Creativity Speaker: Master the Unexpected in 9 Simple Steps

As a creativity speaker, I deliver keynote presentations and creativity training programs that help people respond quickly and effectively to the unexpected.

The fact is that things will go wrong. Anyone can do well when everything goes exactly as planned. The real test of you and your organization is how well you deal with the unexpected (“Ding!”) when they happen – because they will! The following 9 ideas will show you how to not only react to the Dings of life, but also how to find opportunities within them and to be a leader of change, not just a victim of it.

(Note: the following 9 steps are what I usually cover in my change management and creativity speaker programs).

Reacting to Dings!

When Ding Happens, do you make stupid mistakes, do you get paralyzed, or do you react in a way that keep you on track?

1)      Focus on What You Can Control, Let Go of the Rest. Putting time and energy on things you can’t control is like standing in a storm, yelling at the wind to stop. It accomplished nothing and just tires you out. Great improvisers put their attention on one thing: what they can do right here, right now, only with what they have.

2)      Have Fun. Having fun, laughing, and staying positive reduces stress, increases creativity, and makes you more able to stay calm and take logical action. Find a way to stay up, even when things are down.

3)      Be Willing to Fail. Failure isn’t ok; it usually has serious consequences. However, focusing on the fear of failure achieves nothing but taking our focus off of the only things that matter: the activities that ensure we won’t fail!

Taking Advantage of Dings!

Every Ding has an opportunity hidden inside of it. If you want to move from merely putting out fires to truly making progress, then use these three techniques to starting finding those opportunities.

4)      Improve the Status Quo. When Ding Happens, your first response may be to try to get back to where you were before things went haywire. However, that just keeps you at the “treading water” place. To take advantage of Dings, start asking yourself, “How can I get to a place that is better than where I was before?”

5)      Act with Gusto. Great improvisation is about taking action; improv comedy is not a tentative person’s art form. Don’t do something foolish (like gambling away your savings) but don’t let opportunities pass you by because you are afraid to take action.

6)      Say, “Yes, And!” Simply put, when Ding Happens, stop saying “yes, but” and start saying “Yes, And!” A principle so important I wrote a whole book on it: “Say ‘Yes, And!’”

Creating Your Own Dings!

If you want to be a leader in your industry or organization, or if you simply want to break out of a rut, get past a plateau, or achieve a goal you have been struggling with, then you may need to start creating some Dings of your own.

7)      Add Constraints. Constraints are generally seen as a bad thing. However, adding constraints (trying to do things with less time, money, energy, etc) is one of the best ways to increase creativity and force productivity.

8)      Increase Complexity. I know, I know: We all want our lives to be simpler, not more complex. But the simplicity you seek may very well be on the other side of greater complexity. For example, if you want to make more money, you may need more education. More education means spending money, juggling schedules, filling out applications, and adding more work to a full calendar. That’s more complex. And yet, beyond that complexity are the results you want…

9)      Apply Creativity. Creativity is a big topic. In this context, it comes down to doing one of two things: doing something that hasn’t been done before, or doing something that has been done before in a different way. Start asking yourself, “what if?” “Why not?” and “what I am afraid of doing?” Those questions will open your creative mind and help you become a Ding Maker! (for more info on how you and your team can access your creativity, check out Avish’s creativity speaker page.)

There you have it. Let me know your thoughts, and let me know which ideas you would like me to explore further.

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About Creativity Speaker Avish Parashar

Avish Parashar is the world’s only Motivational Improviser! He uses ideas and exercises from the world of improv comedy to help audiences improvise, adapt, and innovate with change! If you want Avish’s help to get your team or organization to become masters of the unexpected, , then check out his keynote speaking and business training options