Improv AtWork and AtLife

Zorbing

Talk about thinking outside the box. Have you heard of Zorbing? It's a new "sport" where Zorbonauts strap themselves into a big inflatable ball (called a Zorb) and careen down a hill. Actually, you've got a choice - you can either get yourself harnassed inside the ball or try running it in like a hamster in a wheel. (I'm all for adventure, but I'd opt for the harness. I'm not anxious to give anyone more ammunition to refer to me as a member of the rodent family.) You can also go "hydro-Zorbing" which amounts to nothing more than throwing a bucket of water into the ball and having it slosh around as the Zorb rolls. (I'd pass on that, too. I don't need any help in having a bad hair day.)

The Zorb is the brainchild of 3 guys from New Zealand. Some argue they've got too much time on their hands. And some say Zorbing won't catch on in this country because it doesn't fit into our traditional definition of a "sport" - it's not competitive and there aren't any rules. I say the heck with tradition and who needs competition when you've got a chance to hurl yourself down a hill in a big plastic ball doing 30 miles an hour? Anybody out there tried it?

Cracking Creativty

Did you know that a classical male singer who routinely sings using the falsetto is called a countertenor? A male contemporary singer who makes heavy use of falsetto is called Chris Martin of Coldplay. This is what happens when I let my mind wander to wherever it wants. Ah well.

Back to creativity. I've been trying to get through the book "Cracking Creativity" by Michael Michalko. This is one of those books that I keep telling myself I "should" spark to but in reality I just don't. I admit I've now become obsessed with identifying why I don't spark to it. After all, Michalko's touted as a leading creativity expert and he unveiled the secrets of creative genius. I suspect that may be one reason I don't spark to him or this tome - I'm clearly not a creative genius and I'm having trouble accepting that about myself. However, I am drawn to an exercise he has in the book called Random Words where you force as many connections as possible between a list of 5 random words. The exercise is too long to detail here, but if you'd like more info on it, drop me an e-mail. I'm off to be random now myself.

Ideas

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of old ones." John Cage

Unlike Cage, I get why people are frightened of new ideas. We're not sure where they're going to take us and going somewhere unknown can be scary. That doesn't mean we shouldn't go there. Take a risk. Unleash a new idea.

Sing It, Stephen!

"To be successful, we must live from our imaginations, not from our memories." Stephen Covey

Problem Solved, Right? Not So Fast

When it comes to math, there's only one answer to the problem of how much two plus two equals. But what's true in math isn't necessarily true in life and all too often, we stop looking for solutios as soon as we hit on something that works. And the something we hit on can many times turn out not to be the best solution to the problem. The next time you tackle a problem, don't settle on the first solution that seems to work. Give yourself permission to explore possibilities and write down everything that comes to mind. Then take a break and do that all over again. Now sit down and look at all the solutions you generated. Still want to go with your first one?

Believe You Can Do It!

There's a term that's been floating around for a few years - "psychosclerosis" - which means hardening of beliefs. When we're hardened in what we believe, it keeps new ideas from developing. And when we shut the door on new ideas, we shut the door on creativity. How does that work exactly? Consider this. What if I said you had to cover 50-80 miles on foot a day, every day. You'd say no way, right? Most of us believe we couldn't do that and wouldn't even try. But what if you were a member of the Tarahumara tribe living in Mexico? The area in which they live is rugged. The only way to travel is by foot. And since the Tarahumaras are nomads, they often travel long distances every day. In fact, it's no big deal for them to run (you read that right - they run) 50-80 miles a day, every day. And they do it at a mile and a half above sea level. How can they do that? Because it never occurs to them that they can't! Challenge yourself to think about how you can do things rather than how you can't. Get out from under hardened beliefs and open the door to creativity.

Creativity - What Are You Doing About It?

Warren Bennis said that "The organization of the future will increasingly depend on the creativity of its members to survive." For those of you who don't know who Bennis is, he's known around the world as the pre-eminent expert on leadership. I have no problem arguing with the world, but in this case, I agree with its assessment. My only quibble would be that organizations now - not in the future - depend on creativity to survive. So what are you doing to strengthen your own creativity and that or your organization?

It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

"No one knows the outcome of a game until it's played." Viola Spolin said that - or something so close to it that I thought I needed quotes. Most people in the field of improvisation consider her to be the mother of improv in this country. And you can't really argue with her statement. Even when the outcome looks like a sure thing, miracles happen. (The U.S. over Russia in hockey in the 1980 Olympics, the Cards taking Detroit in 5 in the 2006 World Series; I could go on but I won't.) Why can't we embrace that sentiment when it comes to conflict mediation? Instead, we come armed with our positions and our calculations of what the other side's interests are. It puts us at an impasse before we ever get started. It's only when we let go of pre-conceived ideas, when we empty ourselves of pre-conceived positions, that we're able to communicate with one another. It's when we're "in the moment" that we use our senses and intuition to interact with others and begin to build dialogue. Problem-solving - which is our goal in conflict mediation - grows out of that dialogue.

Gutter Love

It's spring and love is in the air - at least in my backyard. I live in a woodsy area. I spend a lot of time reading in my second story four seasons room, which makes me feel like I'm living in the trees. From that vantage point, Mother Nature puts on a pretty good show as a variety of birds court one another, hoping to find their one true love (at least for the season) and procreate to keep the species going. There's one particularly anxious suitor who spends most of his time drumming on my metal gutters. Not my idea of "love music" but then I'm no Red-bellied Woodpecker. Woodpeckers drum - at least, some of them do - during the spring, both to announce their territory and to attract a mate. You may have heard that "rat-a-tat-tat-tat" sound on a walk in the woods or maybe in a Woody Woodpecker cartoon (although technically Woody went "ha-ha-ha-HA-ha") unless you're too young to remember the original Woody or too old to have watched the new Woody on FOX KIDS. Anyway, my point is that somewhere along the line a woodpecker decided to abandon the dry limb or hollow snag he'd been in the habit of drumming and try something new - a metal downspout or gutter or vinyl siding. And guess what he discovered? The superior acoustic properties of metal downspouts, gutters and vinyl siding...which means he can be heard over a wider area, thereby increasing his chances of finding a woman and increasing the number of rivals he can warn to stay off his turf. If woodpeckers can challenge habitual ways of doing something and in the process discover a better way to do it, so can we. We just have to be open to challening our habitual ways of thinking and doing, and not be afraid to drum on a gutter.