The importance of showing your appreciation

After I taught a creativity course recently, one of the students invited me to her property on the South Coast of NSW to collect material for my art as a way of saying thank you because the course was transformational for her.

I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me as I only use foraged material, so finding places to collect is hard. (Coincidentally, every single one of the works I made from this collecting session sold in my recent exhibition.)

I have this thing about saying thank you and showing appreciation. In business and life, we want acknowledgement for the things we do. We have an innate desire to feel appreciated and valued by others. And I believe our workplaces function much better with a praise culture.

So how do we make sure we say thank you more, and acknowledge the people around us?

Saying thank you

When we pitch a story to a journalist, and the story gets a run, the journalist is just doing their job right? They got a great story because we came up with the idea and sent it to them. In my Agency, we have a policy of thanking the journalist. We acknowledge their effort and time, by emailing a simple thank you. You should to.

Give when no one is expecting it

I’ve spent every weekend for the past three weeks at a gallery where my solo exhibition was being held. In between visitors, I sat on the floor and wove sculptures, which gave me some thinking time in that space.

I thought, I have expertise that all of the other artists involved in the gallery could benefit from. So on the last day of my exhibition, I put enough copies of my book From Unknown To Expert for everyone on the shelf in the storeroom. So simple.

Don’t take people for granted

I’m sure we all have people in our lives we take for granted. Colleagues, best friends or even the person that makes our coffee in the morning. I know I do. So from time to time, take stock of those people and acknowledge them. Let them know what their action’s personally mean to you.

Run a gratitude exercise with your team/friends/family

With my team, we sit in a circle with one person in the centre and tell them why we are grateful for them, being specific about moments, lessons and impacts. We talk about how we have changed because of their impact on our lives.

The power of thank you has the power to change a workplace culture, start a beautiful friendship or make someone’s day. It can also change your life.

Tweetable: The power of saying ‘thank you’ @CatrionaPollard http://bit.ly/2A1wm53

By Catriona Pollard, Thought Leadership

Why you should say YES to sharing your opinion

Think about something you feel passionate about. It could be a political issue, an art form or flying to Mars. It could be anything.

Imagine if you shared your passion or opinion beyond your family and friends. How would that make you feel? What impact would that make?

The other night one of my staff messaged me and said he had written an article over a glass of red about why to vote yes to marriage equality and could I have a look at it.

Not only did I look at it, I edited it and the next day, during work time, we strategised which journalist and publication to pitch it to. (And of course, it was picked up. Read it here).

Now that is a scary thing to do. I know that personally. Being prepared to share your voice with the world puts you in a really vulnerable position, particularly on a divisive issue such as marriage equality.

If not you, who?

But here’s the thing. If not you, who?

I believe we all have stories to tell that will help others in some way. We have experienced situations through our lives that should be shared because others will benefit from it. Or if we feel strongly enough about the issue, it’s our responsibility to express that, to affect the change we want to see.

The world needs to hear what you have to say. If you don’t, you miss out on sharing your beauty with the world. You miss your purpose.

Be brave

Having the courage to be honest and exposed when you tell your stories through the media and social media will make them so much more impactful. They will start resonating with people.

When you start telling your stories and sharing your expertise because it is helping the people who are listening or reading it, you will be amazed with the emotional connection that you start building with people and the relationships you start developing – because you’re positively impacting their lives.

We live in a world where we are encouraged to compare ourselves to others. As soon as we do this, we start living smaller lives. We start thinking our stories are not as important as theirs.

We need to have the confidence to know our stories are valid, not matter how big or small.

So it’s about saying YES to your voice, to equality and to love.

Tweetable: Why you should say yes to sharing your opinions @catrionapollard http://bit.ly/2xgfvfX

By Catriona Pollard, Thought Leadership

How to get motivated to do the things you don’t want to do

I’m coming to the end of my office lease and I’m considering my options about staying or finding a new office. When I even think about starting to look for a new office I want to well…do something else. Anything else. Run a marathon. Skydive. Make a cup of tea. Look at the yoga class timetable online. Check my Instagram feed. Sing live on TV naked.

You know, anything else.

So my desire to move is clouded by my motivation to look for a new office. Like anyone I can be highly motivated to do the stuff I like, but golly gosh, when it comes to the stuff I dislike, my motivation evaporates.

So how do we motivate ourselves to do the stuff we don’t want to do?

I just don’t feel like doing it

You can’t wait until you feel like doing something. Sometimes we never feel like doing a task, but you just have to show up. When I was writing my book or when I had my solo exhibition, I created a routine and just showed up. Sometimes what I produced was crap, but other times it was gold.

Just start

When I’m teaching fibre art workshops and I hear a million excuses about why they can’t dedicate time to their art practice, I get them to write down every reason so they see it in black and white. Then I ask them to spend time questioning it. Is it an excuse or a legitimate reason? How would it make you feel if you had more art in your life? Usually it just boils down to one thing. Just start. Even if it’s for one minute a day. Just start.

Willpower sucks sometimes, so trick yourself

I’ve spent a career on deadline. In PR and running a business I walk into the office and know I have multiple deadlines that day. So when I’m faced with a task I don’t want to do I attempt to trick myself by placing a deadline on it. (Attempt is a key word, as sometimes it doesn’t work as well as I’d like). So plan it out – decide what you’re going to do, and when and where you’re going to do it so there is no umming and ahing.

Ebbs and flow

There are times when it’s OK that you’re not motivated to get to the gym or to get stuff done. I’m not saying create a bunch of excuses to opt out. But there are ebbs and flows in our lives and we should listen and be aware of them.

So I’m going to trick myself into a deadline for looking at offices – even though I have a real deadline! What are you going to do today?

Tweetable: How we can get motivated to do the things we don’t want to do @CatrionaPollard bit.ly/2ioyIFU

By Catriona Pollard, Mentoring, Thought Leadership

Why unhooking ourselves from convention allows us to flourish

I was in Rome recently and it was 43 degrees with the asphalt melting underfoot, so I went to my favourite (airconditioned) gallery – The Borghese – to hang out with Bernini’s Apollo & Daphne marble sculpture.

Still not wanting to deal with the heat, I walked across the park to the La Galleria Nazionale – The Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. I found myself in this extraordinary gallery virtually on my own. It seems that everyone wants only traditional art when in Rome.

When I was at La Galleria Nazionale, I realised that we have a certain way of seeing art, or more specifically art is presented to us in a conventional way. I have never questioned that.

Seeing in a different way

Take for example marble sculptures. They are on a plinth so you look up at them. They are facing you, so often you can’t see the back or the whole work. There is a rope around them so you can’t get too close.

At La Galleria Nazionale, they mix old with new and I walked into a room with a stunning Dante sculpture of Diana. It was facing the wall, and wasn’t on a plinth or with a rope around it. It was extraordinary. I had a completely different experience with it.

It kind of blew my mind actually.

Unhooking from convention

It made me think about convention or specifically what would happen if we if we started to see objects, problems, things in our lives in different ways.

What would change if we unhooked ourselves from convention? What we think is…right, wrong, good, bad, predetermined, front, back…or “it’s just the way we do things”.

Often we only see what we want to see: visions that match our fixed beliefs and perspectives. I believe that anything that is defined in a limited way is open to transformation. When we lift that limitation, we have the opportunity to flourish in ways we never even imagined.

Opening yourself to change

When we dream a different reality, all its many dimensions flourish in a way so far removed from convention. We open the space toward what can be and will be more vibrant worlds to come.

So what in your life or business would benefit from flipping from front to back, or questioning the conventional approach? What would happen if you saw your life in different ways?

It doesn’t mean anything has to change. But my gosh…what if it did and it brought new wonderful experiences you never even dreamed of.

Tweetable: What would change if we unhooked ourselves from convention? @CatrionaPollard bit.ly/2x37Bmg

Creative, Thought Leadership