Play With Possibilities

Some of the greatest discoveries of our time have come through experimenting with the unknown. It is in the exploration of new ideas that we uncover unknown possibilities. Imagine if the early explorers would have stopped exploring, or inventors stopped inventing, or artists stopped creating. All greatness comes from the willingness to step out and experiment with new mediums.

If you want to go further, you will have to experiment, no matter what field of work you are in. This may come in the form of ideas, business opportunities, finances, relationships, etc… If you want to experience new things you have to be willing to try new things. Never get stuck in the mode of always doing what you’ve always done. We all know Einstein’s famous statement: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Don’t get stale with the medium you use.

Start to tinker around with new ideas, new systems, and new opportunities. Begin to think outside the box that you’ve always thought in. Take a specific topic and start to study it, see what others are doing, brainstorm in that one train of thought. Bunny trail down the road of absurd and outrageous possibilities. Don’t limit your thinking just because it is beyond your current level of awareness.

Most people kill innovation in their life by dismissing anything that is beyond what they think they can do. True innovators push their limits. They aren’t afraid to play and experiment with what might work. In fact, most innovative breakthroughs were not calculated and detailed on the front end, they evolved and morphed into what we know it as today from something very different to start with. For example, in his book Creativity, Inc. Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, wrote about how Monsters, Inc. began as the story of a 30-year-old, unemployed accountant who sees monsters that no one else can see. They turn out to be the fears he never dealt with as a kid. But the film took a needed change of direction as they begin working through it. He also tells of how the main character, Woody, in Toy Story was first created as a total jerk. But screen testers were appalled as they watched. They ended up fixing him to be the lovable character that he is today–voiced over by Tom Hanks.

The point is, you have to play with possibilities if you are ever going to do more than what you have done. Don’t limit yourself because you think it can’t be done. This is why you need to open yourself up to new people, new opportunities, and new resources to help you think differently. This is why I wrote LEADOLOGY: 12 Ideas To Level Up Your Leadership. I wanted to help people get fresh ideas on how to lead effectively. You never know what nugget you may come across that changes the course of your success.

Keep growing so you can keep going!