Good day y’all. Jim Broderick here.
In general, I am not a creative person so let’s get that out of the way right from the start.
I am the textbook example of a left-brain thinker (practical side). I eat basically the same thing every day at roughly the same time every day. I wear similar clothing in a similar way basically every day. You’ll see me heading to the gym every day at roughly the same time.
My car is immaculate, my appearance is very tidy and organized and my desk is clutter free.
I am on time all of the time.
My decision-making is based almost always using logic and very sound reasoning. I’m so bad in fact that my wife used to refer to me as a “Vulcan”.
I can’t help it…it’s just the way that I am.
Unfortunately, for the left-brain folks out there, being an entrepreneur requires quite a bit of creativity. As a REALTOR, I am often required to “do stuff on the fly”, or “roll with the punches” as they say.
Both of these are terrifying expressions for my people. Years ago, realizing that I needed to open up the right side (or creative side) of my brain, I started investigating the different ways or “exercises” that help people get more creative. Drive a different way to work, mismatch my socks, write in a journal every day, plant flowers instead of shrubs, read poetry, bake, watch PBS, etc...
I was doing all of it.
I even bought a guitar and taught myself to play, trying to tap into my inner Dylan, so to speak. I did all of these things to try and access the creative part of my brain that you right brained people take for granted. I found that many of the activities helped, and that I’d improved steadily, but I never felt that I was “there” yet.
I believe that running any business requires a perfect balance, call it a combo of left/right brain activities that when combined equals success. For a guy like me, my missing ingredient has always been creativity, or at least the ease of creative thought. In the wonderful world of Real Estate Sales you can get by with mirroring what successful agents do. Open houses, web sites, social media marketing, even database management can all be replicated fairly easily.
If you’re content with “getting by”, then the recipe is there.
To get beyond the status quo takes desire, ingenuity and, LETS SAY IT, creativity. When you infuse something innovative into your product or business daily you create a vibe or an energy that invigorates its participants and clients. It helps you get up in the morning and look forward to creating at work rather than slugging through the day. This is how people and businesses grow and evolve, standing still will lead to extinction, or at least, severe boredom.
This leads me to the title of this blog: “The Magic of the Beard”. As I mentioned earlier, I struggle with creativity, I’m often looking for some type of motivator to put me in the mood.
Enter the modern-day beatnik. At first glance, this is the seemingly lazy, toque-wearing know-it-all, who clogs up all of the downtown coffee shops drinking chai tea and using the free Internet. This checkered shirt wearing demographic all have two things in common: (1) they are great with the right brain activities, and (2) they have beards - Impressive, full-bodied beards.
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying “look the part, feel the part”? Well, to tap into my inner artist this time around, I decided to at least look the part, so I grew myself a beard. A truly wonderful 2-toned grey/brown beard.
Perhaps by the summer I can look back to this “scruffy” time and analyze whether or not my facial hair gave me any special “creative” powers. Think of Samson but without the lion battles.
Stay tuned and I will let you know.
And thank-you for reading.
Jim c/o THEbTEAM