Astrid Willems will be our next speaker on November 27, 8:30am - 10:00am CET. To be hosted at In de Ruimte, Oudegracht 230A a/d werf, Utrecht, 3511 NT. The theme of this month is WORK and her ‘flexdenken’ approach will give us new ideas on how to get in the flow of things at work by becoming more flexible thinkers. Here’s a taster of some of the inspiring ideas Astrid will be sharing with us soon… 

Who is Astrid?

Astrid Willems is a designer and philosopher who studied communication, philosophy, and fine arts. She is an entrepreneur and illustrator who gives workshops and trainings based on her flexible thinking (‘flexdenken’) philosophy. Read more about Astrid and her work on www.flexdenken.com

You have coined the term ‘flexdenken’, what intrigued you about flexibility and led you to research it for your book?

I’ve been training people in adopting a creative, flexible mindset for five years now, due to my background in creative thinking. What puzzled me was the fact that organizations were fixated on creating flexible workspaces in the hope that this would bring flexibility (flexible jobs). There is no point in making spaces flex if the people in those spaces cannot think flex. It takes a change of mindset to cope with a constantly changing world: you need to think flex.

So how does one become flexible?

It struck me during my research that our educational system teaches us to plan, structure, see patterns, and to have a constant focus (narrowed attention). These skills then stand in the way of our creative capacity. The biggest challenge is letting go of this focus and control, to go with the flow, to switch perspectives and to see opportunities instead of trying to stick to processes and procedures.

What inspires you to bring ‘flexdenken’ to our creative community?

One great source of inspiration was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (+/-540 b.C to 480 b.C). He was different from other philosophers of his time who were looking for truth and certainty. Heraclitus introduced the idea of ‘Panta Rhei’ which translates as ‘everything flows’ or ‘everything is changing’. I embrace that philosophy. We need it in today’s changing world. I realized that the key to living a creative life is daring to learn instead of needing to perform. You can only fully embrace your creativity when you let go of expectations of how things should be, when you stop controlling the outcome and start enjoying the input. I hope to share this inspiration with your community and with it, the realization that to stay creative it is important to create space in which new ideas can incubate and arise. It is that space that gives you flexibility, as opposed to a focus on performance, results and having a full schedule that makes you super busy and stressed. Although this creates the illusion of productivity, you are not accomplishing that much.

What are your next challenges, now that you have incorporated ‘flexdenken’ into your work?

New things keep arising, new ways of applying flexdenken! I am now into topics like flex-living (flexwonen) and flexuality (flexualiteit). Because once you dare to open up to the flow of things around you, opportunities are everywhere. Flexdenken forms the basis on which I can build and expand. I wish someone had told me that at the arts academy: that the creative capacity we all have is so much more than just making pretty things. It is the very capacity of reinventing ourselves and our surroundings, constantly.