The Work In Colour Blog is a free weekly blog covering all kinds of stuff to do with working in colour, from career tips to creative thinking ideas and much in between.http://workincolour.com.au/Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:03:42 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/56/the-danger-of-a-single-story/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/56/the-danger-of-a-single-story/In January every year I teach a 5 day writing workshop at Camp Creative. This year it was on the elements of story, which gave us a great excuse to watch movies like To Kill a Mockingbird and share our favourite stories. It was fun.Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:54:29 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/55/actions-to-increase-your-creative-thinking-and-unstick-you-too/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/55/actions-to-increase-your-creative-thinking-and-unstick-you-too/Last week's post on asking questions to develop your curiosity seems to have struck a chord (thanks for all the emails and comments...). So I thought I'd follow up with the other half, which is about actions you can take to stimulate your creative thinking. These also work brilliantly to help you get unstuck when the inspiration dries up or your project is just going round and round in circles.Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:36:25 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/54/asking-questions-to-develop-your-curiosity/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/54/asking-questions-to-develop-your-curiosity/Whenever I run a workshop or give a presentation on creative thinking, I talk about the value of curiosity - it's one of the 4 cornerstones in my 4 cornerstones model. It's all very well to tell people to 'Be Curious' but unless you offer some practical tips, it's about as useful as saying 'Be Happy' (and just as irritating).Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:34:21 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/53/are-you-trapped-by-your-own-busyness/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/53/are-you-trapped-by-your-own-busyness/Last weekend I spent 48 hours nursing a sick dog. Now, I'm not a fan of blogging and tweeting about pets, so stay with me here - this dog is merely context. I realised that I hardly ever stay in one place and just hang out. Usually I am buzzing around, seeing clients or doing household chores. Even at home, there is a computer full of work, cupboards to clean, meals to prepare...the usual elements of 21st century life, in fact.Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:24:43 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/52/if-youre-not-bridget-jones-whats-the-point-of-a-diary/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/52/if-youre-not-bridget-jones-whats-the-point-of-a-diary/I'm running a mini-workshop this afternoon for people who are staying in Sydney while having cancer treatment. I am delighted to accept this invitation from an old client, who asked if I would share some ideas about telling your story and writing a journal as a way of expressing thoughts you might not want to share with others face-to-face.Wed, 3 Feb 2010 13:00:05 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/51/whats-this-social-innovation-thing/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/51/whats-this-social-innovation-thing/It's easy to find references these days to the importance of business innovation. And it's true, creative thinking and innovation are critical if you want to surf the current waves of change in business. But it's not just about commercial enterprise.Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:29:43 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/50/how-to-innovate-your-business-model/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/50/how-to-innovate-your-business-model/I recently came across a Harvard blog post by Mark Johnson on reinventing your business model. A confession: I'm not the full bottle on business models, and have used only rudimentary or ad hoc versions in the past.But as soon as I read this post, I saw that here was a model I could implement - and so that's what I am doing right now.Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:32:42 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/49/ray-anderson-a-creative-entrepreneur/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/49/ray-anderson-a-creative-entrepreneur/I recently did some workshops for the Victorian government on using creative thinking for sustainability. I had a great time researching good examples - including the story of Ray Anderson. Do you know about him?Wed, 6 Jan 2010 17:01:27 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/48/taking-centre-stage/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/48/taking-centre-stage/I have just taken on a new teaching gig, in an organisation where I trained many years ago. The guy who handed the course over to me was a friend, someone I had trained with 17 years ago. While we were chatting, he told me a story I hadn't known before - that he became a teacher because of something I said to him all those years ago about my own life.Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:31:28 +1100http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/47/lighting-candles/http://workincolour.com.au/blog/post/47/lighting-candles/Last night, I lost it. Christmas had become a mad rush to buy stuff, cook stuff, finish work, make phone calls, see clients, clean the house, prepare food and...