Verity's Blog

Women empowerment & helpful life tools...

Here's the final part of the Journey to the Core (SABC3) episode they did for me. Hope you have enjoyed it. Please visit their website to learn about the other people they featured on the show! xxx

Facing fears & Walking Across Spain...

Here is the first part of the Journey to the Core (SABC3) program about my music project and the path it has led me on. More to come...

Coming full circle... Edward De Bono gets my album

Four years ago when my siser & I sat down to brainstorm how I could raise the funds for my first album, and she introduced me to Edward De Bono's "6 Thinking Hats" system, I had no idea where that coffee would lead me. By the end of it, having considered the objectives, pros, cons, facts & feelings, we finally donned our 'green' hats of lateral thinking & had come up with the Lucky Packet Project alternative album funding model. That simple exercise of scribbling down a crazy idea to 'sell an album that did not exist' has sent me on a journey that has resulted in my becoming a speaker on innovation.

When Journey To The Core decided to feature me in May this year, they asked that I include skills I have learned along the way. It felt fitting to share 6 Thinking Hats as an invaluable tool in creative thinking, and we had a fun day dramatising the process. After the show flighted I was inundated with emails about the hats and how helpful people had found the insert. One of the people who had loved the concept got hold the De Bono Institute of South Africa, and when they discovered I had given them such great free publicity they naturally got in touch to find out more.

After sharing my story with them, Zander Powell arranged for me to speak at the Innovation Summit in Maropeng (which led to me being chosen for the cover of SA Innovator Magazine for November) and at the end of my talk, Nicola Tyler (founder of De Bono Business Solutions), bought two of my albums & asked that I sign one for Edward De Bono himself!!! Last week she handed the CD over to him with my thanks for his amazing book, and he and his entire team then watched the Journey to the Core episode about my project & how the hats had made it possible!

I could never have known that a coffee with my sister (who by the way just qualified as a De Bono Lateral Thinking faciliator), would result in me not only innovating in the music industry but also one day having a copy of that album being handed to the very man who had inspired the project!!! If all goes well I will be training to become a 6 Thinking Hats facilitator in December and next year I should be teaching people around the country on how to use this exceptional approach to problem solve!!! 

Incredible to consider the unexpected things that result from following through on an idea. That is the real magic of saying "YES" to life - you never know where that 'yes' will lead you - so just go for it!!

Thought for the week...

You always pass failure on the way to success.    - Mickey Rooney

Lize's song gets wings...

We have been hard at work editing the video of our 2 days with Lize last week so make sure that she has a fantastic way to remember her experience of learning & recording it. I can't wait to post a video of it when it is all done - she is such a sweetie!  Below are some emails from her Mum and Genevieve from Reach For A Dream with their feedback on 'Song for Julie' and the exciting news that it will be played at their AGM at the end of the month to 320 guests! I am thrilled!!!

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"Hi Verity,

The song is beautiful!!! I can't believe it is Lize singing. She is really a popstar!!! She was very excited yesterday when I played it for her. It sounds so nice. We also played it for some of her friends & in the office and everybody was so excited! They say is is very beautiful and such a innocent and beautiful song. Brought a lot of tears to peoples eyes. Lize is still very excited and just wants to sing!!!

Genevieve asked whether they may play the song at their gala evening before 300 people and I told Lize that she really is a popstar now. Thanks a lot for making this dream come true. July is also excited about the song! Everytime we play it she comes running to Lize.

Regards
Lorette "

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"Hi Lorette

Verity just sent me the final version of Lize’s song.  It sounds fantastic! It is absolutely amazing.  I know they are working hard to complete the music video too. I played the song for our ladies in the office and they LOVED it.  My branch manager said it would be truly special if we could play the song at our gala evening coming up on the 24th of October? She certainly is a pop star in the making so please tell her we would be honoured to play her song for the 320 guests!

Sending all you lovely ladies a big hug and wishing you a beautiful day.

Kind regards

Genevieve Rossouw
Marketing Coordinator"

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Taking the leap...

It has been quite a week so far and by looks of it things are going to keep getting busier! I found  myself faced with a leap of faith as to whether or not to throw caution to the wind and head off to speak at the Entrepreneurs World Cup in London & Antwerp at the end of November, and the weight of the decision paralysed me for a few days.

Luckily it gave me an opportunity to use some of my creative thinking skills & go through all the positives, minuses & interesting possibilities of going. At the end of the process it was clear that despite any fears I may have, it would be crazy not to jump at the opportunity and grab it with both hands. And so, like a swimmer braving the water at Camps Bay, I finally jumped in after a tentative few days on the fence & am now screaming with exhiliration! Now that the decision is made, I am beyond excited and can't wait to experience my first international audiences in two cities over 4 days. They will host some of the best speakers in the world talking on key issues facing entrepreneurs today and I am thrilled to be amongst them sharing what I have learned about innovation and thinking differently!

Flights are booked, friends are ready to welcome me in and my thinking hat is firmly on for me to think of the best way to maximise this experience and return home richer & wiser for it! I am so glad I have said 'YES' and look forward to seeing what unfolds as a result.

Gaining some perspective...

I have had a very busy mind of late as I find myself facing some exciting yet daunting decisions. I find that in moments like these I can get lost in the mire of my over active imagination and lose sight of the world right in front of me. I am so busy weighing up options, going through every possible outcome and considering every pitfall, that I lose perspective completely and start to feel like I am drowning! Even though I am aware of my tendancy to overthink things I still do it and get paralysed in the process!

That said, yesterday I was rushing out my house to do some errands when I saw an African woman walking down the hill past my house. As I drove past her something pulled my attention up and I stopped my car and thought to offer her a lift. She was incredibly grateful - as would I be if I were submitted to trudging up a steep hill to work every day! In our brief interaction I was brought firmly back into the here & now and by taking the time to get out of my busy mind and help someone else, I gained the perspective I so sorely needed.

Looking back over my life I realise that it is often when I am most lost in my own worries that life sends me someone that I can help in some way. Not that offering a lift is a life changing thing, but rather that in the act of doing it I actually 'lifted' myself and connected however briefly with another soul and the road they are on and got clear on what is really important in life - connecting to people, reaching out, being present, living in the NOW!

"Song for Julie" - helping Lize Reach her Dream

A week ago I was a bundle of nerves waiting for Lize and her mum and sister to arrive at my home so that I could teach her the song I had written for her for Reach For A Dream. After chatting to her mum Lorette, we decided that I would suprise her with a song about her best friend - her jack russell 'Julie'.  Now - of the over 300 songs I have written - one for a dog was going to be a first for me! I got Lorette to send me pics of Julie & Lize as well as ancedotes about their relationship. Before I knew it I had a song coming together that was so catchy that my poor boyfriend and a friend visiting from the UK couldn't stop singing the chorus!

But... the true test was going to be Lize. Her whole family along with Julie arrived last Monday and after we had broken the ice with juice & biscuits I sat down and sang the song to her.

She was very shy and nervous but seemed to really like it, and finally joined me at the piano to sit on my lap and learn to sing it herself. It was a pretty emotional experience to hear this little 8 year old girl start singing a song to her puppy, and everytime the chorus "Oh Julie..." kicked in we had Julie at our feet wondering why we were calling her!!! By the end of the afternoon we were all thick as thieves and she was ready to go home and practice for the recording studio the next day.

     

Tuesday saw me arriving at Selwyn Shandel's studio in Seapoint nice and early and the two of us got started on recording the backing music for the song. He is a wizard in the studio and before I knew it "Song for Julie" had piano, guitar, bass & drums laid down and we were ready for Lize. She and her sister Estelle had decided to sing together on the choruses and the girls arrived ready to tackle it. I think they were overwhelmed to be in a studio with gold & platimum records on the wall and to hear the backing track now complete. My sister had brought her studio manager Terence along to film the day and he did a stirling job getting it all on tape (a video will follow soon)!

There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Lize started singing & I kept her company in the studio to help her get her pitching right etc. She is a very brave little girl and just got on with singing into a mic for the first time in her life really well! Estelle joined us for the choruses and it was so cute to hear the two of them singing together. It was an incredible experience and now we are editing all the footage to be able to give her the song and a video to remember the day by. 

  

What a priviledge to be able to use my songwriting in such a rewarding way!  

Thought for the week...

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.  -  Will Rogers