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A lot of us are struggling these days. If it’s not with the fast pace of career and family balance, it’s the far-too-steep slope that we must climb to reach it. The paths laid out for us are many and yet they each require a particular mentality that we may be unsure of. Sometimes we find that we are unsuitable for many or even most of the opportunities that people have provided us with. Maybe we can sense a bad deal when we see one and we see them everywhere. A creative person may feel compelled to work on things in their own way which can be problematic in the modern workplace. Finding opportunities that suit a creative person can be difficult as novelty always starts off small. Even if we mass produce a novelty idea or item, the public opinion will be small.
Communicating the value of creative ideas requires us to have a fundamental understanding of the problem we are solving. If we use what we have at our disposal, be it time, material, knowledge, mental ability, or any combination of these things, to solve known problems that benefit the wider community, then a business model can work. The necessity of any business is to fulfil a need for a price that is competitive with society at large. We need to think creatively to redefine solutions and problems that suit people more accurately than other services. Not only do we limit current competition, but we also provide unique factors that can change the industry over time. When going into business, the thing to remember that happiness and contentment are what you are selling. The services and items on offer are tools for us to bring that about. We exchange contentment for contentment, so the object is to be rewarded in kind. We ask for money if we need to, or a fair provision of service that we would otherwise not receive. Sometimes the largest issues in a community are based on a lack of money and a lack of social leverage, meaning that those perhaps we are best to serve are unable to respond in any kind at all. This means we require a third party that does provide financial or social rewards. The most obvious example of this is a charity. This is how business is done in the modern world.
To achieve authority status in your chosen area of problem solving, it’s necessary to dedicate your whole mind to the problem. A lot of information is likely already available about your chosen problem and the methods in which is has been solved before. If the problem is new, then we can find similarities in other solutions that we can use as metaphorical tools to explore our own example. Having the right solution is only part of the equation as well. To have people be willing to give us a chance, being an authority will only get us so far. We must be easy to talk to, interact with, and a pleasure to spend time with. When you can make your time worth rewards, either financial, social, or both, then you will find making progress natural.
A solution that people can understand means making it simple to apply. If we are a learned expert on a subject, it may become more difficult to see the hurdles in the thought process you’re offering. When choosing solutions to problems and finding ways to provide for us in other ways, people generally choose the easiest and most rewarding option. In general terms, the higher the cost, the higher the quality of service and item. This is because to provide excellence and ease of use, a lot of work is done, and the best ingredients are used. When we pay more for something we generally expect to have a better product because of it. Sometimes sellers use this logic to make products appear better than they are. When establishing yourself as a legitimate source of business and therefore solutions to people's problems, its important to not leave people feeling cheated. This means that using psychology to sell things that people don’t want or at a price that is out of balance will ultimately result in unfriendly feelings and mistrust towards you. When a community loses trust in you then they will no longer feel your services are of any value. The advert and the assurance will mean nothing to them because they don’t know if they should believe it. We can see this in action when politicians draw rosy pictures of rational and functional society when in fact it’s crumbling around them. It’s not long until their narrative no longer makes any sense when compared to reality and the population loses trust in them.
To build trust from a community that doesn’t know if you deserve it, it’s necessary to show that you are present not only to serve yourself but to serve others too. To become trusted and accepted by the wider ecosystem of finance, service, and production, it’s important to be of real benefit to others as much as you are yourself. If a person is unable to look after others or themselves, it becomes unattractive for business. They offer services that do not match the market because the effort and intention to provide is missing. If a person can’t look out for your interests or their own interests, then the service they provide can’t be guaranteed to be adequate.
Business must be beneficial to society, not just for the customer and the seller. If the solution to a problem creates more problems, then it’s not a good service. The nature of modern business gives rise to the need to be socially responsible as well as profitable. Making a profit means more jobs for people and more money sent to governments for public services. Provided the money is made fairly and without causing harm to those around it, it’s a good thing. Our creative solutions and abilities are the tools we have to apply ourselves in wealth generation for ourselves and those around us. Wealth isn’t everything, it’s not the goal. Our problem is in security and in desire. We use money to enable security for ourselves and our loved ones. We also use it to get what we want in life. This is the experience of ownership or time spent. The attraction of money is because of the ability it has to get what we want. It’s power, and in the right hands, it can provide for everyone. When used wisely and creatively, we can use our financial ability to make life better for the community we work in and live in. Making a fair wage is how we get along in society, as the world is prepared for us, and we are prepared for the world. Our ability to solve problems for people and provide genuinely positive experiences is a valuable resource that we can use to fulfil our obligations.
To do this properly, we must accept that we need education. We’re not born into any skill and even highly talented people spend a long time practicing and learning how to do what they do so well. If we want to stand among the talented ones, then we must strive and work as hard to be as reliable as they are in the field we choose. This is why choosing a field that we enjoy working with is essential because to make work for you in your own way then it will take a lot of time, most of which will be unpaid. Doing things in the way other people want it done will earn you money faster, so only follow your creative path if you are prepared to take that route. Sometimes, though, it’s the only route we have. Only when we’ve learned the skills and practiced them until they become a talent will our ability be worth paying for.
Making people happy is what problem solving is all about. If we can make people happy with our skills without making other people directly unhappy, then we have a great business. What is directly unhappy? Some people will just not like you. They might see you as a threat to their business, or a threat to their social status. Overseeing a business is not a job that comes without its pitfalls. Some people have predefined assumptions about businesspeople and those of us who have studied marketing. If you are in the business of selling products, services, or both then marketing is essential reading. Directly making people unhappy involves action that is inconsiderate of their freedoms and rights to thrive. Antisocial business is not good marketing. A service mindset with a creative attitude and a willingness to look after yourself and others in equal amounts will be the foundation to your creative journey. Once you’ve established trust, authority, a genuine solution to a genuine problem, and a way of benefitting from it personally, your business model is ready to go. Naturally, we need continual maintenance, an eye for new growth and necessary cuts, and a continual process of grounding and reassessing the situation. A creative life is well within reach. If you want to learn more, why not try Principles and Practice of Marketing by Professor David Jobber and Fiona Ellis-Chadwick
Creativity is about finding new ways to look at things and then acting on them according to the novel thinking. Metaphors and flow-charts can be created that guide us through processes and progress, images and stories can be created to apply knowledge across universal circles. Courage is about action, moving through the anxiety and fear by stating your ideas, acting on them, and speaking up when needed. We solve problems by being creative and the right solutions take account of the whole situation. The way forward is directed by the reality of the entire situation and the limitations that it applies. A goal can be in any direction provided it lubricates healthy society and culture. Resistances and frictions are the opportunities for creative input and novel ways of taking responsibility.
It takes courage to be able to look at the whole situation and not just the situation from your perspective. Other people will have their own versions of the story and their own ideas about what the end results should look like. The behaviours and systems that result in the situation will be rooted in a dynamic and shifting consensus that always needs to be addressed. It may feel like our views are the ones that are important because of the way we think about them however society is a complex system of many people who each have their own direct reasoning with an equally as vibrant passion for their experience. Because of the possible conflicts of interest and ideal, it’s important to be confident and know your intrinsic worth. Being spoken over and dismissed is a possibility and you need to be prepared to address this calmly and confidently. A creative solution may require new methods of communication and expression that speaks to others in ways they recognise and can respect. The same works for us, too. We may conflict with the interests and ideals of others and be a source of friction and resistance. Understanding the reasoning for their ideas can be difficult if we’re passionate about their antithesis. Because society involves the fluid working of diverse groups, it’s best to look for the logic and ration in their argument and then using that to make your point sound more valid. We need to address the light of it and not the shadow of it as its hardly ever our intention to cast the shadow even though it’s inevitable. Everyone is a human being with a distinctive history and set of mental pictures that define the way they behave and the things they aspire towards. We all have our own pain points that cause us distress and we have reward senses that help us achieve personal success. These things vary from person to person and community to community. Because we don’t necessarily think and feel in the same way it can be difficult for us to get the idea someone is trying to portray. This means we must be available to humanise situations and accept the rich tapestry on offer rather than tick a box or simply deny relevance. If it’s relevant to them then it’s relevant to the bigger situation they are a part of in equal measure. It can be brave to let go of our predispositions and allow ourselves to validate another person’s point of view. The grey areas are where the definition between what is right, or legal, and what is wrong, or illegal. Right things are affirmative for the culture of the situation and legal things are universal fail-safes. What is legal may not necessarily be right for you or your situation, so these areas become grey in that there is no clear guidance. We need to make space for these grey areas and confront them with our positive attitude towards growth. Each of us has a line drawn that defines what is acceptable and what is not, the combination of these lines needs to manage to stay parallel with the majority without overcrossing the minority and cutting them out. In social dynamics, no lines can be drawn but methods and language are necessary areas of creative collaboration.
We are all unique, not one of us can be completely likened to another. Another person is another story, another background, and another vibrant patchwork of experience that shapes who they are. If we speak up for ourselves and our perspective, we’re usually not acting as a spokesperson for our demographic, but as our own voice. When a person has a view, it’s their view. It’s not the view of their skin colour, their sexual preference, or their age. When we get used to the idea that there are no inherent patterns we can stereotype then although the workload increases exponentially, the validity and reach of what we do will be a lot more precise and a lot less confrontational or abrasive.
It is often human nature to make guesses and assumptions based on what we know from seemingly similar situations. Sometimes this will happen to you and your experience and input can be side-lined in favour of a textbook version. We all know how hurtful this can be, when our senses are overwritten by others because they would rather believe in an intangible archetype, or their own personal experience based on a completely different story. If you’re watching the Matrix and you see the same cat you know they’ve changed something but if you’re watching Tom and Jerry, you know it’s something to do with the mouse. Seeing the same cat twice has many meanings, and the things in real life are just as diverse in their meanings. We need to have the courage to listen and validate everyone’s own experience of meaning and symbolism as these things directly affect the way we feel and our ability to work together. When we work together towards a common goal of progress and peace, conflict resolution and easier living methods, those in our group are our allies. They’re not mirror images of ourselves. In national politics, allies don’t get involved in the internal affairs of their counterparts. The laws and systems that go on within each allied nation are their own business and only soft pressure is applied across borders. People are like this, too. We are allied with those around us who work towards a common goal. We’re not charged with governing them but with helping them create a joint vision and action plan that considers their unique style and ethos. It takes courage to work alongside unique individuals towards a common goal. At first, we know nothing about each other and nothing about what each other want to achieve. This is frightening to accept as not knowing is a source of real anxiety. Having the courage to start at the beginning and assess exactly what needs to be done from the start via a setting that comes from a different backstory requires time and patience. It might be easy to assume that we want the same things as other people and other cultures because we feel strongly about it. We imagine the other people sharing those feelings. Feelings are based on experience and history as much as right and wrong so it’s not possible to fully know what someone else will perceive when given new ideas. We get the job done better when we have the courage you start at the very beginning and accept not knowing. When designing future process and output, whether it is artistic or not, it’s important to speak your true voice. In the same way we must humanise others and accept their experiences verbatim, the same can be said for yourself. It might be easier to lean back on common examples and well-known statements that point at your situation but when we find our own words and describe our experience and desires for ourselves, we can uncover unique and particular elements that so far have been in the blind-spot. Stating our own needs and moving towards them via the existing framework is sometimes a challenge. The world was designed by others with their own individual needs so aligning the various systems at play to achieve your own goals challenges the experience others may want to rely on.
Toxic safety is where we settle for something that is unhelpful or contrary to our goals and objectives but provides stability and security. We can be working for a company that doesn’t listen to your needs or has a culture of aggressive motivation that can cause stress and depression if you’re not suited to it. The opposite may be true in which your organisation relies on self-guided and mature objectives and open concise communication where you would prefer a more hierarchical and assertive style to work with. The organisations and the cooperative groupings we work within are not always the best place for us, it requires a lot of courage to break from this and go out in search of the better option. Knowing our virtues and demonstrating them at each given opportunity will result in a compatibility with those who are likeminded. Standing up for what you believe in, and vocalising concerns, is frightening for most of us.
Courage is about bring brave and working through the sense of fear and anxiety. It require a stable and grounded mindset with enough time to address fleeting sensations that stand in the way. We need a slow and steady walk towards the objective with a guided and open-minded approach. Unifying the whole to produce a clear vision and direction everyone can agree on requires putting the information in place and giving people the opportunity to address it from their own perspective. Being able to play our part and then sit back while the community takes in our input and responds in their own time means letting go of the immediate desire to move forward. We need to remove the blinkers and see things from the bigger picture. This can be frightening as suddenly the scope of our purpose is extended by a large degree however the opportunities and available directions mean this mindset provides the best chance of growth. Creativity uses the ingredients available and makes something that is viable to all viewpoints, either as an address to an issue or a solution to one. We need both if we are going to solve our problems and discovering them on a holistic scale means taking a selfless and impersonal systemic approach as well as listening to ourselves and taking our own experience seriously. You need two eyes open, one to look outside and one to look within. Also: Get inspiration, ideas, and more by browsing Art.com and support Alternative Fruit with any purchase from this link.
Regular readers of Alternative Fruit will know that I have written and published lots of inspiration and education over the years. It's been a long journey since the concept was created back in 2012. The domain has changed a couple of times but the author has remained the same. That is, apart from the multiple sources of education and growth in the field that have taken place. Needless to say, there is a lot of buried treasure on this site that might go unnoticed unless drawn attention to.
Here I will list a few of the most recent and useful things that may become more difficult to find over time. Trust Me, I’m An Artist – How To Make Your Network Resonate Hello World, You Inspire Me! Where Does Creativity Come From? Freeing The Radical – Why Young People Choose Extremism And What Can We Do About It? Intuitive Design – When Psychology And Culture Work Together Creativity, Conflict, and Connection - How Cross Community Communication Requires More Than Simple Respect How To Bring Out the Best in You to Generate Inspired Creativity Creativity With Intelligent Design Is All A Matter Of Perspective What Are You Like? How Branding Gives Art A Voice Enabling Spontaneous Creativity With Easy Lifestyle Choices You'll Love Science Is Good But Without The Humanities It's Dangerous Lucid Leadership by R. B. Colver - A course in holistic and progressive leadership. The Three-Fold Sciences Of Art And Creation The Pedagogy Of Methodical And Creative Problem-Solving Vanity Or Sanity? Finding Purpose In Your Creative Journey Creativity For Quality Of Life – Making The Most Of Your Time On Earth When Creativity Matters Most – Future World Modern Problems How Daydreaming Is Beneficial To Well-Being And Human Progress ## What Is The Museum Effect And How Does It Help Us Flourish? What Is Romanticism And Why Does It Matter More Than Ever? How Can Art Bring Out The Best In You By Inspiring Authenticity? Exploring The Triangle Of Happiness, The Zone, And Personal Discipline On The Plus Side – How Developmental Trauma Survivors Learn Key Life Skills Ten Tips For Creative Success Beat The Critics With These Inside-Out Evaluation Principles Getting Things Done With Better Effectiveness By Using These Principles Stop Looking For A Manager By Being Your Own From Writer's Block To Creative Alcatraz – How To Find Inspiration Leading With Care – Three Leadership Qualities That Define A Great Role-Model Motivation Comes In Four Types, Which One Do You Prefer? Future-Proof Leadership Qualities That Work Anywhere Subway Scene - Subculture Sociology Course Revolutionary Creativity In Practice – How To Change The World How To Motivate Then Finish What You Started How Education And Mental Health Go Hand In Hand Morale Matters – Here's How To Cultivate Happiness and Why The Four Corners Of Progressive Leadership How To Write A Press Release That People Will Read Get More Out Of Doing What You Love With These Easy Steps Simplifying The Complexity Of Team Dynamics Nurturing Respect In The Creative Arena How To Write With Purpose Society Changes And So Should You. How To Discover Your Creativity Nurturing Positive Change In Your Creative Method Meditate, Innovate, Create – Why sitting in introspective silence ultimately increases productivity Light The Way With These Key Leadership Skills Which Organisation Style Works Best For What Situation? How To Be More Sensitive As A Creator Square The Circle With These Four Corners Of Effectiveness Why not bookmark this list so you can cover it over a time that feels reasonable, and share it with your networks to help Alternative Fruit grow even bigger. Thanks!!
And why not include a list of other places where you can get professional and up-to-date education in thousands of things for free or for less than you think.
Future Learn John Academy Khan Academy ECourses4U Open Culture Academic Earth Udemy Alison iTunesU Open Yale Stanford Online Knightsbridge Trading Academy (Forex etc.) UC Berkeley Central Harvard Extention Univeristy of London University of Oxford MIT Open Courses Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Code Academy Code Ted Ed |
CategoriesAuthorAlternative Fruit by Rowan B. Colver Archives
October 2024
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