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| |  | Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of m�agine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.
Michael is a
Certified Practitioner
of the
Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator.�
Do you know someone
who might benefit
from our weekly email?
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| Imagination and innovation... |
The tell-tale signs of autumn are evident in Louisiana: leaves have turned color; nights and mornings are cold; gunfire is ripping through the woods. Winter's snap can't be far off. Which prompts a learning around imagination and innovation, illustrated by an acquaintance's memory from a Louisiana winter of long ago.
The learning first...
Imagination and innovation are each a reflection of a creative spirit.
To imaginate is to dream, to think outside the box--way beyond the box--even, perhaps, to forget there is a box; imagination yearns for abundance.
To innovate is to design, to think inside the box; innovation, no kidding, thrives in scarcity.
Imagination, at its best, results in innovation. Innovation gives shape to our imagination.
Many imaginate; relatively few innovate.
An imaginative spirit, ironically, dreams of a bigger box. A bigger box shows up differently in each of our imaginations. For some it might mean a collaborative, creative muse--or, at the very least, someone who'll hold us and reaffirm us when we fail, or when we're so afraid to fail that we fail to try. For others it might be a benevolent angel who recognizes the societal value of our dreams and who will, therefore, fund them. For still others, it might be a space free from responsibility and interruption. With lots of green plants that never die. And, please God, no clocks. An imaginative spirit often sighs and thinks, "If only..."
Imagination without innovation can be devastating, for it taunts us with our limitations.
An innovative spirit, whether inclined to the right or to the left side of the brain, acknowledges the box. With a nod to our Eastern friends, the innovative spirit embraces the box. For these "Imagineers"--as Walt Disney called those under his employ--the box might include natural talents and developed skills, opportunities and limitations, marketability and deadlines, mortgages and children. Or maybe dogs. Whether a painter or a writer, a CEO or a stay-at-home, an engineer or a manufacturer, the innovator makes the most with the least. Or at the least with what's available. An innovative spirit often sighs and thinks, "What's next...?"
Which leads back to the story
of that acquaintance's distant Louisiana winter...
My family first visited New Orleans, Louisiana when I was a child. My father, an industrial contractor, could rarely afford the time or money for a significant vacation. One day he came home from the office and announced we could spend the following week in either Hawaii or Louisiana. We unanimously chose Louisiana. Go figure. I could be living in Hawaii today.
While on that initial trip to New Orleans, I listened to a local gentleman tell of growing up, impoverished, in the city during the Great Depression. The winters were cold, and his family couldn't afford coal to heat their small home. He and his brothers ran to the railroad tracks every day after school; there they cursed the engineers as their locomotives slowly traveled the tracks running along the Mississippi, between the river's bank and Jackson Square. The engineers, angered by the boys' "nasty" taunting, reflexively hurled coal at the brothers. After the train passed the boys gathered up the coal in their shirttails and carried it home to their family's empty furnace.
Some people imagined heat; the brothers innovated.
Consider the "fit" of this metaphor: Imagination, like the unreachable stars above, plots our course; innovation builds the ship to carry us over the horizon.
Where might your creativity actually be stalled in your imagination?
What would it take to move forward with innovation?
Where are you waiting for outlying abundance, when creativity might prosper in present scarcity?
Contemplate the value of this statement: "What we do now is a good measure of what we'd do then."
What then are you waiting for?
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Michael Fox
m�agine!
530/613.2774
407 Myrtle Drive
Farmerville, LA, USA 71241 |
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In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models
--Values, Vision, Voice and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength--
as well as
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator� curriculum
published by CPP, the People Development People.
Michael's books include
Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook,
and Biblio�files.
Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.
For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net.
Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.
View our archives!
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