The cost of living is going up relentlessly and we are all looking at ways at saving money. But constantly cutting back can leave us trapped into a depressing race to the bottom. We see our quality of life further and further limited by cost cutting. However, there is another way. The Social Impact Quality Formula shows how we can use creativity and innovation to improve our lives.
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Cost of Living Crisis: Saving Does Not Prevent Negative Social Impact
We are all feeling the social impact as the cost of living crisis bites harder and harder. The cost of living crisis is causing an a huge amount of pain and we are seeing a growing number of protests. People are trying to find a way through.
The internet is exploding with advice to save money. With 1.3 million households in the UK with no savings. Making changes to your life to save money isn’t just an option. It is an unavoidable fact of daily life for millions.
Cutting Costs Results in a Race to the Bottom.
As people start to make genuine cost savings, it can feel satisfying as you find new savings. As time passes and the changes add up, there is a decline in quality of life and you start to feel like you are struggling. The difficulty is when the cost of living is also going up at the same time. What this adds up to is a ‘race to the bottom’. This occurs, as people try to make cost savings quicker than the cost of living goes up. It is smart and necessary to make cost savings. But if the only thing we do is take away, it will lead many people to a situation of depressed and feeling trapped.
The Emotional Impact of The Cost of Life
Having worked in the NHS for the last few years, I’ve experienced working in an environment that can often be short of resources. Whilst at the same time we were also frequently required to make cost savings. This requires hard, painful, choices and means that the quality is always under pressure. There is not just a physical impact, but a psychological impact on those affected. This is also often accompanied by a feeling of powerlessness and a decline in people’s confidence.
This decline in confidence can be very debilitating. Leaving us trapped in a situation where we have few positive experiences, feelings of depression, and low confidence. Meaning that we are unable to pick ourselves out of the gloom. At worst this can manifest itself in a loss of hope. New Ideas are discouraged. Creativity dwindles to almost nothing. Yet, this is not inevitable, there is hope.
Seeing What Others Don’t
Gary Klein’s equation from his fascinating book ‘Seeing What Others Don’t’ has been a source of inspiration to me. He recognised that changes in performance are achieved, by reducing errors and uncertainty. But also through interpreting Martin Seligman’s work on positive psychology, he believed performance is increased by new insights. Performance could be improved not just by taking away, but by adding by thinking and doing new things. I’ve adapted this equation to reflect people’s experiences with changes to their quality of life.
Creativity is the Secret to a New Future Through Social Impact Projects
In a previous blog post, I talked about ideas and creativity being free and my belief that social projects are essential in the cost of living crisis. Creativity to me is not just simply thinking of new ideas. I’m taking a wider view in terms of the individual or the community creating new things. Whatever they may be. They might be art, music, or useful items. I believe that the creative act itself, is one of empowerment, one of self-expression. An exploration of skills, experience, identity, and thought.
Creativity can also be looked at as a way of exploring your world. Seeing the world freshly and differently. Questioning your assumptions. Testing ideas. Challenging ideas and beliefs. It is also a way of experimenting with the world and finding new possibilities. This is vital in an environment where we find more and more opportunities restricted to us.
Creativity is a Skill Anyone Can Learn
One of the beautiful things about creativity is that it is a skill. The more you do it the better you get. Through practice, you gain expertise. Enabling more things to be possible. As you practice creativity you are giving yourself more options and opportunities in your life. Escaping the narrowing of possibilities as we are forced to reduce costs.
Some think that the only purpose of creativity is to innovate, by creating something of purpose. I disagree, creativity is often a joy in itself. If the only reason you create is to achieve innovation then you will often fail and become disheartened. Imagine being able to write a new musical piece when you are beginning to learn an instrument. At some point, you will get the creative skill to start producing music, but it is something that emerges out of ability. Forcing it is a common mistake. It is the main reason people give up on creativity too soon, losing confidence before they have had a chance to learn.
Cost of Living & Innovating Social Impact
Innovation though is important and when you are in a tough position it can be vital to overcome the challenges of the social impacts you face. Creativity loves a challenge and innovation is putting creative ideas into practice in the real world. If the world is forcing you to do less through rising costs, the only escape is to find new ways of doing things. An innovation can only truly become an innovation once it has been put into practice. The best way to do that is to test and try many approaches. This is where social impact projects can play a vital role. Once you have tried different ideas you can find out what works best.
Whilst there are many approaches to innovation, the correct one is going to depend on the situation. A good rule of thumb is to test things on the smallest practical scale. Like an artist sketching out drawings before committing to a painting. By doing multiple sketches you can quickly determine which solution works best for you.
Coming Together to Help us Through the Crisis.
Both creativity and innovation can be practiced alone. However, you magnify the power immensely if you do it with others as part of a social group. The power of Social innovation is through exposing yourself to different people and contrasting ideas. You can build on others and create and innovate something useful, not just for you, but for your whole community.
What we have seen all to often in the cost of living crisis is that has divided so many of us into living sad isolated lives. But it becomes a prompt to come together. Creating and devising innovations that can mean that we are stronger as communities than we would ever otherwise have been. Creativity in itself is a reason for people to come together. It can inspire people and lift them out of their gloom. People take pride in what they have created together. At a time when pride is in short supply.
Sadly, without encouragement and leadership, it is likely that people follow the predictable path and the negative social impact will be a race to the bottom. You can do something about it. Please share these ideas. When people talk about what they can’t do, encourage them to try something new, and be creative. Celebrate and share successes and help us all work together to create a better society.
Summary
Despite the cost of living pressures, we can work together to improve people’s quality of life. We should not stand idly by as the social impact will be ever declining quality of life. Through encouraging people to practice their creativity they can build their skills as well as innovating to find new ways of doing things. Use social projects to empower people to create their own fresh opportunities.
Learn to create change that flows: Discover more at edgeofpossible.com
Question for you?
What ideas have you found inspiring to get through tough times?
Other relevant articles:
Social Projects: A Complete Guide.
Cost of Living: Social Projects Can Empower Us
The Cost of Living Crisis and the 4 Options for Social Projects