Live a Creative Life

[I have recently read this book, The Power of TED* The Empowerment Dynamic. I am writing a synopsis to share the concepts with my readers. This is the second and last part of my write up. I address the “Creator Orientation and The Empowerment Dynamic (TED).” Part 1-Victim Orientation and Dreaded Drama Triangle(DDT) is here. ]

My friend once wrote in her Facebook status, “I know what I don’t want, but I don’t know what I DO want.”

 She spoke for many.  Most of the time, we know what we don’t want, what we want to avoid, and what problems are causing us troubles. How about having a shift from this and focus on “what we want” instead? According to the book, The Power of TED*, the empowerment dynamic, this mindset is called the Creator orientation.  Creator orientation is a refreshingly positive shift from the very well known Victim orientation. A Creator focuses on the result and the end goal – they are motivated by their inner passion for achieving their goal. They design their path and take baby steps towards it. Even though they encounter problems on their way, their real focus towards a higher goal empowers them to face those “problems” as real challenges to overcome and, at the same time, utilize them as learning experiences.

The TED model describes two other roles, a Challenger and a Coach. A Challenger is the TED counterpart of Persecutor, and a Coach is that of the Rescuer from the DDT model. A Challenger, as the name suggests, is someone or some situation that prompts the Creator to act. A Challenger can be either a constructive or a deconstructive force. For example: if your workplace is going through downsizing and exerting pressure on the employees to perform more and more. This might serve you a wakeup call to check in if you are committed to this job and lets you do some serious thought on your passion and priorities. In this example, the particular situation of downsizing may seem to be negative but still may work as a powerful influencer for a Creator. All the life’s experiences are teachers in some sense, challenging us to grow and evolve. Although the Persecutor certainly provokes a reaction, the Challenger elicits a response by encouraging a Creator to acquire new knowledge, skill, or insight. Both roles initiate change, but in different ways.

A Coach helps the Creator to attain their goal; the main difference of a Coach with a Rescuer is that a Coach, unlike the Rescuer, treats others as Creators and thinks them as a whole, capable and resourceful. A Coach supports and empowers the Creator and sometimes may offer few suggestions but doesn’t get upset if the idea is not accepted. A Coach doesn’t tell the Creator what she should or shouldn’t do. Instead, he asks a lot of right questions and listens deeply to what a Creator is saying as she thinks, probes, and explores. A Coach is continuously alert to possibilities that may be invisible to the client. They say, “I am going to stand beside you, no matter what,” they don’t say, “Let me fix it for you,” which is the approach of a Rescuer.

Living as a Creator is not at all easy; people can easily fall back to their everyday life, thinking it is hard. Still, only those who can “see” the significant difference of being in charge of their own life(what I DO want) vs. falling victim of outside circumstances can have the rare experience of the exciting ride of a creative life.