Creativity is not only for the exclusive domain of artists. Everyday innovation can revolutionize the way we live, work, and relate to one another.
In this episode, we break down the steps you can take to infuse your daily experiences with creativity. From personal well-being to professional overwhelm - learn strategies for reshaping your beliefs and approaches to navigate life's hurdles.
Get inspired to bring your innate creativity to the canvas of your everyday life.
Enjoy!
Learn more about Carla: https:/www.carlareeves.com/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevescarla/
Connect on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carlasreevesaz/
Explore Coaching with Carla: https://bookme.name/carlareeves/lite/explore-coaching
Support the podcast! Check out the merch! https://www.bonfire.com/store/the-differently-shop/
Creativity is not only for the exclusive domain of artists. Everyday innovation can revolutionize the way we live, work, and relate to one another.
In this episode, we break down the steps you can take to infuse your daily experiences with creativity. From personal well-being to professional overwhelm - learn strategies for reshaping your beliefs and approaches to navigate life's hurdles.
Get inspired to bring your innate creativity to the canvas of your everyday life.
Enjoy!
Learn more about Carla: https:/www.carlareeves.com/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevescarla/
Connect on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carlasreevesaz/
Explore Coaching with Carla: https://bookme.name/carlareeves/lite/explore-coaching
Support the podcast! Check out the merch! https://www.bonfire.com/store/the-differently-shop/
I'm Carla Reeves, and this is differently. Whether you feel stuck in survival, navigating a change, or seeking more for your life, may this podcast be your weekly nudge to take a risk to build a life that is uniquely bold, authentic and in alignment with your deepest values. After a decade of coaching individuals from corporate leaders to creative artists to multi-million dollar CEOs I'm convinced we are far closer than we realized to what we deeply desire, and it's a willingness to do differently that can change everything. Hey, everyone, today's episode is all about creativity and innovation and how these things can be used right here, in the nooks and crannies of your daily life, to bring you more peace, fulfillment and success, whatever that means to you. I'm going to crack open what it means to be a creative I think it might surprise you and I'm going to break down the lifepreneurship principle of innovation down into tangible ways so that you know what it means for you and your life. Let's first talk about what it means to be a creative, because I believe everyone is. Stay with me, even if that voice in your head is telling you that this is not you. I'm convinced we are all creative, but the rules in our mind may have made you ineligible, which is what I did to myself for years. So what does it mean to be a creative? Anyway, I went searching and came across this article that I love by Jeff Goynes. He's a best-selling author and speaker on creativity and a huge advocate for writing. His article is called so what is a Creative? And I'm going to read it to you.
Speaker 1:A creative is an artist, not just a painter or a musician or writer. She is someone who sees the world a little differently than others. A creative is an individual. He is unique, someone who doesn't quite fit into any box. Some think of creatives as iconoclasts, others see them as rubbles. Both are quite apt. A creative is a thought leader. He influences people, not necessarily through personality, but through his innate gifts and talents. And what exactly does a creative do? Good question. Sometimes they don't even know. A creative creates art not to make a buck, but to make a difference. She writes to write, not to be noticed or to sell books. She sings to sing, for the pure joy of making music. And she paints to paint, and so on. A creative colors outside the lines, on purpose. In so doing, she shows the world a whole new picture they never would have otherwise seen. A creative breaks the rules and, as a result, he sets a new standard to follow. Why we need creatives? The truth is that we need more creatives in positions of influence to color the world with beauty and life. Creatives craft poetry in a world that is otherwise content with prose. They bring art to areas where there is only architecture. Creatives help us see life in a new light, to perceive a new dimension, a deeper way of encountering what we know, and we need more of those kinds of leaders.
Speaker 1:Are you a creative? I think you are Looking back this past year. At all the people I have worked with over the last decade, something stood out to me you are creatives, not always creative in the traditional arts sense, but creative in the way you see and move through the world. And sometimes being a creative can come with feeling different, feeling misunderstood, and maybe you've spent a lot of your life, like I did, trying to fit in, to conform or to fly under the radar. This has been part of my work with clients over the years to harness that, to change the way we think about this and the way that we see it, so that we can set ourselves free. Here's what I learned from my sister in a book she was reading that God hasn't left us out, but that we've been set apart for a very good reason. So listen for your own version of creativity today and where you can tap into its power to create momentum in your life in just the right places this year.
Speaker 1:If you've been listening for a while, you might remember episodes 73 and 74. I did last year on being the entrepreneur of your life and life-preneurship. If you're new to the podcast, I encourage you to go back, especially if the idea of life-preneurship is new to you. These are foundational topics to all the things I create conversations around on this podcast. Whether you realize it or not, you are the entrepreneur of your own life. And just to refresh, life-preneurship is the philosophy that we've been living by for years and what I teach inside of all of my coaching programs, and I've created the seven principles of life-preneurship and today and throughout this year, I'm going to be sharing those principles with you.
Speaker 1:Today I wanna share life-preneurship principle number one, which is innovation. Like an entrepreneur innovates to create new ideas and opportunities in business, so can we do as we approach our daily tasks and routines and approaches to our circumstances. We do this. With a mindset of creativity and problem solving, we can improve our efficiency. We can bring new ways of interacting with loved ones. We can bring new approaches to our calendar and our schedule, or bust open the rules we have been operating by that feel confining, to find new rhythms to our day that make us feel alive and engaged. Principle number one innovation is so inspiring to me because it is the key to building a life that you never have to escape, where vacations become the cherry on top. And this doesn't mean you are living a perfect life, but it means that you know that you are not living at the mercy of your circumstances and that you have power over, an influence over the way that you show up and the way that you respond to those. Principle number one innovation reads be an everyday innovator. Refuse to feel trapped by your circumstances. The dictionary defines an innovator as someone who introduces new methods, ideas or products. The innovator of the everyday taps into their innate creativity to design their relationships, work, family life, home routine and more.
Speaker 1:I know this can sound aspirational, and it is, but let's break it down in tangible examples so that you can start to imagine what this might look like for you and your life. Another episode that might inspire you is when I just did with my husband, quinton. It's episode 109, it's called Created Living. With Quinton Reeves we talk about how creativity, painting and kind of came into his life unexpectedly and also how we think about applying creativity and innovation in our own life. Let's break down what it means to innovate in the different parts of your life. Before we do that, I had to look up this like antonyms to innovate. I wanted to know what a lack of innovation was and I found words like unimaginative, uninspired, uninventive, lack of power. So if you're feeling these things or any of these things, it might be an indicator that it's a perfect time to practice innovation right where you are.
Speaker 1:Let's look at three areas of life and what innovation might look like. First, I wanna talk about the area of wellbeing. This is kind of a challenge or a situation that I see come up a lot of the time. Women, and men too, who are tired, feel like they're at the bottom of their list. Always they feel frustrated, resigned and kind of powerless and maybe a little bit lopsided in their work, and they don't see a way out of it. They long to have time to exercise and do other personal pursuits, and they long to be present without always thinking about the to-do list, and they want to relax, but they honestly don't know where to begin.
Speaker 1:Being an innovator means taking 100% responsibility and ownership for the quality of your life and really controlling what you can. There are four steps we're gonna look at. So the first one in this situation is just to reflect and ask yourself where am I part of the problem? What thinking or behaviors am I perpetuating that is keeping me stuck here? And so in this example, it might be something like I just have this belief that I always have to put everyone else first and above me. It might be something like I just have this inability to set down my to-do list. Or I have a belief that I've got to get everything done before I even carve out a little bit of space to exercise or do something for myself. Or it could even be a belief that, well, if I only have 10 minutes, forget it. If I can't get a full hour or a full two hours or a full day, then I might as well not do it at all.
Speaker 1:Number two is challenge old ways. These old ways of thinking and behaving may have actually gotten you to where you are or they may have helped you in some way in the past, but it takes a willingness to look at it and say does this make sense anymore? Is this an old job I'm taking on? That is actually a barrier to what I want now in my life. Number three change your dance. What's one thing you could do differently to give you more agency over your wellbeing and your time. Maybe it's carving out 15 or 30 minutes every morning before you start the day. Maybe it's getting up 10 or 15 minutes earlier before you start your day to actually find the time. Maybe it's asking for help so that you could have some space to do something for your own wellbeing. Be relentless in brainstorming this and start small. And number four refine and repeat. Building this muscle in one small place will give you confidence and courage and wherewithal to continue innovating in other small ways and over time your life will begin to reflect that.
Speaker 1:So let's look at the area of relationships next. A challenge or a situation that I see come up a lot is people feeling resigned about relationships, that it resigned, that it can be any better, and they look around and kind of see the same. They feel at the mercies of what other people in their life are doing or not doing, and maybe they just feel like they've been repeating these same patterns for years, but they don't know how to break the cycle. So step number one reflect, ask where am I part of the problem? What thinking or behaviors am I perpetuating that perpetuate this problem and barriers I see that come up here again and again are ideas like I have to make others happy. It's an absolute priority, and there's a fear behind that of losing something right If you don't. Another one might be this idea that I can't really share my true colors, or they might leave.
Speaker 1:Number two challenge the old ways. Does this make sense anymore, this doing things that are out of alignment with what I really want or what I really believe, or always putting other people's needs before my own? Or maybe it's not asking for what I want or need? Does this make sense anymore? Is it really helping other people? You've got to look from different angles and really challenge this old thinking, because lots of times we feel like it's actually helping or serving others when it's really not so.
Speaker 1:Step number three is to change the dance. So this doesn't mean you have to be a jerk. You can do this with a ton of love and grace, and it might mean giving yourself voice where you haven't. It might mean pausing before you take actions that have historically caused you regret or frustration. It might be little, small moves to asking for what you need and want and actually letting your loved ones be a contribution in your life. This might be about allowing yourself to receive. And number four, refine and repeat, experiment with this. I've watched clients create deeper communication, more intimacy, peace of mind and freedom to be themselves, where the relationships actually start to thrive more, and this also ends up giving people in your life permission to do the same.
Speaker 1:Innovators muster the courage and are willing to address these outdated patterns of behavior and ideas so that they can begin to lean in closer to love. Instead of closing their heart, they practice opening it Instead of keeping their running shoes on or one foot in the relationship and one foot out at the slightest indication of things not working. They, instead of running, they stay. They start to communicate differently. They move closer instead of farther away, and this always creates a new result. I had a client this week Journal to tell me about this very thing. For the first time in a long time. She's letting someone love her, see her, be there for her, instead of doing it all on her own. And last area, let's look at innovating in business and work.
Speaker 1:Maybe the challenge or the situation is feeling overwhelmed with your workload, feeling like everyone needs me and if I don't do it, it's not going to get done or it's not gonna get done right. And then going through the steps. Number one reflect where am I part of this problem? What thinking and behaviors am I holding onto that are perpetuating this problem? Number two challenge old ways. There's, you know, in situations like this, where you feel like everyone needs you and if you don't do it, it's not gonna get done. Often there's a belief of I'm alone, I've gotta do it all on my own, I'm always the one, and I just encourage you to challenge that, because what usually happens in these situations is you have taught people to that this is true and how to be in relationship with you like this, and so people like this tend to, you know, always be in the office, never feel like they can get away, and they've kind of trained everybody in that same manner, so other people are expecting them to do that.
Speaker 1:Step number three change the dance. This is where you've got to start changing the thinking first right, challenging that it's outdated and it's actually a barrier to what you want. And then start making small moves that are different, where you can delegate, where you step away from the office, where you start to do the work, to challenge your own identity, collapse with your work so that you can step away and still feel great about yourself and the leadership and the company that you're leading or whatever the work is. And step number four practice. Refine and repeat. This is a practice. Little changes over time are gonna make those big changes that you desire.
Speaker 1:Have a listen to episode 107. It's called doing whatever it takes with my client, tanya Wilson. She shares her story of doing this very thing and what it has allowed for her well-being, her family and her life. Okay, my podcast friends. That is an introduction to lifepreneurship. Principle number one innovation you don't ever have to feel trapped by your circumstances.
Speaker 1:There's a quote that says every child is an artist. The problem is staying an artist. When you grow up by Pablo Picasso, life builds up and it can feel like you're stuck underneath it all. You can forget or lose sight of your childlike imagination, ability to see and freedom to behave. Be relentless in the pursuit of designing a life that feels like your own, where you get to be exactly who you were designed to be. Your life is your canvas. If not now, then when? If not you, then who? Hey, thanks for tuning into this episode of Differently. I hope it stirred your thinking and I invite you to take one inspired action from something that stood out to you. If you wanna hear more conversations like this, be sure to hit follow on your favorite podcast app, and if this episode could impact someone you know, please help us spread the word and pass it along. Remember, new episodes drop weekly. See you next week.