This Saturday, Danger Lou has a very special mission on her hands. The Robot of Mediocrity thinks that creativity is unnecessary, and Danger Lou is determined to prove him wrong. Here’s a short missive from Danger Lou, explaining why she is participating…

Why is creativity important?

I have a background in psychology and research. For a long time, going through school and college, I was told that I was “too smart for art.” However, the onset of a long-term health condition stopped me in my academic tracks and I realised that I was on a path I didn’t want to be on. I wanted to do something that was much more directly connected with people in the real world and the changes they wanted to make, something that used both my smarts and my arts. In fact, something that destroyed that whole notion of “smarts” vs. “arts” – why do we see those two things as binary?

Yes, I draw and doodle… however I think that creativity is much more than that. I also kick ass in excel, making spreadsheets that count on their own and show data in new and interesting ways – and I think that is just as creative as doing a quick doodle. I know people who excel in talking about emotions and making them more concrete and easy to understand. I know people who tell great stories. And I know people who play clever games with their kids to encourage them to help with household chores. These are all creative acts.

The Robot of Mediocrity says that you’re only being creative if you have a paintbrush in your hand, some glue and scissors nearby, or a stack of sticky notes at the ready. The Robot also says that creativity is unnecessary – that it’s a waste of time, pointless. Danger Lou totally refutes that. Creativity is a crucial part of every day life – it’s at the heart of decisions we make every day that lead to feeling healthier, happier, and more connected. I wish more people could see how creativity turns up in their lives on a regular basis and celebrated it. Coming up with a tasty dinner with those three random ingredients in the fridge… working out why the windscreen washer is squirting the inside of the back window of the car instead of the outside… thinking of a way to help a friend in need. All products of creative thinking!

If you join me in my altercation with the Robot of Mediocrity, you will learn to identify and name the things that hold you back on a daily basis. You’ll understand how those things operate, and you’ll also identify some ways to overcome them. We can’t let that pesky robot win, can we? Thought not. So if you can, please join us at CreativeConf, this Saturday. See you there!

Check out CreativeConf and apply the special code SpeakersFriend to get a 15% discount.

Do something that both scares and excites you. This is day 18 of my 30 day Scare The Crap Out Of Myself Video Challenge.

Today, I try eating something new and strange…Kimshi. Sure, it’s not the biggest of challenges, not like flying to Canada and UK, but it is about celebrating those little risks that we take every day.

For the next 30 days I will post one video which will describe doing something that both scares and excites me, one learning point, and a take away. Join me through my ‘Hell yeah!’ moments and my ‘Oh Sh*t’ moments for the next 30 days and please do cheer me on!

Why on earth would you do this, Mel?

For Me: To bring some structure back in my life. To prove to myself that I can follow through. To document my journey at this scary time. To feel alive.

For You: Perhaps you are on a similar journey, thinking of making a change or needing to give yourself a kick in the bum to get going. I hope that following my journey will help you feel that you are not alone and inspire you to go out and do things that scare you too. Because in the end, it is by finding and doing something that makes you come alive that we truly start to make a dent in the world. Want to scare the crap out of yourself on film? Start your own challenge and let us know that you do! Share it on twitter with #stcoom (short for scarethecrapoutofmyself!)

Do something that both scares and excites you. This is day 16 of my 30 day Scare The Crap Out Of Myself Video Challenge.

Today, I finally start to turn my dream of creating a Get Tech video channel into a reality.   I met an old friend today who does some incredible work around grant funding and sustainable development. After 6 months or so of talking about it, I finally got the nerve to get my first video interview. Be prepared for a lot of background noise and a shaky camera…but the key content is there!

For the next 30 days I will post one video which will describe doing something that both scares and excites me, one learning point, and a take away. Join me through my ‘Hell yeah!’ moments and my ‘Oh Sh*t’ moments for the next 30 days and please do cheer me on!

Why on earth would you do this, Mel?

For Me: To bring some structure back in my life. To prove to myself that I can follow through. To document my journey at this scary time. To feel alive.

For You: Perhaps you are on a similar journey, thinking of making a change or needing to give yourself a kick in the bum to get going. I hope that following my journey will help you feel that you are not alone and inspire you to go out and do things that scare you too. Because in the end, it is by finding and doing something that makes you come alive that we truly start to make a dent in the world. Want to scare the crap out of yourself on film? Start your own challenge and let us know that you do! Share it on twitter with #stcoom (short for scarethecrapoutofmyself!)

Do something that both scares and excites you. This is day 10 of my 30 day Scare The Crap Out Of Myself Video Challenge.

This is story of my big ask. 2 years ago I asked 45 of my closest friends and family to fly across the world to the tiniest of Welsh villages to not only attend my wedding but to help make it happen. The end results were pretty incredible…

For the next 30 days I will post one video which will describe doing something that both scares and excites me, one learning point, and a take away. Join me through my ‘Hell yeah!’ moments and my ‘Oh Sh*t’ moments for the next 30 days and please do cheer me on!

Why on earth would you do this, Mel?

For Me: To bring some structure back in my life. To prove to myself that I can follow through. To document my journey at this scary time. To feel alive.

For You: Perhaps you are on a similar journey, thinking of making a change or needing to give yourself a kick in the bum to get going. I hope that following my journey will help you feel that you are not alone and inspire you to go out and do things that scare you too. Because in the end, it is by finding and doing something that makes you come alive that we truly start to make a dent in the world. Want to scare the crap out of yourself on film? Start your own challenge and let us know that you do! Share it on twitter with #stcoom (short for scarethecrapoutofmyself!)

Finally, Danger Lou, thank you so much for the inspiration. This is my journey towards Danger Me

Do something that both scares and excites you. This is day 7 of my 30 day Scare The Crap Out Of Myself Video Challenge.

Today, we talk about little challenges and embracing even the smallest scary things. Last night, I took a turn punting in the dark after being challenged by #dangerlou to do so. For me, this wasn’t a big honest tructhful terrifying challenge, but it was still a little challenge. One that surprised me that it was much of a challenge at all. It was exhilarating…especially when the pole got stuck in the ground and I almost lost it! It’s too bad my evidence photo looks pitch black…

For the next 30 days I will post one video which will describe doing something that both scares and excites me, one learning point, and a take away. Join me through my ‘Hell yeah!’ moments and my ‘Oh Sh*t’ moments for the next 30 days and please do cheer me on!

Why on earth would you do this, Mel?

For Me: To bring some structure back in my life. To prove to myself that I can follow through. To document my journey at this scary time. To feel alive.

For You: Perhaps you are on a similar journey, thinking of making a change or needing to give yourself a kick in the bum to get going. I hope that following my journey will help you feel that you are not alone and inspire you to go out and do things that scare you too. Because in the end, it is by finding and doing something that makes you come alive that we truly start to make a dent in the world. Want to scare the crap out of yourself on film? Start your own challenge and let us know that you do! Share it on twitter with #stcoom (short for scarethecrapoutofmyself!)

Finally, Danger Lou, thank you so much for the inspiration. This is my journey towards Danger Me

Today we were due to have our first You Can Check It Out meeting of 2013; however, it snowed. And snowed and snowed and snowed. Half of our team were snowed in so we decided to postpone today’s meeting. I thought this was a great opportunity to review our last meeting here, as we talked about some pretty juicy stuff.

We started with a word. “Impossible.” What does it mean? We found this really hard at first; we could think of films like Mission Impossible and The Hulk!

An example helped. “What if I told you I didn’t have any legs?” Straight away Tracy said, “It would be impossible, you wouldn’t be able to walk.” “What if I told you I was going to climb a mountain, on my hands?” “Impossible!”

Then ideas started to flow. “I find it really hard to say no to take-aways.” “I find it really hard to lose weight.” “I find it really hard to communicate with people.” “… to make healthy choices…” “…to go to the shops…” We found that everyone’s impossible is different.

We soon realised that even though there were things we think of as really hard, there were also examples of us doing these things. “I did a presentation.” “I’ve lost weight.” “I went out to the shops for the first time the other week!” We started to talk about what had made these things possible, and we came up with the list. I thought it would be great to share this learning with you!

How to Make the Impossible Possible:

• Break it down into smaller pieces – little steps are easier!
• Take your time
• Make sure that you don’t feel under any pressure
• Plan a reward at the end – something you really enjoy and that you find easy
• Trust that it gets easier over time
• Keep practicing! Keep trying!

We also felt that having someone else helps…

• For reassurance
• Someone with you who believes in you
• Someone with you who shares your interest – or bring people in who share the same interest!
• Someone who has done it before – who can show you the smaller steps

At the end of the session, we watched this film: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18508243

What do you think of the film? Are there any examples you notice from our list? What are the ways that you help yourself, when you’re working on something that feels hard or impossible?