Fredrik Härén's Blog, page 21

Using Creativity to Turn a Leaking Boat Into a Garden (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 130)

Reuse, reduce, and recycle is not just a rallying call for sustainability – it is also a rallying call for creativity. 

My mother loves (!) to garden and luckily for me, she loves to come and garden on our island. But at 77 years old it’s slowly getting harder for her to bend to the ground, so today we turned an old boat upside down, filled it with soil, and named it “Berit” (my mum’s name). 

Now she will be able to continue to garden without having to bend so much. 

As a bonus, I got a better use for my old boat that was leaking anyway. 

Before and after pics are below.

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What could you reduce, reuse or recycle for a better life?

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

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The Frustrating Art of Changing Ones Mind. (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 129)

For the last two weeks, I have been swearing at myself once a day.

 

You see, two weeks ago I moved the hook to close our shower room door from a high position on the door to a low position (to make it easier for our children to close the shower room.)

 

The hook has been in the higher position for 20+ years.

 

And day after day I would find myself reaching for a hook high up on the door that is not there anymore….

 

I of course know that I have moved it, but my muscle memory is so strong that I still reach for the higher position – only to see my hand trying to grab a hook that isn’t there.

 

It took me over two weeks to start reaching for the hook in its new position, and I still do the mistake of reaching high once in a while.

 

To me this little story is a symbol of why change is so hard for us humans.

 

But also a symbol of how we – sometimes slowly, sometimes painfully – can change.

 

What behaviour do you continue to exercise even though the world has changed and you should have to?

 

Change is good. But change is hard.

 

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Ideas Island update

 

Quote from one of the guests to Ideas Island this summer:

 

“Ideas Island was brilliant for us. We adapted to Island life very well. We worked, swam, sauna-ed our way through it and, in between, we had long conversations about the importance of new ways of thinking about our work. We experimented with new forms of problem-solving tools, shared ideas and incubated. The perfect experience and we lived large. We explored the lake with long rows, we ate and drank like royalty, and, thanks to the weather, we were able to enjoy most meals in the sun. It truly was a magical experience which we will treasure forever.”

 

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As you know Ideas Island (www.ideasisland.com) is my private island in Stockholm where I let creative people from around the world stay one week – for free (!) – to work on a creative project. (I do ask the guests to give some money to charity if they can afford it, but I charge nothing for letting them stay on the island). If you are interested in staying in 2023 re-apply on the site to be eligible for next years season.

 

Keep exploring and keep creating.

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

 

ps. I plan to do a South America Creativity Tour in early 2023 – any connections, introductions or suggestions of people I should interview, people who might be interested in booking a speech and/or people I should meet do email me. Thank you!

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Thinking of Booking a Speaker for the Autumn Season of 2022? Book Fast!

The autumn of 2022 seems to be the busiest speaking period in a very long time.

 

Personally I have 29 pending or confirmed bookings for the 3 months of September to November – and they are in all kinds of industries and all over the world.

 

A speaker bureau client I spoke to recently said: “I have never been this busy in 20+ years of booking speakers”. 

 

A hotel manager I spoke to said their conference rooms are virtually sold out for all of 2022.

 

Clearly the world is back to meeting again and the demand for flight tickets, hotel venues – and yes, speakers is at an all-time high.

 

That is of course great news after two years of covid when the meeting industry was just organising virtual events.

 

Meeting virtually is ok, especially when that is the only option – but meeting live and in person is just so much more human, so much more impactful and so much more fun!

 

It’s amazing to see the energy and excitement and the human connections that are created when people are finally meeting again after being away for so long. 

 

Remember: If you are thinking of getting your own group together for a meeting or a conference, act fast.

 

I hope to see you at one of these conferences.

 

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

 

P.S. At the moment based in Sweden but taking bookings from around the world.

P.P.S. For early 2023 I am planning a speaking tour of Latin America to speak, research and learn more about creativity in this amazing part of the world. If you know of anyone who might be interested in taking advantage of the fact that I will be there, please do help me by connecting us. 

 

¡Muchas gracias!

 

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

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Preview There Are Many Killers of Creativity: But this one might just be the most lethal one (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 128)

In the last email I sent you I wrote about the positive effect that happened when I put up a dome on my rooftop and how that triggered many new ideas for the rooftop.

 

This time I want to talk about how wonderful ideas get butchered.

 

The local government of Lidingö where my island is just came back to me today and told me that they will NOT issue a building permit for the dome. ;-(

 

The reason they stated was “It looks more like a tent than a building.”

 

They happily ignore the fact that it is (!) a tent and not a building I want to put up. 

 

(Because I live on an island I need a building permit for any structure that I put up – even a tent – but when I apply for the building permit they see the tent and think “that is not a real building” and turn it down… If I lived on the mainland I would not even need any kind of permit to put up a tent…)

 

I always feel so weird and uncomfortable when government bureaucracy gets stuck in their own rules.

 

I am sharing this story to add the sad ending to the idea of putting a dome on the rooftop – but also to make you think and reflect on the creative process.

 

Remember:

 

a) Bureaucracy, rules and regulations should encourage good ideas – not kill them. Remember that when you create rules and regulations.

 

b) Even wonderful ideas might fail. (I have received amazing feedback on my dome (and not a single negative comment), and yet I am not allowed to keep it up because someone in some admin role decided it does not look good because it’s made out of plastic. No matter how great an idea is, not everyone will like it.)

 

c) A friend in Ukraine recently posted: “They might destroy it, but build anyway.”

 

I love the sentiment of that. 

 

Creativity is about taking risks, about building things, about making things happen. And yes, sometimes someone is going to try to tear it down, prohibit you or destroy what you are building – but build it anyway. 

 

So build. Build anyway.

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

 

 

P.S. I am happy about the summer I got with my dome.

And who knows, perhaps the last chapter of this story is not written yet.

The post Preview There Are Many Killers of Creativity: But this one might just be the most lethal one (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 128) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.

The Creatomino Effect. (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 127)

Let me introduce you to the “Creatomino Effect”.

 

For more than 10 years our family has had a rooftop deck on top of our house on our island. We had put an outdoor sofa there but we never really sat in it and never did anything with that area.

 

Then this summer I decided to buy a tent dome to put up on the other end.

 

Then we moved the outdoor sofa into it – making it much more comfortable to sit up there when we are not bothered by the winds.

 

Because we now spend more time up there I decided to get some flowers.

 

And then I tried putting a small table there, which got me to think about putting a bigger table there.

 

Then I realised a sun sail would be a good idea.

 

I also carried up to sun-loungers and that triggered me to get a colourful outdoor rug.

 

Finally, I put up a windbreaker to stop some more of the wind.

 

All because I decided to buy a dome.

 

Buying the dome was the “triggering idea” – the idea that triggered a lot of new ideas on how to make this area better – after 10 years of not doing anything with it.

 

The “Creatomino Effect” is the effect of how one idea creates a domino effect of triggering other ideas.

 

The difference between the regular domino effect and the Creatomino Effect is that in the former one thing leads to another. And in the latter one idea leads to more

ideas, while at the same time inspiring a creative mindset that enhances the creativity of the person.

 

I love when you get into a spirit of Creatomino, and my whole family is now enjoying how we improved our rooftop by a magnitude of 100 in just a few days, after not having done anything with that area for over a decade. The next time that happens to you, acknowledge it, take advantage of it and thrive on it.

 

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

ps. And yes, I am writing this text sitting on the rooftop. It even inspired me to write this text.

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Choose Your Workspace Deliberately. (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 126)

This week I want to share some creativity inspiration around work and island.

 

1) I just posted this on social media and thought it would be relevant for this newsletter too:

“A swan inspired chair, in a earth inspired dome, on top of a bird’s nest inspired house on a perfect little island – that is where I sit and work.

Chose your workspace deliberately.”

And to quote Buckminster Fuller – the man who is famous for promoting dome buildings:

 “When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty… but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”

 

My question to you this week is: Where do you work?

 

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2)  IDEAS ISLAND UPDATE.

Which brings me to my other island: Ideas Island (also in Stockholm)

The current Ideas Island season is in full swing and I am starting to get emails and photos from this season’s guests.

Here are a few from the guest Julius that I hope will inspire you to apply to stay at Ideas Island, or to go and find another creative place to work on your most important creative projects:

 

– “Sometimes we need an Island to see clearly.”

– “I’m a travel journalist for more than ten years and did dozens of amazing journeys – but the inspiration and joy that Ideas Island brought is beyond comparison.”

– “I don’t have the words to describe what that journey meant to me, meant to us, three friends. Actually, I still don’t know how to put it. But I will, one day. And it will not be a travel feature; it won’t be a newspaper article at all. I want to bring the reader to Ideas Island. I want to really show him that spirit. On the first day, it seemed, that there was something waving at us, from the bushes, through the trees, with branch arms and leaf hands. That ghost, we found, was no illusion. It’s still waving, here, now, everywhere.”

 

And some of his photos:

 

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Stay curious, explore more and always develop your creativity.

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

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Grilling and Creativity (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 125)

What is the connection between grilling and creativity?

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a garden grill party at a friend’s house (Peter Watz) and he had invited Henrik Stensvad – world champion in Grilling (in the category of “chicken”).

While I was watching Henrik prepare all kinds of amazing grilled food (from salmon to ribs to vegetables) I took the opportunity to listen to his views on creativity.

Here are two of the insights I got from him:

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1) Follow your dreams – not your dream.

Henrik told me how, when he was younger, he had been working so much (since cooking is his passion) that he had not had enough time with his kid.

But when he, later in life, became a father again, he decided to better split his time between his passion for cooking and his passion for his kid.

Many people seem to think that you have to sacrifice everything for your passion.

But Henrik reminded me that you can have multiple dreams (being a great dad and a great BBQ chef)

Remember the saying is “follow your dreams” – in plural.

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2) 10,000 hours for creativity.

Henrik also talked about the classic message of “putting in your 10,000 hours”, but not from the perspective of mastering something, but from the perspective of becoming more creative.

He talked to me about how – by really studying a subject – you get to know so many different facets of it that you more easily can combine them into something new.

Think of knowledge as putting loads of mental ingredients into the kitchen storage that is your mind – and then think of creativity as you taking out these ingredients to combine them into a wonderful dish.

​

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer. Still with the taste of the best ribs I have ever had in my mouth

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Be Inspired to Have New Ideas

 

Are you looking for some inspiration for finding your Eden for your ideas?

 

Well, the 2022 Ideas Island season has begun and our first guest – filmmaker Wayne Roberts – just sent this testimonial and these pictures after spending a week on Ideas Island:

 

“A truly perfect and idyllic setting to work on one’s creative endeavors. The week in the Swedish archipelago was both inspiring and so too restorative, and went far and above my expectations. A profound thank you to Fredrik for generously sharing his picturesque base of Ideas Island, enabling artists to find stillness and peace.”

 

Just the kind of experience we hope to create for our Ideas Island guests.

 

2022 season is fully booked already, but there will be more chances to go to Ideas Island in the future.

 

Regardless if you get a chance to go or not, I hope Wayne’s message will resonate with you and inspire you to go find your own creative Eden where you can develop your best ideas.

 

Make it a creative summer!

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer and founder of Ideas Island.

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Creativity Is Hope for a Better World Tomorrow. (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 124)

Some days back I was gifted, by a friend in Ukraine, one of the rare stamps created by Ukraine that shows a Ukrainian soldier giving the finger to the Russian warship outside Snake Island. 

 

The stamp was launched the day before Ukraine sank that very warship. Talk about symbolism.

 

Just as I opened the letter that the stamp arrived in, a huge rainbow appeared in front of our island. 

 

I took this picture as a symbol of a symbol.

 

The stamp being a symbol of creative resistance. The rainbow being a symbol of hope after dark times.

 

Sometimes we need creative symbols to keep the hope.

 

Because what is creativity, if not just hope for a better world tomorrow?

 

How will you use creativity to bring hope to your world?

 

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer

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The Coolest Innovation I’ve Seen Since I Saw the Internet for the First Time. (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 123)

 

Some days you get blown away. I just was. Lived for days like that.

 

Nanoponics is a novel way to grow plants that drastically reduces the resources needed to feed humanity – it might be the coolest innovation I have seen since I saw the Internet for the first time. Perhaps even cooler.

 

Remember where you first heard about Nanoponics – the tiny innovation that could change the world in a gigantic way.

 

I just attended the first ever public launch of Nanoponics at the food-tech conference Big Meet organized by Johan Jörgensson.

 

So why is Nanoponics so amazing?

 

The “normal” way of farming – plants in soil – uses a lot of water and space. For example: growing tomatoes use 400 litres of water.

 

If you use aquaponics (growing plants with roots in water) you just need 70 liters of water for the same yield.

 

But here comes Nanoponics. Nanoponics means growing plants by nutrients being pushed into the cells of the roots by a gas!

 

And suddenly you only need 2,5 liters (!) of water – not 400 liters -, virtually zero electricity and just daylight!

 

Read that sentence again.

 

Soon you can have a refrigerator-sized box in your kitchen growing about 250 kg of produce per square meter in your home using very few resources.

 

Imagine how this could change how we get our food.

 

I had the privilege to have a conversation with the founders behind this innovation a humble and calm man by the name of Suchad Chiaranussati from Thailand and Robert Åkerblom, an equally humble Swede.

 

Suchad told me how he has a shopping container on his lawn at his home in Singapore where they have successfully grown more than 45 different plants in their system.

Growing food by pushing nutrients straight into the cells of the roots – now that is exciting!

 

When I saw the internet for the first time in the 1990s most people at the time did not see the potential for that new technology for many years yet, but people who did got super excited.

 

I feel around nanoponics just like I felt around hearing about the internet back then. Nanoponcis has not changed the world yet – but based on what I have seen – I am convinced it very soon, and in a very big way, will.

 

Ideas like this – and the people like Suchad Chiaranussati and Robert Åkerblom who make them happen – is what inspires me.

 

There are only a few times in our lives when we get to be present at the reveal of an innovation that has the potential to drastically improve the life of humanity.

 

At the food tech conference Big Meet I had the privilege of being at the launch of Nanoponics. That I will always remember.

 

Follow them at: https://lnkd.in/ePUW3QTV

 

Help them spread the word about their potentially world-changing innovation with their big – and tiny – invention.

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer

The post The Coolest Innovation I’ve Seen Since I Saw the Internet for the First Time. (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 123) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.