Creativity – Modelling the trailblazers
Once the decision is made to incorporate creativity into everyday living, we start on a journey of increasing our existing creativity. One of the best strategies for increasing creativity is modelling.
Modelling is one of the foundation stones of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Founded in the 1970’s by Dr Richard Bandler, a Mathematician, and Dr John Grinder, a linguist, NLP looked at modelling great people who do things well. They discovered that if someone who did something well, or “the expert” could codify their process of success, then it could be replicated, or mimicked by someone else. Of course, not every step in the process was one that potential modellers agreed with; let’s face it we wouldn’t all subject ourselves to 24-hour monitoring by TV cameras in order to become famous, but you can’t deny that it has worked for countless nouveau celebrities.
Generally experts do the following things differently to the masses:
- They have an overall attitude which perpetuates their success – this includes confidence in how they talk about their topic
- They have the requisite knowledge to back up their status
- They have a point of view about their field, which may differ from others
- They master a niche area rather than being a “Jack of all trades”
- Their physiology will generally convey their confident attitude and comfort within their own field
Of course, some emerging experts can lack the confidence to “own” their expertise, and modelling the physiology of other leaders in the field can help bridge that gap. In either case, using the steps above you can identify the area which you experience challenges with, and find the relevant expert to “model”.
A note of caution must be issued with modelling; sometimes the strategy which your expert uses may not be right for you. You may decide to adapt their strategy, or abandon the process altogether.
