Innovation as a Lifestyle: Creative Life Skills

Innovation

as a Lifestyle

Creative Life Skills

Mel ARAT

New York City Books

Copyright ©2018 Melih Arat. Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Arat, Melih

Innovation as a Lifestyle, Creative Life Skills

ISBN-978-605-66603-0-6

Published by New York City Books

www.nycitybooks.com

Author’s email:

mailto: melarat@alumni.harvard.edu

Cataloging-in-Publication

1.Extraordinary 2.Creativity 3.Innovation 4.Self-Help

Innovation

as a Lifestyle

Mel ARAT

This engrossing book is packed with extraordinary information that can transform the way you learn, think and live your life. Mel Arat shares real life stories to demonstrate how everyone can get the most out of life, whether it is work, play, parenting or developing and maintaining those important relationships. Read it and apply its principals to obtain extraordinary achievements!

Morris Bocian / President, Creative Business Planning Incorporated

"This book delivers a blueprint for breaking through our boundaries and being extraordinary in our daily life. Arat not only challenges us to expand our horizons and be constant learners in life as a way to achieve success and inner peace in our daily lives, he also provides us with a model for creating world-class systems, products and ideas – whether it be as a parent, worker, politician, educator or entrepreneur. Arat’s thoughts on how we can change our lives are a must for anyone wanting to make a difference.

Rick Raymond /Adjunct Faculty, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College City University of New York,

Die Slowly

He who becomes the slave of habit,

who follows the same routes every day,

who never changes pace,

who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,

who does not speak and does not experience,

dies slowly.

He or she who shuns passion,

who prefers black on white,

dotting ones it’s rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,

that turn a yawn into a smile,

that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,

dies slowly.

He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,

who is unhappy at work,

who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,

to thus follow a dream,

those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,

die slowly.

He who does not travel, who does not read,

who does not listen to music,

who does not find grace in himself,

she who does not find grace in herself,

dies slowly.

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,

who does not allow himself to be helped,

who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops,

dies slowly.

He or she who abandon a project before starting it,

who fail to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know,

he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know, die slowly.

Let's try and avoid death in small doses,

reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead to the attainment of a splendid happiness.

Pablo Neruda

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapters

1 Innovation as a Lifestyle

2 The Ladder of Innovation

3 Creativity Techniques-I

4 Creativity Techniques-II

5 Conditional Truth

6 Skills Planning

7 Learning by Projects

8 Do More with Less

9 Focus

10 The Devil is in the Details

11 Extraordinary Writing

12 Extraordinary Speaking

Answers to Questions

Bibliography and Sources

Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world.

Paulo Coelho

CHAPTER 1 INNOVATION AS A LIFESTYLE

Grocery Store

Mister Smith, the owner of the sole grocery store on a big street, was alarmed when a new grocery store opened right next door. A huge sign was installed that read:

BEST DEALS.

Mister Smith was troubled again when yet another grocery store opened on the other side of his store with an even larger sign that read:

LOWEST PRICES.

Mister Smith was really depressed, but he came up with an idea and put the biggest sign on his own store:

MAIN ENTRANCE.

1 INNOVATION AS A LIFESTYLE

"Behold the turtle.

He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."

James Bryant Conant

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.

Elbert Hubbard

Southwest Airlines Safety Announcement

The passengers of Southwest Airlines to Salt Lake City were ready to fly. The flight attendant Mary Cobb looked at the passengers and started her announcement:

I’d like to pretend to have your attention for just a few moments.

My ex-husband, my new boyfriend, and our divorce attorney are going to show you the safety features on this 737-800 series. It’s been a long day for me. To properly fasten your seatbelt slide the flat end in the buckle. To release, lift up on the buckle.

Position your seatbelt tight & low across your hips like my grandmother wears her support bra. If you get mad and want to take your toys and go home, there are eight ways to get there. Two forward exit doors, two over wing window exits, two rear exist. There are signs overhead and lights on the floor near each exit.

Everybody gets a door prize in the seatback pocket in front of you along with dirty diapers, chewing gum wrappers, banana peels and all other gifts you leave for us. Right on top is a safety information card. Take it out, check it out.

You’ll notice in the highly unlikely event that the captain lands us near a hot tub, everybody gets their own teeny weeny yellow Southwest bikini. One size fits all. Take it out only when told to do so. Place it over your head, put that strap around your waist, buckle it in front, pull it tight and once outside, pull the red tab to inflate.

….

That’s it for the do’s and don’ts of show & tell. So, sit back and relax or you can sit up and be tense, either way. It’s a one and a half hour flight, gate to gate; the clock’s already ticking. Seriously, if there is anything at all we can do to make your flight more enjoyable please tell us, just as soon as we land in Salt Lake City. And if there’s anything you can do to make our flight more enjoyable, we’ll tell you immediately. We’re not shy on Southwest.

That’s what we call very cheap entertainment. Nobody had to pay extra, but you certainly don’t get a refund. Thank you for choosing Southwest, welcome aboard!

….

The flight attendant found a creative way to make safety announcements. While she was relaxing passengers, she was transforming a tedious task into a fun job. She was bold enough to try something unusual. Her brave attempt brought her sensational fame and appreciation.

The Second Most Famous Astronaut

The second most famous astronaut after Neil Armstrong, who walked on the moon, may be Cady Coleman. No, Coleman didn't walk on the Mars, but she is the first astronaut who played the flute in space for the first time in April 2011, and she is the first person to build Lego models in space. Cady made these Lego models not just for the fun of it, but to show children how they behave in space. She explored the effects of microgravity on simple machines by building models, conducting experiments, and shared those results with students and teachers back on Earth through video and crew commentary.

In an unprecedented video, Cady Coleman gave a tour of the International Space Station in April 2011, and an exclusive performance of the song Get Yourself Paroled (Honey I Miss You), by the flute. Her mini-concert from space was broadcast all around the world.

She had a lot of fun while doing one of the most sophisticated jobs of the universe. Her extraordinary skills and creative approach might be some factors in how she was selected by NASA for this distinguished task in space.

Call Me Maybe, The US Olympic Swimming Team

Usually, swimming is not the most popular sport. It is always in the shadow of soccer, baseball, and basketball. In the USA, the situation is no different. People do not watch swimming competitions. That changed for the first time in 2012.

Carley Rae Jepsen’s Call Me, Maybe was at the top of the music world in 2012. In Southeast Asia, Europe, and across the United States, the song became a huge hit. The timing of this musical sensation happened to be just months before the US Olympic Team was about to leave for the 2012 London Olympics. According to Charles Hartley The song got so big, and stirred peoples’ romantic emotions so much, and evoked such catchy-ness and good-feeling frivolity, that the team decided to produce a video about it as one way to promote the team and show them having fun.

The video was an astonishing performance of sensational swimmers getting in touch with their groove thing. On the plane flying the team to London, member of the team Missy Franklin danced down the aisle. Ryan Lochte stood still by a pool giving a kiss gesture to the camera. Rebecca Soni and Ricky Berens were about to kiss when, just before their lips touched, Dana Vollmer broke between them, seemingly out of nowhere, and cut short the act.

The world fell in love with the song and the US Olympic Swimming Team's video. On YouTube hundreds of millions of people viewed the video and started to watch the swimming competitions in the Olympics. Even people from other nations were rooting for the American team. Finally, the team won the gold medal.

It was unusual and extraordinary for a swimming team to promote themselves through a music video; furthermore, they had an unforgettable experience together with this creative activity.

A Coffee Shop that Gives a Crap | Poop Cafe, Seoul

Seoul is a city of coffee shops. There is every type of cafe, thematic coffee shops, modern, and classic. However, one of them is different from anything you know. Poop café, or Ddong Cafe, a coffee shop which mastered the art of turning poop into something cute and adorable. In this coffee shop, they serve sweets in the shape of poop; and the coffee cups are in the form of a toilet. The idea doesn't sound attractive, until you see it. Their creative approach helped founders to start the world's most famous cafe in Seoul. Poop Café is very popular and has became a must-see in Seoul. The coffee shop’s bold and creative approach proved an international success.

Gangnam Style Arabic Parody

In a sunny day, Karim Jovian and his group of friends were dancing on the streets of New York City to the music of Gangnam Style. They created a parody of the song. Their version was a call to overcome bigotry, racism, and discrimination. They wrote special lyrics for the song. Together with the lively dances and meaningful words, the music video became a powerful message and was viewed by millions of people on YouTube.

Although many nonprofit organizations are fighting against ethnic and religious discrimination, their conventional methods such as booklets, flyers, conferences, and magazines are costing more but delivering less in comparison to this extraordinary music video. The producer of the music video, Karim Jovian, and his friends had a lot of fun in the production process. They connected their message to a favorite song, and they were able to reach a vast audience.

Saving a Shoveled-Out Parking Space

In the long, cold winters of Boston, parking becomes very difficult. To park your car, you have to shovel the snow. As soon as you shovel the snow, someone might come and park in that place before you. Valerie Kelly wanted to take a more positive approach to saving her shoveled out parking space in South Boston. So on Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, instead of placing an old chair or an orange cone on the ground to claim her territory, the 32-year-old teacher painted red hearts in the mounds of snow and put out festive notes for anyone who might try to squeeze into the spot she spent all weekend clearing out.

Don’t break my heart and leave me nowhere to park, said one of the notes, written in black marker on a large piece of pink construction paper. The other said, Grab a treat and continue down the street, a suggestion for space-stealers to take from the bowl of candy she had left out.

With her creative approach, she was able to protect her space, and at the same time make people smile while they continued to look for a space of their own.

Making a Difference

Adam Chestnut, a newspaper boy in Toronto, wanted to make a difference. He hand-wrote notes to his customers asking them to donate used clothes and household items. Adam left the notes one morning with each paper he delivered. The same day, after delivering his newspapers, Adam and his mom made the route again to pick up clothes. They gathered up fifty large bags full of clothes for the local thrift shop.

Everyone can be creative and create an extraordinary impact in other people’s lives. Adam Chestnut decided to make a difference on the USA Weekend's annual Make a Difference Day, so he had only 24 hours to do his trick. The limited time and scarcity of resources provided an opportunity to become creative. By being creative, we can solve the difficult problems and invent tools to jump over the gaps between our current stage and the ideal stage.

A Restroom in the Form of a Wave in the Middle of Nowhere

Norway opened what might be the most idyllic public convenience in the world. Located on the tip of a fjord on the Scandinavian country's western coast, Ureddplassen is a wave-shaped toilet with a viewing terrace that confronts the open Norwegian Sea. The snow-capped mountains of the Lofoten Wall frame the vista. Ureddplassen is a place for a short break, a nice rest and a picnic, or for long nights