March 25, 2022
Want to Become a Certified FREE THE GENIE Facilitator?

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If you are looking for a simple, engaging way to spark powerful new ideas for your friends, colleagues, team, department, or clients, you have come to the right place.

1. WHAT IS Free the Genie? Free the Genie is a 60-90 minute online creative thinking session that sparks clarity, insights, new ideas, commitment, and the kind of positive mindset needed for aspiring innovators to make meaningful progress with a new venture, idea, or opportunity.

2. WHO IS THE CREATOR OF FREE THE GENIE? Mitchell Ditkoff, Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions -- a thought leader in the field of creative thinking, innovation, and the creative process. His clients. And... what they say.

3. WHO IS FREE THE GENIE FOR? Anyone committed to manifesting an inspired goal, idea, or venture -- especially people open to exploring new possibilities with a skilled facilitator of the creative process. If you are stuck, Free the Genie will get you unstuck. If you are already unstuck, Free the Genie will spark a quantum leap of thought and action.

4.WHAT IS THE BACKSTORY OF FREE THE GENIE? 25 years ago, the creator of this service (Mitch Ditkoff) created a deck of creative thinking cards (Free the Genie) to help his clients think out of the box and become more innovative. Eventually, the deck evolved into an online tool -- his assumption being that aspiring innovators needed a simple, online way to spark their own brilliance. They didn't. So, the tool just sat there in cyberspace, its potential unrealized. Then came COVID-19. Unable to deliver his innovation-sparking services, on-site, he migrated his services online, via Zoom. Soon, he understood why Free the Genie online never got off the ground. Aspiring innovators didn't want a "do-it-yourself creative thinking tool." They wanted a skilled, committed, trustworthy human being, by their side -- online -- to facilitate their process of reaching their inspired goals.

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5. WHY FREE THE GENIE NOW, DURING THE PANDEMIC?
The lives of millions of people have been disrupted. Entire industries have disappeared. Untold amounts of people are unemployed. And while some people have managed to adapt to these crazy times, many haven't. Isolated as millions of people are from each other, these days, their opportunity to creatively jam with friends, colleagues, and co-workers, is less than ever. And while these millions of people continue conjuring up intriguing, new possibilities, they often don't have a dependable way to develop them. The result? Lost opportunities, wheel spinning, and tons of unrealized possibilities.

6. WHO IS THE MASTER TRAINER FOR FREE THE GENIE?: Val Vadeboncouer, Idea Champion's Director of Training and a brilliant facilitator of the creative process. Click here for Val's bio (the second one down).

7. IS FREE THE GENIE FACILITATION RIGHT FOR YOU? Free the Genie facilitation requires a very specific kind of mindset, skill set, and commitment. It is not for everyone. How will you know if you have what it takes to succeed in this venture? To begin with, respond to the following self-assessment. On a scale of 1-10 (with "10" being the highest score) rate yourself for each of the statements below. If your total score is 160 or above, there's a good chance that Free the Genie facilitation is a good fit for you. If your score is less than 150, but you STILL want to proceed, stay open. It is still possible..

1. "I see myself as a creative person."
2. "I easily create rapport with people."
3. "I am skillful at 'thinking on my feet.'"
4. "I am very interested in the creative process."
5. "People think of me as flexible and adaptive."
6. "I am a good communicator."
7. "I believe that anything is possible."
8. "I tend to see the cup as half-full, instead of half-empty."
9. "There's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come."
10. "When I commit to something, I stay with it."
11. "I am a lifelong learner."
12. "I know how to use Zoom (or, if not, I will be happy to learn)."
13. "I am organized and follow through on my commitments."
14. "Great ideas often make their appearance at unexpected times."
15. "I have committed to at least one, big creative project in my life."
16. "It's time for me to do something different."
17. "I have at least a few juicy ideas that I would like to develop."
18. "I have a good feeling about this Free the Genie thing."
19. "I have coaching, facilitation, or mentoring experience."
20. "I am a good listener."

Want to begin the application process? Click here.

More about Free the Genie
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2022
THE CURE FOR THE CREATIVE BLUES: Self-Acknowledgment

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If you're a creative person working on a project that is unlikely to get results overnight, here's a simple practice to save you from the all-too-familiar phenomenon of depressing yourself by focusing on the proverbial cup being half-empty.

At the end of each work day, acknowledge yourself for all of the progress you've made -- small, medium, and large. But not just silently, in your head, verbally -- aloud.

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Most creative people, no matter how inspired they are at the beginning of a project, eventually end up feeling down in the dumps. They tend to focus on what they haven't done and everything that hasn't happened instead of their progress and the fact that they are actually getting closer to their goal.

What I do at the end of each work day is SPEAK OUT, to myself, everything I've done that day to move my project forward -- whether it was a phone call made, research done, a task accomplished, proposal accepted, a new insight, or whatever.

This simple self-acknowledgment-process establishes a sense of closure for the day, so you can let go of "work mode" and transition to an evening of rest, renewal, and incubation -- an actual night off without having to carry that heavy load of incompletes that not only weigh YOU down, but weigh down all those wonderful people around you who can FEEL your low grade virus of "not good enough."

Three minutes. That's all it takes. Try it.

MitchDitkoff

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)

Who Are We?

Idea Champions is a consulting and training company dedicated to awakening and nurturing the spirit of innovation. We help individuals, teams and entire organizations tap into their innate ability to create, develop and implement ideas that make a difference.

MitchDitkoff.com
Click here for the simplest, most direct way, to learn more about Idea Champions' semi-fearless leader, Mitch Ditkoff. Info on his keynotes, workshops, conferences, and more.
Storytelling for the Revolution
Storytelling for the Revolution is Mitch Ditkoff's newly published book about the power of personal storytelling to elevate the conversation on planet Earth. Provocative. Evocative. And fun. YOU have stories to tell. This book will help you tell them.
Storytelling at Work
"The world is not made of atoms," wrote the poet, Muriel Rukeyser. "It's made of stories." Learn how to discover, honor, and unpack the stories of yours that show up "on the job" in Mitch Ditkoff's award-winning 2015 book, Storytelling at Work.
Top 5 Speaker
Mitch Ditkoff, the Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions, has recently been voted a top 5 speaker in the field of innovation and creativity by Speakers Platform, a leading speaker's bureau.
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Workshops & Trainings
Highly engaging learning experiences that increase each participant's ability to become a creative force for positive change
Brainstorm Facilitation
High impact certification training that teaches committed change agents how to lead groundbreaking ideation sessions
Cultivating Innovation
Your "best and brightest" are the future leaders of your company, but unless they know how to foster a culture of innovation, their impact will be limited. A one-day workshop with us is all they need to begin this journey.
Our Blog Cabin
Our Heart of Innovation blog is a daily destination for movers and shakers everywhere — gleefully produced by our President, Mitch Ditkoff, voted "best innovation blogger in the world" two years running.
Team Innovation
Innovation is a team sport. Brilliant ideas go nowhere unless your people are aligned, collaborative, and team-oriented. That doesn't happen automatically, however. It takes intention, clarity, selflessness, and a new way of operating.
Awake at the Wheel, Book about big ideas If you're looking for a powerful way to jump start innovation and get your creative juices flowing, Awake at the Wheel is for you. Written by Mitch Ditkoff, Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions.
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