergent thinking.
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It can help us make associations we might never have surfaced on our own.
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And even challenge our cognitive biases it can assist us in combining and refining our raw ideas and speed up our creative process.
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But as we talked about in our AI episode, a couple of episodes back, the important thing is how we as leaders engage with the tool and the technology of ai.
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We need to be using it mindfully as our creative assistant not as a crutch that's just creating stuff for us without thinking about bringing our ideas to the table.
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We need to ask intelligent questions and stay grounded in our human judgment.
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But absolutely it's something that we need to be thinking about when we're exploring this creativity journey and our leadership on creativity.
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I absolutely love that you've brought AI into this conversation, because if we think about it and Claire, I always loved your quote, create before we consume.
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So when we think about ai, as well as all the humanistic leadership skills we spoke about recently, creativity is something that we bring to the table, right?
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It's where the humans get to really own, this power of creativity.
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And so, yes, working with it to help you brainstorm, working with it to help you research market needs, or data to help build and be a bit more creativity is exciting.
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Also potentially this is where you get a little bit more time because what you spoke to, which was Pixar.
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I mean, Pixar seemed to be just this magical place where they could turn around these incredible creative ideas and it makes a lot of sense that they had space and time to do it.
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And I believe they were quite protective of that time.
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Whereas a lot of places, a lot of studios, a lot of businesses, we are looking for guaranteed performance on a quarterly basis.
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We can't put a movie back into the box and say it's not ready to release this year.
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We're gonna wait another year to do that.
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Maybe AI can help us to marry the two of getting a little bit more time to creatively think and explore, but then also getting the research or the data to make sure that we're going in the right direction.
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There is so many great opportunities to explore ai.
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I do think one of the things that I'm seeing and hearing a lot of is just that risk of AI basically stealing copyrights.
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So there's a lot of creators out there at the moment that are saying, please do not put our work into ai.
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Because if you do, then it's into the algorithm and then they can use that work to, basically to steal it.
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So authors particularly, you know,, there's apps where you can put a book text into an app and it will read it to you.
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It's like, it's actually illegal.
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We need you to go and get the audio book copy of that because that is sort of under those copyright infringements.
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Just as we always would, making sure that we're really mindful and careful with it.
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One of the most exciting things about sort of creative expression is that it is an incredibly powerful stress relief and wellbeing tool.
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There is obviously a lot of things out there.
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There's mindfulness practice, there's therapists, et cetera.
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But again, if we're thinking about where this can help us in terms of leadership, we can get sort of those leadership problem solving benefits out of it.
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But also some great stress reduction.
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And I think this is so important.
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We know, and we've spoken to it in the past, that we live with a low level stress on a regular basis, and we're just not built for it.
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And then every so often we get these real peaks where it's incredibly stressful and if we don't have a very full cup, it's very hard to deal with that.
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So I think it's just incredibly important that, again, we are working that muscle and like we have in our schedule.
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That creativity is a great way of getting your head out of the chaos, taking control back of your thoughts and directing them into something creative with just enough challenge.
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So if we think about learning music, you can't learn music and think about your challenges at the time, you're not gonna hit the right keys.
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Same with creating art, sewing, knitting, crafting, et cetera.
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Like if you're not focusing on what you're doing, you're probably gonna put a needle through your finger, like it is demanding enough attention without being overtaxing and, you can do it solo or it's actually really fun to do in a group.
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I do some virtual retreats.
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Mostly they're in the US so it's sort of.
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And a very early morning or Southeast Asia as we don't seem to have too many here in the craft space, but I do know that around me it's becoming a lot more where they do have some great classes.
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So music obviously is a great one to do in a group.
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But you pick, you solo or, in a group.
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What we continue to show is You know, stress is a problem and here is a great opportunity to go and find something that can fuel you.
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And it could be dance classes.
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It could be cooking.
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I've seen some incredible artists out there that are actually getting into cake making cookie decorations, taking control back of your brain, you know,, you're doing something with your hands, you're creating before.
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before we consume.
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Creativity is a great biological reset button.
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So again, from the aforementioned your brain on art relieving our stress is as important as eating food and when arts become a regular practice, you can unleash an innate tool that helps you navigate the peaks and valleys of your inner life.
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Sound pretty cool?
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Engaging the aesthetic triad.
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The sensory motor, the reward system, the cognitive meaning making is essential to wellbeing as eating or sleeping.
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So studies show even 45 minutes of art making reduces the stress hormone cortisol, regardless of skill level.
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And we do know that even if it's not in art, we need to make sure we've got cortisol under control.
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You definitely have me convinced Miranda particularly when you're talking about cortisol levels and serotonin and those things, and for people that are in really stressful jobs, which these days are, think most people are feeling, like you said, that baseline level of stress almost constantly.
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So I certainly think you're making a great case.
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There.
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And what I also like is how you've talked about how simple it can be.
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Like we don't
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Hmm.
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go out and, all of a sudden be creating oil paintings by the seaside or whatever.
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Like we can just do something really small.
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And that suits me because I have always struggled to see myself as a creative person.
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I went to a very academic school in Asia and.
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just really wasn't, there was maybe an art and a music elective, but it was very basic and very traditional and I sort of got the sense that I wasn't an artistic type.
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And so just stuck with my very academic subjects.
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So I don't ever associate myself with being a creative person, but I know from knowing you for many years, that at least I try to do something.
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I get out my coloring book and do some shading or get out my knitting needles or do some journaling and writing.
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I find I really enjoy writing and journaling And each time I do notice my shoulders drop, my breath slows, my mind clears, as you said.
00:19:29.612 --> 00:19:32.132
You really do have to focus on the task at hand.
00:19:32.182 --> 00:19:46.619
It's about active mindfulness, which we spoke about in our surging and tilting episode, and it's a bit like hitting a reset button, you absolutely have to, as you mentioned in your quote before, you have to create the space for yourself.
00:19:46.669 --> 00:19:55.380
You've gotta be thoughtful about that and make some time to just set everything else aside for a little bit and just try out a couple of those things.
00:19:55.380 --> 00:20:00.577
As you said, Miranda, creativity has such a powerful link to our wellbeing and how we feel.
00:20:00.653 --> 00:20:12.378
And then, the link back to our workplaces and how can change in terms of our ability to feel psychologically safe and reduce those cortisol levels and stress levels.
00:20:12.465 --> 00:20:18.075
Adam Grant talks about that in his work life podcast in an episode on How to Love Criticism.
00:20:18.125 --> 00:20:29.371
in this episode he talks to a couple of people who have a workplace culture that promotes radical transparency and facilitates and promotes the giving and receiving of authentic criticism.
00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:34.349
And when you create those environments where people feel psychologically safe.
00:20:34.421 --> 00:20:40.061
Really courageous organizations can be born, which in turn allows for creative ideas to flourish.
00:20:40.061 --> 00:20:48.786
So Adam points out that when we feel psychologically safe enough to play with ideas, even in perfect ones, it reduces our stress and builds resilience.
00:20:48.974 --> 00:20:53.589
it's all interlinked in this beautiful, Whole of life thing.
00:20:53.589 --> 00:20:57.058
As far as, I'm sensing as to where we are going with this.
00:20:57.153 --> 00:21:01.682
creativity isn't about getting it right, it's about building up our courage muscles.
00:21:01.682 --> 00:21:06.573
It's about experimenting without letting fear or criticism or failure hold us back.
00:21:06.669 --> 00:21:16.881
and when we lean into that courage and we give ourselves permission to create without caring whether it's any good or how good my beanie is, when I knit it, or whether anyone's gonna see my.
00:21:16.925 --> 00:21:17.914
coloring book.
00:21:17.965 --> 00:21:29.910
It just makes us feel more comfortable about handling the real pressures of leadership in life where we just give ourselves permission to do something that's creative but also imperfect.
00:21:30.310 --> 00:21:45.000
It is just so important that we think about this practice and this creativity as something that we're doing for ourselves, there is actually a lovely poem, share it in the notes, but it outlines how the point of being human is to experience all of those things, and we've just stopped.
00:21:45.029 --> 00:21:47.820
We think that if we're not perfect, we just shouldn't be doing.
00:21:48.220 --> 00:21:50.590
And creativity is not limited to fine arts.
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:54.960
I actually think that if you take an oil painting and try and do it by the seaside, you're gonna be incredibly frustrated.
00:21:55.042 --> 00:21:57.892
That is something that takes a lot of years to learn how to do.
00:21:57.892 --> 00:22:00.172
I tried and I'm like, that's not my bag.
00:22:00.250 --> 00:22:01.029
And that's okay.
00:22:01.029 --> 00:22:04.090
There is plenty of things that I love doing and I enjoy.
00:22:04.120 --> 00:22:13.621
So, if you're inspired by beautiful gold embossing and, stunning layered flowers, a, I'm hoping you wear your beanie and you love it, and you feel great, because it's something that you've created.
00:22:14.510 --> 00:22:15.676
Cooking's another great one.
00:22:15.676 --> 00:22:18.666
Dancing, gardening, they're all creative pursuits.
00:22:18.666 --> 00:22:20.105
I mentioned music before.
00:22:20.355 --> 00:22:23.056
Today I am very excited to be getting into a flat pack journey.
00:22:23.581 --> 00:22:29.467
Putting together some of those flat packs from ikea, like that is creative creation doesn't just need to happen at home.
00:22:29.514 --> 00:22:34.704
We need to find some ways to inject a couple of minutes of creativity into our workplace.
00:22:34.721 --> 00:22:36.825
We've all been in those long meetings.
00:22:36.825 --> 00:22:39.418
Can we, you know,, say, Hey, let's just take two minutes.
00:22:39.429 --> 00:22:41.746
Maybe we do our meetings outdoor setting.
00:22:41.746 --> 00:22:47.635
We go outside and we do our meeting out there and, we tell one story about ourselves before we dig in or.
00:22:48.006 --> 00:22:54.426
We've got a workshop technique where you take two random objects and you need to sell it as a product that comes together.
00:22:54.846 --> 00:22:56.916
And there's been some great products that have come out of those.
00:22:56.916 --> 00:23:03.903
Some of those I think I'd buy bean bags, can we have some bean bags in the office and do a meeting in bean bags rather than on the chairs at the desk.
00:23:03.932 --> 00:23:11.451
when we are thinking we wanna tackle insights, we want to tackle problem solving, that's when we get on the board table and we've got all the spreadsheets and we're ready.
00:23:12.021 --> 00:23:13.941
Can we change that dynamic a little bit?
00:23:13.941 --> 00:23:15.321
Can we make that a bit more creative?
00:23:15.321 --> 00:23:21.201
Because if we really want a creative output, we just probably need to think a little bit more about how we bring it.
00:23:21.457 --> 00:23:29.771
I worked with a colleague previously, Kerry James, who coined the term and I'm not sure if it was hers or somebody else's, but I learned it from her craft afternoon session at work.
00:23:29.801 --> 00:23:31.061
Can we have a craft afternoon session?
00:23:31.061 --> 00:23:38.548
I think we were putting together some tenders or something, but it made it fun and we still got the output we needed, but we had a great time doing it as a collective.
00:23:39.074 --> 00:23:44.134
There's definitely, you've mentioned it before over 50% of people just believe they can't be creative.
00:23:44.314 --> 00:23:46.324
And often it is due to art scars.
00:23:46.683 --> 00:23:48.544
I definitely did not do art at school.
00:23:48.544 --> 00:23:51.874
I absolutely believed I was not a creative, this was not my bag.
00:23:52.234 --> 00:23:56.254
And it wasn't actually through creativity or through the need of creativity that I found this.
00:23:56.254 --> 00:24:00.298
It was the need to get outta my brain and to give myself that relief.
00:24:00.604 --> 00:24:08.214
And I was looking to take some control back and I did a prompt called one word and it had some creative parts to it.
00:24:08.889 --> 00:24:09.999
Fell into it that way.
00:24:09.999 --> 00:24:18.629
And I read a lot of stories about how people got into creative pursuits and it's generally that, get them in spite of it, and I want us all to just race to that challenge.
00:24:18.629 --> 00:24:21.419
Let's do it in spite of all those risks and fears.
00:24:21.719 --> 00:24:31.516
It does not have to be for anyone but yourself, it's really about making sure that you get those health benefits and you get those stress benefits and you get those leadership benefits out of taking on this creative pursuit.
00:24:31.661 --> 00:24:42.086
Reclaiming our creative confidence is also going to support more empathetic, strategic thinking, authenticity, curiosity, courage, all of these great things.
00:24:42.176 --> 00:24:50.911
Like you said before, Claire, I'm looking to make a case, but it is because I've had so many conversations where I'm like, Hey, I tried this thing and it was so good and I really wanna share that with you.
00:24:51.054 --> 00:24:56.621
Back to early liz Gilbert and it's this beautiful thinking, taking on creative pursuit.
00:24:56.696 --> 00:25:00.353
we are living larger, more amplified, and a more joyous life.
00:25:00.438 --> 00:25:15.383
I've read Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic as well, and I do like it because she basically talks about what you are talking about in a lot of ways about, to just set aside our art scars, living a life driven by curiosity rather than fear.
00:25:15.458 --> 00:25:21.964
And that we all have the essential ingredients for creativity, courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, and trust.
00:25:21.964 --> 00:25:22.163
And it's just.
00:25:22.464 --> 00:25:33.473
Simply a matter of whether we make a conscious choice to make space in our lives for it to cultivate those ingredients, to do a bit of creative activity in our lives.
00:25:33.557 --> 00:25:49.625
I really am being sold on your concept that it really is an essential aspect of our lives, particularly nowadays when there's so much stress and life is moving so fast and what we want as people and customers and businesses are changing.
00:25:49.644 --> 00:25:56.224
Building up our creative muscles is so beneficial in terms of our whole of life and a leadership advantage.
00:25:56.274 --> 00:26:11.119
Leaders who make the space for curiosity, experimentation, imaginations are really gonna be the ones that thrive in this complex, fast changing world is what I'm really taking out of it Creativity makes us more effective, more human leaders.
00:26:11.149 --> 00:26:15.064
And, actually there's a couple of Harvard Business Review.
00:26:15.464 --> 00:26:16.903
that talk about this.
00:26:16.932 --> 00:26:22.912
every leader is an artist by Michael O'Malley who argues that leadership isn't like art.
00:26:23.002 --> 00:26:24.122
It is an art.
00:26:24.122 --> 00:26:30.316
Great leaders do more than manage outcomes that they compose, interpret and animate social systems.
00:26:30.641 --> 00:26:36.164
You gave some beautiful examples of, of what you guys do To bring some creativity into the workplace.
00:26:36.164 --> 00:26:42.085
And O'Malley really insists that leadership is not only about short term KPIs or bottom line results.
00:26:42.085 --> 00:26:47.065
It's how we lead with intention, with focus, with mastery, with authenticity.
00:26:47.065 --> 00:26:58.128
And there's so many synergies with those attributes that Elizabeth Gilbert and yourself talk about in terms of what makes us a creative or what gives us permission to be a creative.
00:26:58.162 --> 00:27:04.522
And that really stands someone out as truly being a leader rather than just a manager of getting outcomes done.
00:27:04.552 --> 00:27:08.152
So Harvard Business School is on your guys' side as well.
00:27:08.179 --> 00:27:11.625
And there's also some work done by Theresa Amile from.
00:27:11.989 --> 00:27:24.916
business school, and in her article, creativity and the role of a Leader, she shows that the real job of a leader is to shape the environment where creativity can thrive and ideas and innovative thinking brought to the table.
00:27:24.916 --> 00:27:37.653
So back to your creative afternoon that you had at the office, innovative ways to think about how we can bring different thinking and different ideas and joy and fun and less stress into our workplaces.
00:27:37.870 --> 00:27:39.759
are you making space for curiosity?
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.130
Are you encouraging experimentation?
00:27:42.250 --> 00:27:44.950
Are you modeling the courage to try something new?
00:27:44.950 --> 00:27:48.969
All of these things give us a true life and leadership advantage.
00:27:48.969 --> 00:27:50.829
So, I'm sold.
00:27:50.929 --> 00:27:51.048
Woohoo.
00:27:51.449 --> 00:27:55.839
I'm so excited and I am so incredibly grateful for this conversation.
00:27:55.869 --> 00:28:02.823
It is definitely one I've been wanting to have for a while, and it's something that we really wanted to make sure fit in the right space and absolutely after.
00:28:03.188 --> 00:28:05.528
Human leadership and then surging and tilting.
00:28:05.528 --> 00:28:07.778
This absolutely felt like the right next step.
00:28:08.148 --> 00:28:12.528
So I'm hoping that you are sold Claire and that, maybe some of our listeners are sold as well.
00:28:12.528 --> 00:28:15.197
And certainly, like I said, there's so many options.
00:28:15.197 --> 00:28:19.976
So we'll put some of the ideas in the show notes in terms of maybe something that you wanna give a go.
00:28:20.283 --> 00:28:22.263
But we should probably wrap this up.
00:28:22.263 --> 00:28:29.856
As we know, I could talk about this forever, but in this episode I'm so proud that we have explored, that creativity is not a luxury.
00:28:30.067 --> 00:28:33.257
It's actually a core skill that's been acquired for modern life.
00:28:33.467 --> 00:28:40.187
I do know a lot of people think they're gonna be creative when they retire or they're gonna be creative when they've, finished all of the life and the living of.
00:28:40.692 --> 00:28:44.802
Getting the house and getting the kids through school and all that sort of stuff, like it's something that we kind of put off.
00:28:45.111 --> 00:28:54.166
But it is really exciting that we're thinking of this now as a core skill that's gonna help us in our modern life, that's gonna help us in our leadership, that's gonna help us do all of those things just that little bit better.
00:28:54.478 --> 00:28:57.986
We unpacked how creative practice strengthens the brain like a workout.
00:28:58.091 --> 00:29:00.611
And the more practice, the more resilient we become.
00:29:01.061 --> 00:29:01.226
We looked at.
00:29:01.644 --> 00:29:12.144
Some excellent stress relief benefits and the benefit of just that whole of life living, bringing your creative self to everything you do is going to be bringing a better self, a better leader to work.
00:29:12.445 --> 00:29:16.404
So very excited to have taken that on with you guys.
00:29:16.558 --> 00:29:17.548
Thanks Miranda.
00:29:17.548 --> 00:29:18.119
Absolutely.
00:29:18.119 --> 00:29:21.629
My big takeaway today is that creativity isn't optional.
00:29:21.629 --> 00:29:22.798
It's essential.
00:29:22.929 --> 00:29:28.292
It's how we reconnected ourselves with others and with the bigger possibilities that are in front of us.
00:29:28.295 --> 00:29:35.670
And it's something that every single one of us can all reclaim regardless of those art scars, one small step at a time.
00:29:35.670 --> 00:29:36.390
So.
00:29:36.485 --> 00:29:46.664
It's a great segue into the action challenge, which is over the next week, pick, pick something and make small creative adjustments to it.
00:29:46.695 --> 00:29:55.525
The goal is for you to reframe creativity not just as a traditional artistic pursuit or as an extra task to add on top of everything else.
00:29:55.525 --> 00:30:05.000
It's to see creativity as something to build into the fabric of our days to help us replenish our energy levels and help you be a more perceptive human and leader.
00:30:05.483 --> 00:30:07.639
I look forward to talking about that next time.
00:30:07.663 --> 00:30:10.124
Miranda, thank you for a wonderful episode.
00:30:10.124 --> 00:30:11.378
It's actually been really fun.
00:30:11.435 --> 00:30:18.076
I was a bit about how this would fit in, but it's fitted in beautifully after our tilting and searching, we've weaved in some ai.
00:30:18.321 --> 00:30:19.101
So there you go.
00:30:19.101 --> 00:30:26.162
The interconnectivity of creativity is absolutely something that we should all be thinking more about.
00:30:26.234 --> 00:30:27.794
I absolutely love that.
00:30:27.854 --> 00:30:28.964
Thank you so much, Claire.
00:30:28.964 --> 00:30:31.964
This has been awesome and I love that challenge for us.
00:30:31.964 --> 00:30:39.440
I do a lot of my meetings on teams, so I'm already thinking, Hmm, can I change the framing around everybody or or something to make those a bit more fun.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.580
I really appreciate the wonderful insights you brought to that episode.
00:30:42.580 --> 00:30:45.490
I know you're a bit nervous, but you've been absolutely amazing.
00:30:45.490 --> 00:30:51.580
I've learned some great new studies out there and I am inspired so, so much goodness in this episode.
00:30:51.580 --> 00:30:55.600
So a huge thank you and thank you to our beautiful listeners for tuning in.
00:30:55.868 --> 00:31:01.358
For our next episode, I am so excited that we are going to have the amazing Myke Dixon.
00:31:01.638 --> 00:31:13.596
Joining us, he has accepted an invitation and I mentioned Myke earlier in the podcast as having authored the Everyday creative and doing some fabulous work to bring creativity into the workplace.
00:31:13.596 --> 00:31:18.768
So a great follow up from this episode, and I can't wait to introduce him to you all in our next episode.
00:31:19.146 --> 00:31:27.076
to wrap up today, we've put all of the curated content into the episode notes, so please do check them out and dip into the stuff that resonates with you.
00:31:27.159 --> 00:31:30.778
So you can take those small actionable steps for your own success journey.
00:31:30.922 --> 00:31:35.028
For more inspiration, please do check out our socials on Insta and LinkedIn.
00:31:35.111 --> 00:31:37.811
We'd love, love, love to hear from you and how you are going.
00:31:38.081 --> 00:31:41.291
Please drop us an email at Elevate with grace@gmail.com.
00:31:41.734 --> 00:31:47.344
And please like and subscribe to this podcast or to Instagram or LinkedIn where you follow us.
00:31:47.394 --> 00:31:53.708
We'd love to hear from you and if you could send it to a friend that would get some value out of this we'd just appreciate it so much.
00:31:53.798 --> 00:31:55.478
We can't wait to chat with you again soon.
00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:16.530
Hello, beautiful humans.
00:00:16.530 --> 00:00:23.740
Welcome to Elevate with Grace, a podcast for people who are short on time and long to take steps to create success on their own terms.
00:00:23.740 --> 00:00:31.817
If you are feeling overworked, undervalued, and stuck in the daily juggle, knowing you are meant for more, then this is the podcast for you.
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We cut through the noise to bring you the most valuable up to date insights, expert wisdom and practical strategies.
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With bite-sized actionable tips, we help you take bold steps to create real progress, real impact, and a career and life that really worked for you.
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So excited for this episode.
00:00:49.218 --> 00:00:54.771
This month, my incredibly talented co host Claire and I are sharing the creativity cure.
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Why cultivating creative expression fuels your success.
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And if we've given you pause to think maybe you're not listening to the right podcast, have no fear, we promise to share with you why creativity is the catalyst to help you unlock better problem solving, better stress relief benefits, and a whole of life advantage that can help propel your leadership journey.
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We weren't built for the type of stress in most workplaces, and we've discussed this in past episodes, this is a critical cure, so we're looking to offer a perspective, protect your wellbeing, and give you more energy to focus on the root cause.
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If you've been a close friend or family member of mine in the last five years or so, you have heard me bang on about this creativity thing and how important I found it for giving my brain a break.
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For me, a crafty session represents high quality me time.
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The benefits have been far better than a mindfulness practice.
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And so I'm really excited to be sharing this with you guys and just making sure that we're not just saying, Hey, stress is a problem.
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Hey, you need to get out of your head.
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But really offering you a cure, offering you some things that can help.
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And this might just be that hidden gem that helps you unlock a missing step in living a whole life.
00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:10.506
And being able to be completely happy and fulfilled with work with life because you've still got enough to fill your own cup, which is seriously what we're always about.
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Before we dive in, let's touch base on the action challenge from last month as this month, we could be teeing up some excellent tilt moments for you.
00:02:18.713 --> 00:02:28.453
I hope the listeners are able to take a moment to reflect and plan out your next key surge period, and then take action to calendar in some small tilts that could make that momentum sustainable.
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Whether surging, tilting, or that wonderful in-between, looking forward to taking control of that rhythm and leading with clarity.
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It's very powerful stuff.
00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:37.050
How'd you go, Claire?
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I am excited to be with you for this episode on creativity.
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Before we jump into the action challenge, I just wanna acknowledge, like you said for anyone that has known you for a very long time, like myself, I know what a passionate, creative you are.
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While I'm probably not quite there in terms of seeing myself as a creative and not quite sure where this conversation is gonna take us.
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I'm really keen to learn from you about how we can bring more creativity into our daily lives.
00:03:04.187 --> 00:03:08.057
I was at the Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl Release Party movie.
00:03:08.391 --> 00:03:16.645
And I was in awe of what a creative powerhouse Taylor is, both as an artist and actually also as a leader and a business woman.
00:03:16.645 --> 00:03:24.265
She's so gracious and thankful to everyone, and also so clear and decisive in her artistic direction.
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You can feel that everyone knows her vision and feels inspired to deliver on it.
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Her blend of artistic creativity and her energy and empathy and precision.
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She knows what she wants and she communicates it really clearly.
00:03:37.612 --> 00:03:48.412
Whether you're running a business or leading a team or just leading your own life, I totally respect how creativity can be more than just about being a traditional artist.
00:03:48.442 --> 00:03:51.373
And I'm really looking forward to diving into this conversation.
00:03:51.423 --> 00:04:01.462
In terms of the action challenge, I'm in the depths of a pretty lengthy surge right now, I'm pushing through until my five week family European trip in December and January.
00:04:01.496 --> 00:04:10.228
And if I'm being honest, it's actually really hard going and so our action challenge from last episode on surging and tilting couldn't have come at a better time, if I'm honest.
00:04:10.310 --> 00:04:13.790
It's helped me keep my energy management front of mind.
00:04:13.873 --> 00:04:37.917
For me, the biggest reflection for the last month is about how I need to pay mindful attention and how I need to be as self aware as I can, even when feeling tired or exhausted or feeling a bit relentless because it's when I notice that I'm starting to lose patience and my temper shortens and I'm feeling agitated, that's really a good cue for me to pull back and tilt.
00:04:37.961 --> 00:04:47.187
And think about what I can do to just reenergize myself, whether it's taking myself for a walk near the beach and the ocean, whether it's going to bed early with a good fiction book.
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Be conscious of my daily screen times and course correct if I'm thinking I'm frying out on digital overload.
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Maybe do a bit of cooking on a Sunday.
00:04:55.887 --> 00:05:03.189
I'm not a cook, but I do every now and then like to do a bit of slow mindful cooking on a Sunday just to wind down.
00:05:03.189 --> 00:05:19.218
And I notice when I'm doing some of those things and I'm giving myself some space to do something for joy that it definitely helps me bounce back a little bit sharper, clearer, and more energized for the upcoming week and the week ahead and the couple of months ahead that I've got.
00:05:19.234 --> 00:05:34.894
I also think it's perfect timing today that we're exploring creativity as a kind of a cure, as you said, not just for stress or burnout, but also as an antidote for the rigidity that can creep into our lives when we're constantly in output mode.
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We can be mindful about doing creative activities that can bring back some possibility, perspective, and play.
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it's such important conversations for leaders too, because creativity isn't just an art.
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It can really fuel strategy resets and innovation in action.
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So I'm really looking forward to talking about that.
00:05:53.703 --> 00:05:54.812
So agree.
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It is such an important conversation for leaders.
00:05:57.341 --> 00:06:09.781
And, we try to be creative in the boardroom with, 12 hours of back to back meetings and we keep thinking we have to push longer hours or we can work to a deadline and, yeah, absolutely we get the work done.
00:06:09.991 --> 00:06:11.730
But is it the best creative outcome?
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Is it going to make wholesale change?
00:06:14.222 --> 00:06:14.972
Probably not.
00:06:15.012 --> 00:06:19.092
It's gonna give you maybe some small incremental shifts bringing all of those heads together.
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But we are putting people through a lot of pressure.
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A lot of time, and it's not the right environment to make creativity.
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So late 2023, I attended a workshop of a very different kind.
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It was called Sunshine, rainbows, and Lollipops.
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So already, you know,, you're up for something a little bit surreal, and it was, it was an absolutely surreal experience run by a gentleman called Myke Dixon.
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Who's a thought leader in this space based here in Melbourne and a bestselling author of the Everyday Creative and an event host and speaker at sort of small and large corporate events where business owners have identified that things must change and you see him posting on LinkedIn where he is going into these big corporate organizations and he's helped them come up with creativity in a different way.
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And he has a great quote.
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Creativity is not about waiting for inspiration.
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It's about making space for it to show up.
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And we all know that making space is incredibly hard.
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So this is something where it's like the more that we engage in these creative pursuits on a regular basis, if we can bring it into a bit more of a routine.
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The more problem solving muscles we build like a physical workout creative practice really strengthens that cognitive flexibility and resilience.
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And when you need it, it's there as opposed to trying to force it when it's not readily available.
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You can't make that muscle work if it's not already there.
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So It was an incredible event.
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And I have followed his journey since, and I just found that that was a really nice way of framing it because pre 2023, I knew I enjoyed it as a social personal thing for me, and it helped me to really reframe, et cetera.
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But I think this is where it's like this needs to pay a lot more into the business space.
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And I've done workshops before with big corporations where you go into an insight session and before a brainstorming, insight sessions always acknowledge that you need like a two minute icebreaker or a little Lego challenge or something.
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But this felt like a whole new way of thinking and vibing And excitingly, this isn't just a vibe.
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It is real.
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There is hard research to back this up.
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So there's a book Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross.
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They're neuro scientists who have been digging into this space.
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And the book is fascinating.
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I can give you a book recommendation.
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I've got two for you in this one.
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So definitely the everyday creative, but then also your brain on art.
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And this is really the arts and activity that changes your biology, your emotional state, and enhances your mental wellbeing.
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You don't have to be great or even good.
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It's not the point.
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It's about the benefits, those experiences, and they talk about how the neuroplasticity in our brain when it engages in creative acts, rewires the brain and creates new neural pathways.
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Improving our ability to adapt and innovate.
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So there you go.
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It's not just a feel, it's backed, in fact So learning this, it feels like one of those things we can't unlearn.
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It's like, okay, didn't know we needed this.
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Let's dive into it and let's bring it to life.
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And I remember my last MD he started learning the piano.
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And I just thought that was awesome.
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He is got young kids, he's running a business but he's also taking that time out for himself to learn the piano was passion he wanted to learn.
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And when you then dive into the studies and the why of it, much like my creative practice, it's about giving yourself that time to really take that pause and I feel it helped his leadership, it certainly helped mine.
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Brene Brown and Liz Gilbert discussed this back early 2021.
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So yeah, I think there's a, definitely a bigger study out there about leaders in this space.
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And I also feel it's just the best kept secret at the moment of leadership.
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For us it could be our next best step to achieving success on our own terms.
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What really stands out to me is how much we underestimate the power of creativity.
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We think of it as something that's soft or optional rather than something that's actually practical and strategic.
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it's always great to know that there's hard evidence that the science backs these things up.
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Obviously in the age of ai we've gotta be careful about making sure that what we are hearing is the truth.
00:10:08.136 --> 00:10:26.951
But it sounds like there's a lot of people out there that are doing some really good work to determine that there's scientific evidence that creativity literally changes our biology, that it helps us release stress and access flow states and reconnect with parts of ourselves that get buried in the busyness of work and life.
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And I think these days that's more important than ever.
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I think everyone is feeling the weight of a lot of things, and so trying to bring some of that stuff to the surface seems like it can have lots of value.
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And it's great to be talking about this in the context of the other things that we talk about in terms of creating success on your own terms.
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The best leaders I know are certainly reimagining and redesigning all the time.
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They're connecting dots that others can't see.
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They're encouraging others to bring new ideas to the table for the long term success of the business and really continually changing things in an agile way.
00:11:02.267 --> 00:11:10.620
And I can see the link between the elements of creativity as well as just the traditional artists view of being a creative.
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Every time you try and think of a different approach to a challenge, experiment with a new tool, or you're inviting your team to think differently, you're actually bringing your creative muscles to the table there's a book from Ed Katnull who's one of the co-founders of Pixar.
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And in his book, Creativity Inc, he talks about how Pixar's culture is.
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a creative culture that wasn't built by accident or it's not a nice to have, it's actually built into their DNA.
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They make space for experimentation, candor, and failure.
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And that's what's allowed them to consistently produce some of the most successful and innovative movies of our time.
00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:57.176
So definitely there's some great business examples out there already, but I think you're right, it's an untapped attribute that we're not bringing into business and into our lives enough.
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Innovative problem solving shouldn't only be happening when we're under pressure and we are forced to do it.
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It should be how we lead our organizations all the time.
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to be consistently and intentionally creating a culture where ideas flourish, especially in this fast-paced technology driven AI world.
00:12:15.693 --> 00:12:18.333
I can just see so much benefits of that.
00:12:18.783 --> 00:12:25.721
And speaking of ai, I'm not sure that we should be having a conversation about creativity without touching on ai.
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I know that there's a lot of concern about how gen AI might erode human creativity, but there's a recent Harvard Business Review article called How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity.
00:12:38.347 --> 00:12:43.447
That's a bit of a mouthful for an article title, it takes a different perspective.
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The article positions AI as our collaborator.
00:12:46.927 --> 00:12:54.174
I know we've talked about this before in our AI episode, but we need to see it as a tool that can expand our imaginative reach.
00:12:54.213 --> 00:12:58.053
The writers talk about how it can help us with divergent thinking.
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It can help us make associations we might never have surfaced on our own.
00:13:02.230 --> 00:13:10.973
And even challenge our cognitive biases it can assist us in combining and refining our raw ideas and speed up our creative process.
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But as we talked about in our AI episode, a couple of episodes back, the important thing is how we as leaders engage with the tool and the technology of ai.
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We need to be using it mindfully as our creative assistant not as a crutch that's just creating stuff for us without thinking about bringing our ideas to the table.
00:13:30.783 --> 00:13:34.692
We need to ask intelligent questions and stay grounded in our human judgment.
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But absolutely it's something that we need to be thinking about when we're exploring this creativity journey and our leadership on creativity.
00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:51.598
I absolutely love that you've brought AI into this conversation, because if we think about it and Claire, I always loved your quote, create before we consume.
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So when we think about ai, as well as all the humanistic leadership skills we spoke about recently, creativity is something that we bring to the table, right?
00:14:01.188 --> 00:14:05.668
It's where the humans get to really own, this power of creativity.
00:14:05.668 --> 00:14:15.189
And so, yes, working with it to help you brainstorm, working with it to help you research market needs, or data to help build and be a bit more creativity is exciting.
00:14:15.276 --> 00:14:20.932
Also potentially this is where you get a little bit more time because what you spoke to, which was Pixar.
00:14:20.962 --> 00:14:30.466
I mean, Pixar seemed to be just this magical place where they could turn around these incredible creative ideas and it makes a lot of sense that they had space and time to do it.
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And I believe they were quite protective of that time.
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Whereas a lot of places, a lot of studios, a lot of businesses, we are looking for guaranteed performance on a quarterly basis.
00:14:41.810 --> 00:14:45.630
We can't put a movie back into the box and say it's not ready to release this year.
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We're gonna wait another year to do that.
00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:57.520
Maybe AI can help us to marry the two of getting a little bit more time to creatively think and explore, but then also getting the research or the data to make sure that we're going in the right direction.
00:14:58.050 --> 00:15:01.550
There is so many great opportunities to explore ai.
00:15:01.550 --> 00:15:09.170
I do think one of the things that I'm seeing and hearing a lot of is just that risk of AI basically stealing copyrights.
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So there's a lot of creators out there at the moment that are saying, please do not put our work into ai.
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Because if you do, then it's into the algorithm and then they can use that work to, basically to steal it.
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So authors particularly, you know,, there's apps where you can put a book text into an app and it will read it to you.
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It's like, it's actually illegal.
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We need you to go and get the audio book copy of that because that is sort of under those copyright infringements.
00:15:32.876 --> 00:15:35.846
Just as we always would, making sure that we're really mindful and careful with it.
00:15:36.323 --> 00:15:44.753
One of the most exciting things about sort of creative expression is that it is an incredibly powerful stress relief and wellbeing tool.
00:15:45.033 --> 00:15:46.833
There is obviously a lot of things out there.
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There's mindfulness practice, there's therapists, et cetera.
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But again, if we're thinking about where this can help us in terms of leadership, we can get sort of those leadership problem solving benefits out of it.
00:15:57.246 --> 00:15:59.486
But also some great stress reduction.
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And I think this is so important.
00:16:01.947 --> 00:16:08.817
We know, and we've spoken to it in the past, that we live with a low level stress on a regular basis, and we're just not built for it.
00:16:08.817 --> 00:16:16.556
And then every so often we get these real peaks where it's incredibly stressful and if we don't have a very full cup, it's very hard to deal with that.
00:16:16.926 --> 00:16:23.076
So I think it's just incredibly important that, again, we are working that muscle and like we have in our schedule.
00:16:23.437 --> 00:16:32.016
That creativity is a great way of getting your head out of the chaos, taking control back of your thoughts and directing them into something creative with just enough challenge.
00:16:32.266 --> 00:16:38.101
So if we think about learning music, you can't learn music and think about your challenges at the time, you're not gonna hit the right keys.
00:16:38.501 --> 00:16:42.631
Same with creating art, sewing, knitting, crafting, et cetera.
00:16:42.661 --> 00:16:52.923
Like if you're not focusing on what you're doing, you're probably gonna put a needle through your finger, like it is demanding enough attention without being overtaxing and, you can do it solo or it's actually really fun to do in a group.
00:16:53.122 --> 00:16:54.442
I do some virtual retreats.
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Mostly they're in the US so it's sort of.
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And a very early morning or Southeast Asia as we don't seem to have too many here in the craft space, but I do know that around me it's becoming a lot more where they do have some great classes.
00:17:06.022 --> 00:17:08.903
So music obviously is a great one to do in a group.
00:17:09.259 --> 00:17:11.932
But you pick, you solo or, in a group.
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What we continue to show is You know, stress is a problem and here is a great opportunity to go and find something that can fuel you.
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And it could be dance classes.
00:17:19.906 --> 00:17:21.286
It could be cooking.
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I've seen some incredible artists out there that are actually getting into cake making cookie decorations, taking control back of your brain, you know,, you're doing something with your hands, you're creating before.
00:17:30.716 --> 00:17:31.586
before we consume.
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Creativity is a great biological reset button.
00:17:34.785 --> 00:17:47.383
So again, from the aforementioned your brain on art relieving our stress is as important as eating food and when arts become a regular practice, you can unleash an innate tool that helps you navigate the peaks and valleys of your inner life.
00:17:47.983 --> 00:17:48.763
Sound pretty cool?
00:17:48.929 --> 00:17:50.548
Engaging the aesthetic triad.
00:17:50.649 --> 00:17:57.519
The sensory motor, the reward system, the cognitive meaning making is essential to wellbeing as eating or sleeping.
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So studies show even 45 minutes of art making reduces the stress hormone cortisol, regardless of skill level.
00:18:04.193 --> 00:18:08.604
And we do know that even if it's not in art, we need to make sure we've got cortisol under control.
00:18:08.716 --> 00:18:26.023
You definitely have me convinced Miranda particularly when you're talking about cortisol levels and serotonin and those things, and for people that are in really stressful jobs, which these days are, think most people are feeling, like you said, that baseline level of stress almost constantly.
00:18:26.023 --> 00:18:28.205
So I certainly think you're making a great case.
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There.
00:18:28.660 --> 00:18:32.926
And what I also like is how you've talked about how simple it can be.
00:18:32.926 --> 00:18:33.406
Like we don't
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Hmm.
00:18:33.736 --> 00:18:38.946
go out and, all of a sudden be creating oil paintings by the seaside or whatever.
00:18:38.946 --> 00:18:41.406
Like we can just do something really small.
00:18:41.406 --> 00:18:47.262
And that suits me because I have always struggled to see myself as a creative person.
00:18:47.262 --> 00:18:50.881
I went to a very academic school in Asia and.
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just really wasn't, there was maybe an art and a music elective, but it was very basic and very traditional and I sort of got the sense that I wasn't an artistic type.
00:19:01.913 --> 00:19:05.063
And so just stuck with my very academic subjects.
00:19:05.063 --> 00:19:13.916
So I don't ever associate myself with being a creative person, but I know from knowing you for many years, that at least I try to do something.
00:19:13.916 --> 00:19:20.620
I get out my coloring book and do some shading or get out my knitting needles or do some journaling and writing.
00:19:20.620 --> 00:19:29.562
I find I really enjoy writing and journaling And each time I do notice my shoulders drop, my breath slows, my mind clears, as you said.
00:19:29.612 --> 00:19:32.132
You really do have to focus on the task at hand.
00:19:32.182 --> 00:19:46.619
It's about active mindfulness, which we spoke about in our surging and tilting episode, and it's a bit like hitting a reset button, you absolutely have to, as you mentioned in your quote before, you have to create the space for yourself.
00:19:46.669 --> 00:19:55.380
You've gotta be thoughtful about that and make some time to just set everything else aside for a little bit and just try out a couple of those things.
00:19:55.380 --> 00:20:00.577
As you said, Miranda, creativity has such a powerful link to our wellbeing and how we feel.
00:20:00.653 --> 00:20:12.378
And then, the link back to our workplaces and how can change in terms of our ability to feel psychologically safe and reduce those cortisol levels and stress levels.
00:20:12.465 --> 00:20:18.075
Adam Grant talks about that in his work life podcast in an episode on How to Love Criticism.
00:20:18.125 --> 00:20:29.371
in this episode he talks to a couple of people who have a workplace culture that promotes radical transparency and facilitates and promotes the giving and receiving of authentic criticism.
00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:34.349
And when you create those environments where people feel psychologically safe.
00:20:34.421 --> 00:20:40.061
Really courageous organizations can be born, which in turn allows for creative ideas to flourish.
00:20:40.061 --> 00:20:48.786
So Adam points out that when we feel psychologically safe enough to play with ideas, even in perfect ones, it reduces our stress and builds resilience.
00:20:48.974 --> 00:20:53.589
it's all interlinked in this beautiful, Whole of life thing.
00:20:53.589 --> 00:20:57.058
As far as, I'm sensing as to where we are going with this.
00:20:57.153 --> 00:21:01.682
creativity isn't about getting it right, it's about building up our courage muscles.
00:21:01.682 --> 00:21:06.573
It's about experimenting without letting fear or criticism or failure hold us back.
00:21:06.669 --> 00:21:16.881
and when we lean into that courage and we give ourselves permission to create without caring whether it's any good or how good my beanie is, when I knit it, or whether anyone's gonna see my.
00:21:16.925 --> 00:21:17.914
coloring book.
00:21:17.965 --> 00:21:29.910
It just makes us feel more comfortable about handling the real pressures of leadership in life where we just give ourselves permission to do something that's creative but also imperfect.
00:21:30.310 --> 00:21:45.000
It is just so important that we think about this practice and this creativity as something that we're doing for ourselves, there is actually a lovely poem, share it in the notes, but it outlines how the point of being human is to experience all of those things, and we've just stopped.
00:21:45.029 --> 00:21:47.820
We think that if we're not perfect, we just shouldn't be doing.
00:21:48.220 --> 00:21:50.590
And creativity is not limited to fine arts.
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:54.960
I actually think that if you take an oil painting and try and do it by the seaside, you're gonna be incredibly frustrated.
00:21:55.042 --> 00:21:57.892
That is something that takes a lot of years to learn how to do.
00:21:57.892 --> 00:22:00.172
I tried and I'm like, that's not my bag.
00:22:00.250 --> 00:22:01.029
And that's okay.
00:22:01.029 --> 00:22:04.090
There is plenty of things that I love doing and I enjoy.
00:22:04.120 --> 00:22:13.621
So, if you're inspired by beautiful gold embossing and, stunning layered flowers, a, I'm hoping you wear your beanie and you love it, and you feel great, because it's something that you've created.
00:22:14.510 --> 00:22:15.676
Cooking's another great one.
00:22:15.676 --> 00:22:18.666
Dancing, gardening, they're all creative pursuits.
00:22:18.666 --> 00:22:20.105
I mentioned music before.
00:22:20.355 --> 00:22:23.056
Today I am very excited to be getting into a flat pack journey.
00:22:23.581 --> 00:22:29.467
Putting together some of those flat packs from ikea, like that is creative creation doesn't just need to happen at home.
00:22:29.514 --> 00:22:34.704
We need to find some ways to inject a couple of minutes of creativity into our workplace.
00:22:34.721 --> 00:22:36.825
We've all been in those long meetings.
00:22:36.825 --> 00:22:39.418
Can we, you know,, say, Hey, let's just take two minutes.
00:22:39.429 --> 00:22:41.746
Maybe we do our meetings outdoor setting.
00:22:41.746 --> 00:22:47.635
We go outside and we do our meeting out there and, we tell one story about ourselves before we dig in or.
00:22:48.006 --> 00:22:54.426
We've got a workshop technique where you take two random objects and you need to sell it as a product that comes together.
00:22:54.846 --> 00:22:56.916
And there's been some great products that have come out of those.
00:22:56.916 --> 00:23:03.903
Some of those I think I'd buy bean bags, can we have some bean bags in the office and do a meeting in bean bags rather than on the chairs at the desk.
00:23:03.932 --> 00:23:11.451
when we are thinking we wanna tackle insights, we want to tackle problem solving, that's when we get on the board table and we've got all the spreadsheets and we're ready.
00:23:12.021 --> 00:23:13.941
Can we change that dynamic a little bit?
00:23:13.941 --> 00:23:15.321
Can we make that a bit more creative?
00:23:15.321 --> 00:23:21.201
Because if we really want a creative output, we just probably need to think a little bit more about how we bring it.
00:23:21.457 --> 00:23:29.771
I worked with a colleague previously, Kerry James, who coined the term and I'm not sure if it was hers or somebody else's, but I learned it from her craft afternoon session at work.
00:23:29.801 --> 00:23:31.061
Can we have a craft afternoon session?
00:23:31.061 --> 00:23:38.548
I think we were putting together some tenders or something, but it made it fun and we still got the output we needed, but we had a great time doing it as a collective.
00:23:39.074 --> 00:23:44.134
There's definitely, you've mentioned it before over 50% of people just believe they can't be creative.
00:23:44.314 --> 00:23:46.324
And often it is due to art scars.
00:23:46.683 --> 00:23:48.544
I definitely did not do art at school.
00:23:48.544 --> 00:23:51.874
I absolutely believed I was not a creative, this was not my bag.
00:23:52.234 --> 00:23:56.254
And it wasn't actually through creativity or through the need of creativity that I found this.
00:23:56.254 --> 00:24:00.298
It was the need to get outta my brain and to give myself that relief.
00:24:00.604 --> 00:24:08.214
And I was looking to take some control back and I did a prompt called one word and it had some creative parts to it.
00:24:08.889 --> 00:24:09.999
Fell into it that way.
00:24:09.999 --> 00:24:18.629
And I read a lot of stories about how people got into creative pursuits and it's generally that, get them in spite of it, and I want us all to just race to that challenge.
00:24:18.629 --> 00:24:21.419
Let's do it in spite of all those risks and fears.
00:24:21.719 --> 00:24:31.516
It does not have to be for anyone but yourself, it's really about making sure that you get those health benefits and you get those stress benefits and you get those leadership benefits out of taking on this creative pursuit.
00:24:31.661 --> 00:24:42.086
Reclaiming our creative confidence is also going to support more empathetic, strategic thinking, authenticity, curiosity, courage, all of these great things.
00:24:42.176 --> 00:24:50.911
Like you said before, Claire, I'm looking to make a case, but it is because I've had so many conversations where I'm like, Hey, I tried this thing and it was so good and I really wanna share that with you.
00:24:51.054 --> 00:24:56.621
Back to early liz Gilbert and it's this beautiful thinking, taking on creative pursuit.
00:24:56.696 --> 00:25:00.353
we are living larger, more amplified, and a more joyous life.
00:25:00.438 --> 00:25:15.383
I've read Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic as well, and I do like it because she basically talks about what you are talking about in a lot of ways about, to just set aside our art scars, living a life driven by curiosity rather than fear.
00:25:15.458 --> 00:25:21.964
And that we all have the essential ingredients for creativity, courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, and trust.
00:25:21.964 --> 00:25:22.163
And it's just.
00:25:22.464 --> 00:25:33.473
Simply a matter of whether we make a conscious choice to make space in our lives for it to cultivate those ingredients, to do a bit of creative activity in our lives.
00:25:33.557 --> 00:25:49.625
I really am being sold on your concept that it really is an essential aspect of our lives, particularly nowadays when there's so much stress and life is moving so fast and what we want as people and customers and businesses are changing.
00:25:49.644 --> 00:25:56.224
Building up our creative muscles is so beneficial in terms of our whole of life and a leadership advantage.
00:25:56.274 --> 00:26:11.119
Leaders who make the space for curiosity, experimentation, imaginations are really gonna be the ones that thrive in this complex, fast changing world is what I'm really taking out of it Creativity makes us more effective, more human leaders.
00:26:11.149 --> 00:26:15.064
And, actually there's a couple of Harvard Business Review.
00:26:15.464 --> 00:26:16.903
that talk about this.
00:26:16.932 --> 00:26:22.912
every leader is an artist by Michael O'Malley who argues that leadership isn't like art.
00:26:23.002 --> 00:26:24.122
It is an art.
00:26:24.122 --> 00:26:30.316
Great leaders do more than manage outcomes that they compose, interpret and animate social systems.
00:26:30.641 --> 00:26:36.164
You gave some beautiful examples of, of what you guys do To bring some creativity into the workplace.
00:26:36.164 --> 00:26:42.085
And O'Malley really insists that leadership is not only about short term KPIs or bottom line results.
00:26:42.085 --> 00:26:47.065
It's how we lead with intention, with focus, with mastery, with authenticity.
00:26:47.065 --> 00:26:58.128
And there's so many synergies with those attributes that Elizabeth Gilbert and yourself talk about in terms of what makes us a creative or what gives us permission to be a creative.
00:26:58.162 --> 00:27:04.522
And that really stands someone out as truly being a leader rather than just a manager of getting outcomes done.
00:27:04.552 --> 00:27:08.152
So Harvard Business School is on your guys' side as well.
00:27:08.179 --> 00:27:11.625
And there's also some work done by Theresa Amile from.
00:27:11.989 --> 00:27:24.916
business school, and in her article, creativity and the role of a Leader, she shows that the real job of a leader is to shape the environment where creativity can thrive and ideas and innovative thinking brought to the table.
00:27:24.916 --> 00:27:37.653
So back to your creative afternoon that you had at the office, innovative ways to think about how we can bring different thinking and different ideas and joy and fun and less stress into our workplaces.
00:27:37.870 --> 00:27:39.759
are you making space for curiosity?
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.130
Are you encouraging experimentation?
00:27:42.250 --> 00:27:44.950
Are you modeling the courage to try something new?
00:27:44.950 --> 00:27:48.969
All of these things give us a true life and leadership advantage.
00:27:48.969 --> 00:27:50.829
So, I'm sold.
00:27:50.929 --> 00:27:51.048
Woohoo.
00:27:51.449 --> 00:27:55.839
I'm so excited and I am so incredibly grateful for this conversation.
00:27:55.869 --> 00:28:02.823
It is definitely one I've been wanting to have for a while, and it's something that we really wanted to make sure fit in the right space and absolutely after.
00:28:03.188 --> 00:28:05.528
Human leadership and then surging and tilting.
00:28:05.528 --> 00:28:07.778
This absolutely felt like the right next step.
00:28:08.148 --> 00:28:12.528
So I'm hoping that you are sold Claire and that, maybe some of our listeners are sold as well.
00:28:12.528 --> 00:28:15.197
And certainly, like I said, there's so many options.
00:28:15.197 --> 00:28:19.976
So we'll put some of the ideas in the show notes in terms of maybe something that you wanna give a go.
00:28:20.283 --> 00:28:22.263
But we should probably wrap this up.
00:28:22.263 --> 00:28:29.856
As we know, I could talk about this forever, but in this episode I'm so proud that we have explored, that creativity is not a luxury.
00:28:30.067 --> 00:28:33.257
It's actually a core skill that's been acquired for modern life.
00:28:33.467 --> 00:28:40.187
I do know a lot of people think they're gonna be creative when they retire or they're gonna be creative when they've, finished all of the life and the living of.
00:28:40.692 --> 00:28:44.802
Getting the house and getting the kids through school and all that sort of stuff, like it's something that we kind of put off.
00:28:45.111 --> 00:28:54.166
But it is really exciting that we're thinking of this now as a core skill that's gonna help us in our modern life, that's gonna help us in our leadership, that's gonna help us do all of those things just that little bit better.
00:28:54.478 --> 00:28:57.986
We unpacked how creative practice strengthens the brain like a workout.
00:28:58.091 --> 00:29:00.611
And the more practice, the more resilient we become.
00:29:01.061 --> 00:29:01.226
We looked at.
00:29:01.644 --> 00:29:12.144
Some excellent stress relief benefits and the benefit of just that whole of life living, bringing your creative self to everything you do is going to be bringing a better self, a better leader to work.
00:29:12.445 --> 00:29:16.404
So very excited to have taken that on with you guys.
00:29:16.558 --> 00:29:17.548
Thanks Miranda.
00:29:17.548 --> 00:29:18.119
Absolutely.
00:29:18.119 --> 00:29:21.629
My big takeaway today is that creativity isn't optional.
00:29:21.629 --> 00:29:22.798
It's essential.
00:29:22.929 --> 00:29:28.292
It's how we reconnected ourselves with others and with the bigger possibilities that are in front of us.
00:29:28.295 --> 00:29:35.670
And it's something that every single one of us can all reclaim regardless of those art scars, one small step at a time.
00:29:35.670 --> 00:29:36.390
So.
00:29:36.485 --> 00:29:46.664
It's a great segue into the action challenge, which is over the next week, pick, pick something and make small creative adjustments to it.
00:29:46.695 --> 00:29:55.525
The goal is for you to reframe creativity not just as a traditional artistic pursuit or as an extra task to add on top of everything else.
00:29:55.525 --> 00:30:05.000
It's to see creativity as something to build into the fabric of our days to help us replenish our energy levels and help you be a more perceptive human and leader.
00:30:05.483 --> 00:30:07.639
I look forward to talking about that next time.
00:30:07.663 --> 00:30:10.124
Miranda, thank you for a wonderful episode.
00:30:10.124 --> 00:30:11.378
It's actually been really fun.
00:30:11.435 --> 00:30:18.076
I was a bit about how this would fit in, but it's fitted in beautifully after our tilting and searching, we've weaved in some ai.
00:30:18.321 --> 00:30:19.101
So there you go.
00:30:19.101 --> 00:30:26.162
The interconnectivity of creativity is absolutely something that we should all be thinking more about.
00:30:26.234 --> 00:30:27.794
I absolutely love that.
00:30:27.854 --> 00:30:28.964
Thank you so much, Claire.
00:30:28.964 --> 00:30:31.964
This has been awesome and I love that challenge for us.
00:30:31.964 --> 00:30:39.440
I do a lot of my meetings on teams, so I'm already thinking, Hmm, can I change the framing around everybody or or something to make those a bit more fun.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.580
I really appreciate the wonderful insights you brought to that episode.
00:30:42.580 --> 00:30:45.490
I know you're a bit nervous, but you've been absolutely amazing.
00:30:45.490 --> 00:30:51.580
I've learned some great new studies out there and I am inspired so, so much goodness in this episode.
00:30:51.580 --> 00:30:55.600
So a huge thank you and thank you to our beautiful listeners for tuning in.
00:30:55.868 --> 00:31:01.358
For our next episode, I am so excited that we are going to have the amazing Myke Dixon.
00:31:01.638 --> 00:31:13.596
Joining us, he has accepted an invitation and I mentioned Myke earlier in the podcast as having authored the Everyday creative and doing some fabulous work to bring creativity into the workplace.
00:31:13.596 --> 00:31:18.768
So a great follow up from this episode, and I can't wait to introduce him to you all in our next episode.
00:31:19.146 --> 00:31:27.076
to wrap up today, we've put all of the curated content into the episode notes, so please do check them out and dip into the stuff that resonates with you.
00:31:27.159 --> 00:31:30.778
So you can take those small actionable steps for your own success journey.
00:31:30.922 --> 00:31:35.028
For more inspiration, please do check out our socials on Insta and LinkedIn.
00:31:35.111 --> 00:31:37.811
We'd love, love, love to hear from you and how you are going.
00:31:38.081 --> 00:31:41.291
Please drop us an email at Elevate with grace@gmail.com.
00:31:41.734 --> 00:31:47.344
And please like and subscribe to this podcast or to Instagram or LinkedIn where you follow us.
00:31:47.394 --> 00:31:53.708
We'd love to hear from you and if you could send it to a friend that would get some value out of this we'd just appreciate it so much.
00:31:53.798 --> 00:31:55.478
We can't wait to chat with you again soon.
