Value added

Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash

What do you value in life? At the moment I would bet it's your health and your family, and of course these are incredibly important, but dig deep... what now? How do you live your life? What are your expectations? of yourself? of others?

Whatever we do in our lives, we attach our own values - I did the same when starting Cygnini. I brought with me my own set of values and high expectations. I planned (and still do!) as though I was buying into the experience, as though I was attending a workshop. What would I want?

Obviously my values are different from others, but I believe they are empathetic to the kind of people I'd like to attract to the Cygnini family - people like me; people like you!

Do you have high expectations? I know I do. I worked in retail pre-teaching and held various management positions - I had high expectations then too! I had to.

The public can be (rightly) very demanding in their expectations of what makes a great store, and require only the best in customer service. You have to deliver.

Photo by Mike Petrucci on Unsplash

Cygnini is my 'store', my standards need to be high. Whatever I am selling, it needs to be how I would expect it to be at this point in time. Yes, I have a vision of how the business will develop and what the 'store' will provide as we move forward, but right now it still needs to be right, be personal.

I prepare every letterbox kit myself. I print every card. I write every note. I will continue to do this for as long as it is feasible, and even then I will expect the best because I would want to be sent the best - I would want to feel special when it arrived on my doorstep.

And then... I would want someone teaching me who really cares how I am doing and checks in with me personally, and then celebrates my successes and effort. Someone who truly understands how I am learning while I am also having a great time!

I've said before and I will continue to bang on about it, but creative learning is so important - it needs to be woven into all learning, academic or not. It's thinking outside the box stuff - are you ready for what's outside? It could make things so much more interesting!

Photo by Jackie Zhao on Unsplash

I believe in its power to draw out skills that offer new perspectives and innovative responses to problems. This can be in any scenario. Being creative isn't just about making things, painting, drawing, dancing, acting... all these things trigger the right side of the brain, but support the left by offering alternatives to thinking. The best thing is, that even if you are predominantely left-brained, doing right-brain activities (getting creative) will benefit your way of thinking! There is a lot of research out there to read, if you are interested.

So, back to values... There you have it. I have quite clear values in my life and my business. I know what I expect and am beginning to find out what others expect of me. I will get things wrong - I'm human too - but isn't life a learning process? If it is, then we need to get creative about how we live it! <3

Hope you all have a creative week! :)

Deb x

Share your thoughts on values and creativity here, via Facebook or cygninicrafts@gmail.com.

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