“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” ― C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Welcome to the first of my articles about the Inner Development Goals.
Below, I will briefly explain what the IDGs are and what they hope to achieve. I will also explain how the articles over the next week will be structured. So the focus today is on imparting information; we’ll get more creative tomorrow.
The Inner Development Goals have been created to help people develop the qualities and skills needed to work on the Sustainable Development Goals. To quote from the IDG website:
“Inner Development Goals (IDGs) is a blueprint of the capabilities, qualities and skills we need in order to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We want to educate, inspire and empower people to be a positive force for change in society and find a more purposeful way to look at our lives and the lives of the people around us.”
The IDG Framework contains 5 categories which, in turn, contain another 23 subcategories. The categories are:
1. Being – Relationship to Self
2. Thinking – Cognitive Skills
3. Relating – Caring for Others and the World
4. Collaborating – Social Skills
5. Acting – Driving Change.
“We lack the inner capacity to deal with our increasingly complex environment and challenges. Fortunately, modern research shows that the inner abilities we now all need can be developed.” – IDG website.
The IDGs set out to provide us with a “blueprint” to guide us in the development of these abilities.
This is how this series of articles will run:
One article per day, posted on the Methods and Madness Substack webpage, every day at 8am 15-21 April 2022 (AEST).
You can access these articles by either looking on this Substack page or by signing up to the Methods and Madness newsletter (free) and receiving an article in your inbox every day. Past articles can be accessed on the Methods and Madness archive webpage.
The articles from 16-20 April will contain a short explanation of a category of the IDGs, followed by one of my own creative provocations inspired by this category. The article on the 21 April will be a general summing up article.
My creative provocations:
As a mentor, transformative facilitator, and writer who focuses on creativity, creative identity, and creative process, I often find myself referring to many of the qualities and skills contained within the IDG Framework. I am particularly interested in agency, and the connective tissue that links the imagination – flashes of inspiration or insight – with tangible outcomes.
As well as explaining what the main IDG categories are about in each article, and in this I will be relying on the information on the IDG website, I will end each article with a creative prompt of my own. My Methods and Madness: Notes on Creativity newsletter comes out at the end of each month (with additional fortnightly content for paid subscribers) and always contains one or two creative prompts which are designed to spark people’s imaginations or inspire them to reflect on their own relationship to creativity.
If you want to check out past creative prompts, then feel free to look in my archive.
So, I will end each of these IDG themed articles with a creative prompt in response to the IDG category being discussed. You can use these as the starting point for a creative activity, perhaps writing or drawing or dancing, or you can just carry them around in your head during the day as a thought exercise.
I hope you find them useful.
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” - Vincent Van Gogh
Feel free to share these articles on social media but, if you do, I would love it if you could include the #IAmCreative and #IDGs hashtags.
If you want to find out more about the IDGs, then check out the website here.
The IDG Summit is on the 29 April 2022. Information and bookings here.
If you have enjoyed this article, why not come to my free workshop to explore them further. It will be held on the 27 April 2022. Information and bookings here.