A big part of what hoozyu does, is to help frame both the visible and the hidden aspects of our personalities and perspectives, in a positive and applicable way that enables us to embrace the things that can be turned into strengths, and manage the things that could cause us issues.

Here’s a quick example from a hoozyu workshop we ran in London many years ago…


We had just started going through the Interest scores (i.e. looking at the areas that matter most to us, and will leave us feeling energised), and this particular participant had a score in the high 90s for Artistic - meaning that “visual impact” and “how things look” was going to be really very important to her.

In this case it was actually slightly more dramatic than that.

“My whole life I have seen myself as a perfectionist, but this makes so much more sense – I just can’t bear it when things look wrong!”

‘Perfectionist’ is one of those rather punishing (self-punishing, in this case) terms, that sounds like it ought to mean something positive but actually has quite a negative spin to it. Label someone – or yourself – as a perfectionist and you have already limited their potential. After all, what you’re saying when you call someone a perfectionist, is that they will never be happy with anything you (or they) do, because their expectations are unrealistically high… that’s a pretty tough epithet to live under.

“It really matters to me how things look – and that they look right” is a different narrative altogether. Now we have someone who is very sensitive to the visual, and therefore can help us ensure that things look right. She knows – and we do too – that function matters as well as form, so look isn’t everything; but when she tells us there is an issue with how something looks, we take notice.

See the difference? Positive framing has the potential to empower rather than sentence a person.

Suddenly, it’s easy to see the value they bring to each situation - the unique insights they may have that we miss. Their strengths can complement ours. Which is not always the first thought that passes though our heads when a ‘perfectionist’ comments on our work…

It’s all in how you frame things.