Imaginibbles

Bite size pieces of Imagination TV: take mini breaks for creativity

imaginibbles — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:52:13 +0000

This weeks episode is all about taking mini mental breaks to unleash your imaginative voice and unlock your creative energy. get it, got it, good!

Sometimes, the best way to unleash your imagination and unlock your creativity is to walk away, literally. Take a break, go for a walk, go to a movie and so on. True, but we can’t always go to that extent in the middle of the day. We can however, take multiple mini-breaks that let us mentally walk away from our task at hand or the boredom of our to-do list. In this video I’ll walk you through two of my favorite grown-up/kid inside toys for doing just that.

First, is the Daily Dose Deck of Cards.…49 exercises, a few wild cards and imaginative games for every day life. You can play poker, trace the labyrinth, doodle, stretch and so much more with these cards. Click here to play

Second, Buckyballs….216 magnetic balls, endless possibilities, unlimited creativity. Make a triangle, a tree, a rope or go where ever your imagination takes you. Word of warning…it’s addictive. Click here to create

Imaginibbles chat’s with creative traveler Cynthia Morris about creative juju, being uncomfortable and more…

imaginibbles — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:20:46 +0000

Imaginibbles chats with creative traveler Cynthia Morris about creative juju, being uncomfortable and more…

PS…check me out on NBC 9news this coming Tuesday (23rd) at 8:20. I’ll be taking Susie Wargin through an imaginibbles workout….I sense lots of laughter and creativity!

Hitchhiking, popcorn and great ideas

imaginibbles — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:34:46 +0000

Recently I participated in a brainstorm that one might describe as a flop. Sure there were pages of ideas on the wall. And yes, people were engaged but there were two critical elements missing….permission to hitchhike and permission to make popcorn. In this particular brainstorm an idea was set in stone. Therefore other participants were simply giving the idea thumbs up or down versus taking them to new places (hitchhiking) or making them better (popcorn). The moderator did a great job of getting the ideas going but shut down any further development and discussion once they were on paper. If you are brainstorming with friends, colleagues or as a part of a larger process here are a few tips for allowing the hitchhiking and popcorn to thrive!

1) Hitchhiking: Think of this as hitchhiking on someone else’s ideas. It’s about taking part of their idea and taking it in a new direction. To facilitate this ask the group the following type of questions:
a. Where else could you take this idea?
b. If we used ______part of the idea and added ___________where could we go?
c. If you were to apply this idea to ___________where would that take it?

2) Popcorn: This is about letting ideas bubble and percolate. Often in a brainstorm, regardless of if it’s two or two hundred, people need time to let their thoughts percolate and pop. This can’t happen when you are constantly on the spot. Here are a few tips for fostering a big pot of popcorn
a. For 5-minutes silently write down every word/ thought/ idea that comes to mind on your paper (no judgments or structure), then we’ll share.
b. Close your eyes and visualize the idea? What feedback does your mind have for us?
c. Break up and go for a 5 –minute walk around the neighborhood/ building/ hotel. Don’t think about anything in particular. We’ll reconvene on the ideas when we return

Remember, ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. I don’t know about you but my best ideas come while walking the dog, falling asleep and taking a shower. I guess that gives me permission to take more naps…ha ha ha.

Interested in unleashing your right brain superpowers and unlocking your creative potential? Join me for my May workshop with Colorado Free University. Reap all the benefits of living and imaginative life!
- Adapt better to change
- Do more with less
- Work smart versus hard
- Decrease stress, increase energy
- See and create more ideas and opportunities
- Find more joy, fun and laughter in life
- Dream big again!

Look for bridges, yoyos and bootcamps

imaginibbles — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:44:59 +0000

Inspiration and ideas are everywhere….if we are paying attention. If we aren’t paying attention, if our antennas are down, great ideas just pass on by like a quick breeze outside our office windows. We don’t see it and we certainly don’t feel it.

In my keynote speeches to individuals and organizations trying to be more innovative and bring more ideas to life, I talk a lot about finding innovation in the obvious. I talk about connecting seemingly disparate pieces of information and going wide versus deep with knowledge. Why? Because innovative thinking occurs very easily at the intersection of random. For example, mix backpacks and water and you get the very popular Camelbacks that transformed the outdoor experience.
Often, great nuggets of ideas or solutions are missed. On the other hand, if you look for the bridges, yoyos and bootcamps amazing things can happen. Here is the bridge story to give a taste of what I mean.

Hiking can be a lot of fun if you have the right gear. It can also be uncomfortable and painful if you don’t. Arcteryx gear was out to solve that challenge and make each hiking experience a good one. For those of you that hike, you know that it all begins with the right backpack. A heavy, uneven backpack can end a hiking trip before you get to the first curve in the trial. The founder of Arcteryx understood this and set out to make each outdoor experience a good one. So how did he solve this challenge? Checking out other hiking gear or looking at how Olympians train? No, he solved the challenge by glancing at the Brooklyn Bridge. One afternoon, while walking down the street in New York City, he stopped to look at the Brooklyn Bridge in all its glory. The antennas were up and he realized something amazing. He realized that the Brooklyn bridge has a magnificent suspension system. That suspension evenly distributes weight and eases tension on the structure. Those of you reading know where I’m headed. He took the suspension system from the Brooklyn Bridge and applied it to his backpacks. The result… better design and construction that led to a superior product and outdoor experience. Bridges and backpacks do have a lot in common if you’re paying attention the way he was!

Where could you find your bridge of inspiration if you had your antennas up?
How could you re-frame your question or challenge to expand your thinking?

For this article, I won’t go into the yoyos and bootcamp. You’ll have to hire me to speak for the rest of the stories (wink wink). But, I will end with a valuable and simple lesson:

keep your antenna up and your bridges, yoyos and bootcamps will present themselves with abundance.

The Creative Cootie Catcher: Fun way to get unstuck!

imaginibbles — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:24:34 +0000

This week’s episode of Bite Sized Pieces Of Imagination….The Creative Cootie Catcher.

Watch this video if you ever….
1. feel like the creative wheels aren’t spinning and you’re stuck in the mud
2. get stuck and can’t seem to overcome that pesty obstacle
3. are tired and unmotivated by your never ending to-do list
4. just want to infuse your day with a little fun and laughter

Forgot how to make a cootie catcher? Think back to you playground days and click here for simple instructions.

Imaginibbles chats with Innovation expert Jillian Lakritz about connecting the dots, walking away from work, going up and wide…

imaginibbles — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:57:23 +0000

Imaginibbles radio talks to innovation consultant to Fortune 500 Jillian Lakritz about connecting the dots, going from left to right brain, walking away from work and so much more! Listen, laugh, learn!

chat with innovation consultant Jillian Lakritz

Creative Kaizen: imaginative thought and creative action

imaginibbles — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:05:14 +0000

Webster’s definition:

CREATIVE: having the quality or power of creating. resulting from originality of thought, expression, etc.; imaginative: creative writing. originative; productive

KAIZEN: Japanese for continuous and incremental improvement, a business philosophy about working practices and efficiency; improvement in productivity or performance

On my radio show yesterday we brainstormed around the idea of creative kaizen. The Mindfull Creative and I talked about continually improvement, constant practice and original thought and how those elements work together.

I believe and have experienced that the ability to unleash your imaginative spirit and unlock your creative potential comes from the merging of these two concepts. If creative is about original thought and expression and kaizen is about continuous and incremental improvement weren’t they just made to go together? Doesn’t that give us permission to test the waters, try new things, improve and then do it all over again? It removes the pressure for perfection and replaces it with the understanding that imaginative and innovative thinking and action is about constantly trying, reworking and improving. Whether you apply the philosophy to your work, personal life or just for your own personal growth, it harnesses our natural ability to grow and evolve. We are human after all.

Here is a simple way to practice Creative Kaizen:
1. For the next 7 days write down every imaginative thought and creative action you take
2. Next to it, write down some words that describe the experience and your feelings (challenging, confidence, playful, collaborative, etc)
3. Every day pick 1 to improve upon the next day. It can be the same one for 7 days or you can pick a new one to focus on every day.
4. With the one you are improving upon, make sure to write down the difference between the first time you do it and the second, third, etc time you do it.
5. At the end of 7 days marvel at the fact that you have filled pages with imaginative thoughts and creative actions. Then smile at the fact that you just implemented Creative Kaizen
6. Keep it up! You’ll find that more imaginative thought and creative action come to you as a result of easy to do practice and improvement.

Dream big. Dream often. Pat yourself on the back!

Tamara chats with The MindFULL Creative about creative Kaizen, chalkboard doors and more

imaginibbles — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:01:05 +0000

Tamara, Chief Imaginator, sits down for a chat with Robin Glickstein, the creative inspiration behind ThemindFULLcreative.com about being in the creative kaizen, chalkboard doors, “yes and”people and more!

click here to listen, laugh, learn

Listen live next Tuesday at 10am MNT to founder and partner of Sandbox Collaborative, Jillian Lakritz. We’ll chat about new product development, innovation in the obvious, tinkering with new ideas and more….

Do you have a beautiful garden of ideas waiting in the weeds?

imaginibbles — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:14:14 +0000

Ideas, ideas, ideas. Isn’t that what we all want…that great idea that inspires us? Finding ideas that blossom into gold is easier than we think. Often it’s about letting ideas you already have percolate versus constantly pulling out the idea magnet and dragging it over the sand in hopes of finding more and more ideas.

This weekend I had a blip of a creative thought bubble that I followed down a very unlikely path. What I found at the end of that path was a totally imaginative and fun concept. I didn’t know when the idea started percolating where it would take me but the journey was great and the outcome was exactly what it needed to be. This idea had nothing to do with work and everything to do with spicing up everyday life. It was about turning a regular conversation into a creative game.

Let me explain. A friend of mine is hosting a 40-year birthday trip for his closest friends. Sounds fun right? Yes, expect for the fact that none of us have any idea where we are going or what we are doing. We barely know what to pack. The entire trip is a surprise. We won’t even find out our flight into until the day our flight actually leaves. While I love surprises the truth is that I’ve been so busy with work, parenting, clients, laundry and so on that I’m only able to think about our trip while eating dinner with the family.

All the while, we’ve received email after email with real, false and misleading information about our impending trip. The entire thing has become one big guessing game of who, where, when and what. For my husband and I, the dinner discussion has turned from day’s events to a guessing game around our trip. One conversation last week I chuckled and said, “it’s like playing that board game Clue.” Do you remember that game? It was Miss Scarlet in the library with a candle stick…..ha ha ha.

That one intersection of our trip and the old board game kept percolating in my head. It started with places. Then I layered on activities and finally drinks. I started to think about all the combinations and possibilities.

Finally, after laughing to myself in my car I went and pulled out our Clue game that was collecting dust in our playroom. Then I knew I had no choice, I had to make the game based on my guesses for our trip.

I have to say that making the Klein Clue game was as much fun as thinking through the ideas. I hope you enjoy and even play a few rounds. I think it’s Martha’s Vineyard with a lighthouse tour and whiskey.

Why am I sharing this with you? I think sometimes we find ideas and we walk away from them before they have a chance to blossom. We brush it off as a fleeting thought or an idea not worth spending time and energy on. Sometimes we just throw it away before realizing its potential.

In this case I let it percolate and it went from a conversation to a chuckling thought to a board game. Even the simplest of ideas need time to percolate, grow and evolve.

Give your ideas time to bubble up and thrive. Ask yourself which ideas you walked away from because the seedlings didn’t look fruitful? Which ideas, with a little imagination and fuel could blossom into something beautiful?
I find writing your ideas down, putting them away for a while and then coming back to them lets them percolate. Sometimes it even happens subconsciously. We don’t have to have the answer immediately. The best ideas present themselves in very non-linear ways.

You may have a beautiful garden of ideas waiting in the weeds.

Top 4 Lessons for turning on the imaginative mojo from olympic athletes

imaginibbles — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:19:41 +0000

Are you watching the winter Olympics? WOW, intrigue, crashes, beautiful people, awards….it has it all! Olympic athletes are a great source of inspiration and motivation. This year I’ve been paying close attention to not just who is winning, but how they are behaving as well. Whether it’s downhill, cross country or ice skating here are 4 lessons for turning on the imaginative mojo, especially when it matters most:

1. Put it all on the table: Even after all the crashes, mistakes and missing the qualifiers Olympic athletes in their post race interviews talk about giving it their all. When they are at the starting gate its go time no matter what the conditions, past experiences or competition. They put it all on the table and don’t hold back. It’s part of what makes them great.

Where are you holding back? Where do you make excuses so that you don’t have to face the fact that you may crash?

2. Soak in the energy of the crowd: I love the energy of the crowd, don’t you? I was watching how the ice skaters really soak in their surroundings and almost use the energy to their advantage. When a Canadian skater took center rink the crowd went wild and she gave the performance of a life time. Every time the crowd cheered she responded with an even more impressive move.

Who do you know that will cheer you on? What are you doing to create that type of energy around you? What are you doing to create the opposite type of energy?

3. Compete with yourself: Have you ever seen a race where the guy at the head of the pack makes the big mistake of turning around to look at his competition? In that instant he loses his edge, his focus and usually his advantage. That guy is too busy competing with others. Some of the best Olympic athletes talk about competing with themselves. Doing better than they have in the past, not better than their competition. Of course they are there to beat everyone for the Gold but they do so by first beating themselves.

Are you constantly striving to get better or are you too busy trying to get better than others? Are you looking over your shoulder or are you looking in your heart for motivation?

4. Always go to the finish line: Wednesday night I saw something inspiring. During the men’s cross country marathon an Olympic athlete that the announcers had totally discounted came up from behind to take the silver. There were 3 at the head of the pack chasing each other’s heels. Then in 4th place, far behind, was the guy in red. Inch by inch he crept up. In the last mile, of 24 miles, he went from being so far behind that he couldn’t see them to passing them on the inside. No one thought he would do it but he did. It was awesome to watch. The lesson, always finish the race. He could have given up and accepted his fourth place position. After all, what he did was close to improbable. He did it because he came to finish the race and wow did he do that!

Where have you given up 1 mile before the finish line? When did you let the fact that you couldn’t quit see the finish line deter you from your medal?

If you are ready to make a change, and I mean truly ready, click here to learn more and sign up for the 6 week e-course to discovering and crystallizing your personal passions and life journey