REIMAGINING DISCIPLINE
Soon after launching my new online course on the creative process, I began talking with the people who enrolled. I was curious to learn, from their perspective, what kind of obstacles they were facing -- the "stuff" that got in the way of manifesting their own creativity.
No matter how different the people I spoke to, how unique their background, experience, accomplishments, gender, world view, or astrological signs, they all said the same thing -- what I later came to refer to as the "D" word.
"DISCIPLINE."
That's what they all believed was missing from their lives. The lack of discipline was their Achilles heel, they confessed to me -- their problem, their weak spot, their #1 concern.
For the first few weeks of listening to their lament, I agreed. After all, discipline was important, right? I mean, who could write a book or start a business, or launch a product without discipline? Plus, I was disciplined, and if I, the creator of the course, was disciplined, then discipline must be important, eh?
Well, sort of. In the end, it all depends on WHERE this so-called "discipline" is coming from.
Continue reading "REIMAGINING DISCIPLINE"
20 Reasons Why People Get Their Best Ideas in the Shower
During the past 25 years, I've asked more than 10,000 people where and when they get their best ideas. I get all kinds of answers, but the one that has always fascinated me is "the shower" -- maybe because I also get so many of my good ideas there. And so, at the risk of overstating my case, I hereby offer you 20 reasons WHY the shower is so conducive to idea generation.
1. Showering signals "a new day" or "new beginning."
2. You're usually alone, with time to reflect.
3. Interruptions are rare.
4. The rush of water creates a kind of "white noise" that makes concentration easier.
Continue reading "20 Reasons Why People Get Their Best Ideas in the Shower"
Breakthrough Brainstorming Online
If you are looking for a breakthrough, quantum leap, or a way to open the floodgates, I can be of assistance.
For the past 35 years, I have been an "innovation provocateur" for thousands of people around the world -- most of whom worked in big organizations. Now, I am offering this service to individuals.
And it's simple -- a 60-90 minute online "Free the Genie" session.
Here's what others say about it.
Idea Champions
Brainstorm Champions
CONTACT: mitch@ideachampions.com
One of the Biggest Obstacles to Genuine Communication
"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." -- Ernest Hemingway
One of the biggest obstacles to good communication between two people can be summarized in four words: "I already know that."
This all-too-common phrase heads its ugly rear when the listener, having heard as little as a single sentence from the speaker, assumes they already understand what the speaker is going to say. It is this snap judgment, often made unconsciously, that subverts even the faintest hope of communication. But even more than that, it subverts trust, intimacy, connection, and the possibility of meaningful collaboration.
And while it's possible, of course, that the listener does know what the speaker is about to say -- especially if the two of them have a longstanding relationship -- all too often, the listener does not, at least at the depth of what the speaker wants to express.
Continue reading "One of the Biggest Obstacles to Genuine Communication"
Are You Looking for a Creative Breakthrough?
If you are in the process of creating something wonderful and have hit the proverbial wall or simply need a jiggle, jolt, goose, nudge or spark, you have come to the right place. Here!
My online Free the Genie service provides aspiring innovators, entrepreneurs, and mavericks with just the right kind of mojo to open up the floodgates of creativity, clarity, and courage.
Simply put, Free the Genie is a 60-90 minute online brainstorming session that sparks brilliance, breakthrough, and bold new ideas.
The process I use to help people manifest their inspirations has been developed over the past 35 years of facilitating creative thinking sessions with thousands of people all over the world, including some of the most iconic organizations on planet Earth.
Bottom line, the Free the Genie experience is fun, engaging, empowering, and gets results.
Here's what a sampling of people have to say about it's benefits.
Intrigued? Send me an email and I will send you all the information you need to decide if what I am offering is right for you.
If you are more than intrigued and want to see what the first step of the process looks like, click here.
CONTACT: mitch@ideachampions.com
100 awesome quotes on what it really takes to innovate
MitchDitkoff.com
Ethan Hawke on Creativity
Sun Tzu on Preparation
"Every battle is won or lost before it is fought." - Sun Tzu
What challenge or opportunity is coming up for you that will require a higher level of preparation than you usually make? What extra effort are you willing to make in order to prepare? What might prevent you from making the kind of effort you know you need to make?
How can you create the support you need to ensure that your preparation efforts succeed?
MitchDitkoff.com
FREE THE GENIE: Breakthrough Online Brainstorming Sessions
If you (or your team) need to get out of the box in an engaging way in order to originate bold, new, actionable ideas, keep reading.
This is precisely why Idea Champions has created Free the Genie -- a simple, affordable, time-efficient way for aspiring innovators to put their heads together to go beyond the status quo.
The service we've created is the distillation of 34 years of being innovation provocateurs for a wide variety of forward thinking organizations.
Bottom line, we've extracted the essence of three decades worth of real world experience and are making it available, online, to you and your team. In effect, we become the online catalysts of your creative process, greatly increasing the odds of you and your team tapping into its collective brilliance.
What people are saying about it.
It's fun. It's simple. And it works. Here's a simple (free) way to get started.
What Does It Really Take to Learn Anything from Somebody Else?
Since 1987, I have been providing consulting and training services to a wide variety of forward thinking organizations who have recognized their need to raise the bar for creative thinking, innovation, and teamwork. An optimist, by nature, I have always assumed that the people attending my sessions had an innate ability to benefit from whatever it was I was teaching, conveying, or imparting.
And while this optimistic point of view continues to be my default position, I have also understood that there are obstacles that often get in the way of people receiving the maximum value of what I (or any teacher, instructor, or facilitator) has to offer.
It is, shall we say, an occupational hazard.
Some of these learning obstacles are internal (i.e. participant mindset) and some are external (funky organizational culture). But no matter where these obstacles originate from, each of them can be decreased or eliminated with the right kind of effort.
Continue reading "What Does It Really Take to Learn Anything from Somebody Else?"
Today is the Launch of "Unspoken Word: Love, Longing & Letting Go"
Dear Friends:
If you have been reading The Heart of Innovation for a while, there is a very good chance you will enjoy my just-published book of poetry,"Unspoken Word: Love, Longing & Letting Go."
Today is the day it launches on Amazon.
If you are thinking about buying it (or even if you're not), today is the day to buy it. Why? Because the more people who buy the book on the same day, the greater the chance the book will rank high on Amazon's NEW RELEASES list. And the higher it ranks, the more visibility the book will get. And since my vision is that millions of people read this book, visibility is a good thing.
PS: If you read the book and enjoy it, please consider writing an Amazon review -- one more way to help me get the word out there. Gracias!
Buy on Amazon
What ChatGBT says about my poetry
The website
The Awesome Power of Immersion
"If I had an hour to solve a problem," explained Albert Einstein, "I'd spend the first 55 minutes thinking about the problem, and the last five solving it."
Translation? One of the secrets to having a big breakthrough is immersion -- "the state of being deeply engaged, involved, or absorbed."
Immersion is the ocean in which our fabulous insights, ideas, and illuminations are swimming. That's why Yogis seek out caves, embryos gestate, and writers go on retreat.
And that's why my business partner, Steven McHugh, and I rented a townhouse in Boulder, Colorado for 30 days and 30 nights when it was time for us to start up Idea Champions. We knew we had a great idea for a business, but we also knew that ideas were a dime a dozen and that unless we really immersed we'd end up with nothing much more than a charming story to tell at cocktail parties -- the idea for a business, but not the business itself.
Continue reading "The Awesome Power of Immersion"
What Does It Really Mean to be an Effective Team Leader?
On planet Earth, there are millions of teams. They are everywhere -- in schools, businesses, communities, sports, organizations, armies, religions, and jails. If you are reading this, it is very likely that you are either a member of a team or a leader of a team.
Some of the teams you belong to are achieving their goals. Some are not. In either case, there is a 95% chance that somebody is playing the role of leader, captain, coach, coordinator, or director. You know, the person where the buck supposedly stops.
While there are thousands of books on the subject, very few people have the time or desire to read even one of these books. And, even if they did, reading a book doesn't guarantee success. Because, in the end, the reader of even the best book on team leadership will need to translate what they read into action.
The reality is this: very few team leaders understand what it really means to be a team leader and how to be a team leader -- especially those who have been drafted into the position by someone further up the food chain.
Continue reading "What Does It Really Mean to be an Effective Team Leader?"
Three Ways to Breathe Life Into Your Most Passionate Creative Venture
If you are on the cusp of a new venture that fills you with both excitement and doubt, welcome to the human race.
Most aspiring innovators on the brink of a breakthrough assume they need to be in a doubt-free state if they are going to succeed and that anything less is a sure sign that they are either imposters, fools or losers-in-waiting.
Not true.
The experience of doubt (and it's twin cousins, fear and dread) comes with the territory of starting a new venture. What's needed, wrote Rollo May in his extraordinary book on the topic, is courage -- the courage to create.
How will you develop the courage YOU need? In many ways.
Continue reading "Three Ways to Breathe Life Into Your Most Passionate Creative Venture"
Here is an inspiring Valentine's Day slide show for you. Includes 21 wonderful quotes on love and vocals by Daya Rawat.
Here is an inspiring Valentine's Day slide show for you. Includes 21 wonderful quotes on love and vocals by Daya Rawat.
On Asking for the Help You Need
"You can do anything, but not everything." -- David Allen
Last year, I facilitate an online course whose purpose it was to help people transform their inspired ideas, dreams, and ventures into reality. It was ton of fun and very fulfilling -- my "calling", if you will (and even if you won't).
Baked into the learning process were some simple ways to help participants become aware of the places inside themselves where they may be tangled or challenged in their approach.
One tangle that has surprised me is how difficult it is for most people to ask for help.
Continue reading "On Asking for the Help You Need"
100 Reasons Why You Don't Get Your Best Ideas At Work
Since 1987, I've asked 2,500 people where and when they get their best ideas. Less than 2% have said "the workplace."
Based on my 33 years of working with a ton of innovation-seeking organizations, here's my take on WHY you don't get your best ideas at work:
1. Too much to do, not enough time.
2. Too many distractions and interruptions.
3. You work in a risk averse organization.
4. Sleep deprivation.
5. Mental clutter.
6. Fear that someone will steal your idea.
7. You don't think of yourself as creative.
Continue reading "100 Reasons Why You Don't Get Your Best Ideas At Work"
Entering the Theater of Your Own, Unique Creative Process
The creative process is a most mysterious one -- the inner journey a person takes to transform an impulse, idea, or inspiration into a manifested form that other people can enjoy.
For most of us, the creative process begins with the undeniable recognition that we are being called to express something -- to give shape to the invisible. Usually, the beginning of this process is quite intoxicating. The sky's the limit. Anything is possible. All systems are GO. Whoo hoo!
In time, however, things change. Our muse, once pristine, now has warts and we enter into the phase sometimes referred to as the "messy middles." Where once everything seemed clear, now nothing is. Confusion, distraction, and procrastination rule the day. The light at the end of the tunnel? Now more fluorescent than divine.
Continue reading "Entering the Theater of Your Own, Unique Creative Process"
WHY FREE THE GENIE WORKS: Thinking Beyond the Pandemic
1. TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: No matter how creative you are, having the right person to brainstorm with -- at the right time and in the right way -- can often be the difference between success and failure. Human beings are social animals. We need to express ourselves. We need to be heard. We need connection, feedback, encouragement, fresh perspectives, and new ideas. This is not the time to be a lone wolf. You may be quarantined right now, but you are not in this alone!
2. YOU HAVE SOMETHING WONDERFUL TO CREATE: Yes, it's true! You are onto something. You are being called! You feel it in your bones and have known it for a while. Simply put, you have a gift to share with the world or at least your family and friends -- a service to provide. Now is the time to get it out of you head and into the marketplace! Free the Genie can help facilitate that process. "If not YOU, who? If not NOW, when?"
3. ALL OF US GET STUCK FROM TIME TO TIME: This just in! All people with great ideas eventually run into walls. It comes with the territory of creating something new. But here's the thing: those walls are often no more solid than a thought, assumption or belief. Free the Genie is designed to help you go over, under, around, or through those walls -- and, on a good day, prevent you from building those walls in the first place.
Continue reading "WHY FREE THE GENIE WORKS: Thinking Beyond the Pandemic"
My Top Ten Posts on Medium
Recently, I've discovered MEDIUM -- a blogging platform with more than 100 million viewers per month. Not all of them have made it to my Medium abode yet, but word is getting out.
In case you haven't visited that part of cyberspace, now's your chance -- especially if you have been enjoying my writing over the years. Here are my ten most popular stories on Medium.
When an Email at 2:00 a.m. Changes Everything
Last Night I Googled Longing
What Have You Accomplished?
What I Learned in a Closet From My 3-Year Old Son
On Being Visited By an Angel
What It Really Means to Be a Friend
Here's the Problem with Reading Rumi
On Realizing the Nature of Pure Being
20 Poets and One Comedian on the Awesome Power of Poetry
A Small Bag of Red Berries
If you want to subscribe to my Medium blog and/or receive email alerts whenever a new post is published, click here. Then click on any story. At the end of each story is a simple way to sign up for email alerts. Easy peasy.
September 2023, August 2023, July 2023, May 2023, April 2023, March 2023, February 2023, January 2023, December 2022, November 2022, October 2022, September 2022, August 2022, July 2022, June 2022, May 2022, April 2022, March 2022, February 2022, January 2022, December 2021, November 2021, October 2021, September 2021, August 2021, July 2021, June 2021, May 2021, April 2021, March 2021, February 2021, January 2021, December 2020, November 2020, October 2020, September 2020, August 2020, July 2020, June 2020, May 2020, April 2020, March 2020, February 2020, January 2020, December 2019, November 2019, October 2019, September 2019, August 2019, July 2019, June 2019, May 2019, April 2019, March 2019, February 2019, January 2019, December 2018, November 2018, October 2018, September 2018, August 2018, July 2018, June 2018, May 2018, April 2018, March 2018, February 2018, January 2018, December 2017, November 2017, October 2017, September 2017, August 2017, July 2017, June 2017, May 2017, April 2017, March 2017, February 2017, January 2017, December 2016, November 2016, October 2016, September 2016, August 2016, July 2016, June 2016, May 2016, April 2016, March 2016, February 2016, January 2016, December 2015, November 2015, October 2015, September 2015, August 2015, July 2015, June 2015, May 2015, April 2015, March 2015, February 2015, January 2015, December 2014, November 2014, October 2014, September 2014, August 2014, July 2014, June 2014, May 2014, April 2014, March 2014, February 2014, January 2014, December 2013, November 2013, October 2013, September 2013, May 2013, April 2013, March 2013, February 2013, January 2013, December 2012, November 2012, October 2012, September 2012, August 2012, July 2012, June 2012, May 2012, April 2012, March 2012, February 2012, January 2012, December 2011, November 2011, October 2011, September 2011, August 2011, July 2011, June 2011, May 2011, April 2011, March 2011, February 2011, January 2011, December 2010, November 2010, October 2010, September 2010, August 2010, July 2010, June 2010, May 2010, April 2010, March 2010, February 2010, January 2010, December 2009, November 2009, October 2009, September 2009, August 2009, July 2009, June 2009, May 2009, April 2009, March 2009, February 2009, January 2009, December 2008, November 2008, October 2008, September 2008, August 2008, July 2008, June 2008, May 2008, April 2008, January 2008, December 2007, September 2007, August 2007, July 2007,
