Problem Solving With Innovation And Creativity

Do you feel stuck around problems in your business or life? Would you like to find creative solutions more easily?

Join Clare to learn a simple understanding of how the mind works known as the 3 principles, which will allow you to develop self-awareness and connection to intuition. As a result, you can journey from stressed, overwhelmed and anxious to calm, balance and clarity.

Leave your busy intellectual mind behind and listen like you would listen to music, in the background.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the CalmCast,

A time to feel calm and think clearly.

I'm Claire Downham,

The Queen of Calm,

A Transformational Life Coach.

I was a burnt out head teacher who finally made the journey to calm after years of trying and I want to prevent you from having to do the same.

The CalmCast is a series of short explorations gently guiding you back to your natural state,

Which is calm and clarity.

Just listen like you would listen to music with an open mind and curiosity.

There's nothing else to do.

Now let's relax into today's episode.

So this couple of weeks I'm exploring problem solving and today thinking about problem solving with innovation and creativity.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if that's how all our problem solving,

Not just personally,

But in the world happened?

I think that would be life changing for everyone,

Wouldn't it?

So of course this session is coming from a three principles perspective and perhaps it's worth exploring the whole concept of a problem from a three principles perspective or talking a little bit about that before we go into innovation and creativity.

Because the whole flipping thing is thought related,

Thought created rather,

All of it.

The problem,

The size of it,

The scope of it,

The idea that there even is a problem is thought created and that is,

That's really one of the mind blowing pieces around this is to realise that it is the layers of thinking that are the problem,

Not nothing else.

And I'm not spiritually bypassing or denying the existence of things in life that are not as we want them to be,

That we would like to be better or different at all.

I'm not denying people suffering and that some human experiences are just downright awful.

But what I am saying is that beyond the circumstance are our many,

Many layers of thinking which will prevent us from accessing that innovation and creativity that we all desire.

We all want really,

Don't we,

To solve our problems from that innovation and creativity.

So let's just think about problems.

I remember,

And I'm going to mistell this story,

I have no doubt,

But this is the general gist of the story I heard Michael Neal tell once.

He said that he had been sent to do an interview with this guy who I believe was some kind of troubleshooter in the cyber space,

So Silicon Valley type thing.

So he would go into companies and troubleshoot,

Solve the big massive problems that these companies had.

That was his job.

And Michael Neal kind of said to him,

What's your secret?

How you're known for solving huge problems?

How do you do that kind of thing?

And this guy sort of said,

Well,

I don't solve huge problems.

Michael Neal was like,

Yeah,

Yeah,

You do because that's what you're known for.

And that's why I'm interviewing you.

That's the whole point of this is that you solve huge problems.

And the guy said,

Well,

I don't make them out to be huge in the first place.

Now,

Of course,

Someone going into a company with a fresh perspective,

Who is not in the thick of whatever's been going on in that company is going to see things in a very different way.

That's a given,

I would say.

But I would also say that having been ahead of a biggish business in the sense of being a primary school head teacher,

I definitely was visited by people who were coming to support me,

Consultants,

People from the local authority.

And I definitely have experienced them jumping in the mire with me.

Oh,

Yes,

This is a huge problem.

It's massive.

I'm not sure how we're going to help you solve this.

I've experienced that.

So it isn't always the case that people go into something from the outside and immediately see it with a different eyes and don't see there's a problem,

Because I absolutely know that's not the case.

But this man did.

He didn't decide before he even got there or at all that something was a big problem.

Because think about that phrase.

How do you define the size of a problem as big or small or enormous or horrendous?

There's lots of words people would use to describe a problem,

Isn't there?

But what if nothing really was a problem?

I mean,

That word,

It's got so many not very helpful connotations,

Hasn't it?

But what if there were no problems?

There were things that we would like to work on.

There were things that we would like to There were things that we would like to work on.

There were things we would like to change.

There's things that we're getting curious about what it would be like to have that to be different in our lives.

Like,

If you listen to that against it's a problem,

Immediately for me,

There's a different energy around it.

There's a different feel to it,

Because that's it,

Isn't it?

If we say something's a massive problem,

First of all,

That feels terrible.

It feels,

We might feel not only it's a massive problem,

But we might feel slightly rubbish about ourselves within it and our ability to solve it,

To sort it out.

So there's something straight away around how we see things right at the start.

Is it a problem or is it something interesting,

Exciting,

An adventure maybe?

And seeing this capacity that thought has to take us into something being a problem and the capacity that we have to access this,

You know,

That what we're talking about today,

The innovation and creativity,

Where's that when we're caught up in something being a huge problem,

Being a problem at all?

Well,

It's a little bit squished out of sight really,

Is the answer.

Because as soon as we think something is a massive problem,

It's almost like there's a closing down of our ability to see,

Possibility to see the ability to solve things,

That is a bit damaged really,

Not damaged,

But it's covered over with a lot of ability to see things more clearly.

The minute that we make something,

It's a problem,

This is a problem,

You know,

That kind of thing.

And I would say really that as human beings,

Innovation and creativity are at our,

They're at our core,

They really are fundamentally us and who we really are.

I,

You know,

If you look at the human race and what we've,

I'm going to say achieved,

I'm going to say that held quite lightly because we've created a lot of stuff,

Haven't we?

Some of which I would not say is to our best,

It's not the best for us.

You know,

Let's take some of the unhealthy foods that are now available to human beings that,

You know,

Are not so good for us,

Are they?

And lots of other things,

We've created some amazing things.

I mean,

The fact that I'm,

You know,

Sat here and you'll be sitting here and you'll be watching me and you'll be listening to this,

Maybe in another part of the world,

That's super exciting,

Isn't it?

We have created some amazing things,

We've created,

You know,

We've innovated a lot,

We've created a lot.

Now,

You'll have heard lots of stories about people who were in the public eye in terms of invention,

In terms of finding the solution to things.

And I wonder how many of them saw it as a problem or just saw it as an experiment or,

I think they talk about the light bulb guy,

I can't,

Ericsson,

Isn't it?

He's a light bulb guy.

That he,

You know,

He made literally hundreds of bulbs that didn't work before he made the one that did.

And he said something about failure,

He said,

You know,

It's not failure,

It's just another one that didn't work and it's okay,

I'm just going to keep going.

And he kept going,

Of course,

Until he found one that worked and he didn't,

I don't,

You know,

You don't get the sense of that being a problem,

It's just the next step.

And maybe that's another thing too,

That where innovation and creativity can come in.

I would say that innovation and creativity are really easy to access when you're in the present moment.

And often when we're in problem,

When we think we've a problem to solve,

We're not in the present moment,

Are we?

We're off into the future,

We're doom and glooming,

If we don't find the solution to this problem,

We're,

You know,

We're perhaps feeling quite stressed out about it,

Quite anxious about it,

Definitely in some phase of overwhelm and therefore not able to access what Michael Neal so beautifully calls our real-time responsive intelligence.

That is our innovation and creativity,

That which is available in the present moment,

That which says,

This is the next step to take.

So when I consider the title today,

Problem Solving with Innovation and Creativity,

I think that capacity is always available when we are in a state of calm.

Of course,

I would say that,

Because I'm the queen of calm,

But I definitely know if I've got something to sort out and I'm wound up about it,

I can guarantee there's no innovation and creativity,

There's just a lot of head noise.

Me churning over the old and trying to,

You know,

Solve stuff that is not really solvable,

Because there isn't anything to solve,

Just to clarify.

So,

Yeah,

I feel like I've covered that off as much as I can for now.

As I've already said,

You know,

This is,

At the moment I am exploring problem solving.

I've been looking at decision making a bit,

But I'm finding that the problem solving conversation is the same,

Because it's the same whatever it is,

No matter what it is.

Presence and a quiet mind,

Everything's there.

Whether you've got a decision to make or a problem that seems to be needing to be solved,

Everything's available in the present moment.

And really all we need is the awareness that we're not in the present moment.

And that's given to us by our body,

Which will shout and scream and feel pretty awful if we're not.

So I hope you found that helpful.

I hope that if you've got something that appears to be a problem that you need a solution to,

That you find that with innovation and creativity rather than with it being stressful,

Overwhelming or anxiety inducing.

Take care,

Have an absolutely beautiful day and I'll no doubt,

Hopefully,

See you again soon.

Take care,

Lots of love.