===

“This is not the wisdom of the crowd, but the wisdom of someone in the crowd.

It’s not that the network itself is smart; it’s that the individuals get smarter because they’re connected to the network.”

Steven Johnson

===

Well. I had a great conversation with a young person last week and at the end of it he said “I envision you live your life free of constraints and the rules that inhibit the majority of people.”

I hesitated <slightly taken aback> and responded “I’m sorry I gave you that impression … I think Life, as well as business, is best lived within a construct and while I believe society and some experts try and establish some silly rules … rules, in general, are good and boundaries typically enhance creativity.”

In the McTague ingredients of Life these are two basic ones:

Unconstrained Construct is good.

Unconstrained Chaos is bad.

People who claim being good, or prosper, in chaos are confused <and wrong>. They confuse the fact that most often one survives in chaos, not thrives in chaos.

No one, and nothing, thrives in chaos.

** Note: as I have stated a number of times, business thrives on the edge of chaos, or, bedlam as I have called it.

In fact. The best creativity, thinking & ideas, happens within a construct.

Well established boundaries, ones that supply some restriction without being restrictive, create an environment in which the mind can roam freely within a realm provided some focus for that freedom.

Think about it.

Football fields, rodeo rings, Broadway stages – any finite space creates a construct for someone to maximize the space, be and think creatively, in a multi-dimensional way.

Thinkers take the 2 dimensional traditional constructs and seek to build within any and all dimensions.

Sounds weird, but, fences offer freedom.

As a corollary, no fences encourages aimless unfocused wandering.

** Note: the ‘no fences wandering’ could be construed as freedom by some but it isn’t really … freedom in and of itself only has value where it is attached to some purpose or construct or intent. No fences freedom sounds good <on occasion> but inevitably is extremely dissatisfying.

Look. I’m not suggesting unfocused wandering doesn’t have some value, but rather that the great ideas and thinking don’t come from the unfocused but rather the focused.

Also.

Please note that when I refer to fences and boundaries I have also very clearly stated ‘nonrestrictive’ in association with my reference to fences and boundaries.

Too restrictive is most often a reflection of someone or something imposing philosophical and/or ideological control over others.

More often than not tight space fence builders see people as a a single unit, or think of population as an engine to run, in which all the people are parts of a whole rather than autonomous individuals.

They believe that if any part acts outside of the boundaries the entire unit could break and the engine stops running.

They build their boundaries not seeking to enhance creativity and innovation, but rather to control each individual’s behavior in order to ensure that what you do as an individual does no harm to the whole. It is meant to rein in and not let free and meant to create conformity and unity <albeit it is actually “oneness’>.

It is a faulty premise and a defensive constrictive premise.

Why is it faulty? Rather than share my ideological thought behind my belief let me quickly share an academic point of view:

—-

… provide an extended definition of creativity that embraces potential cross-cultural variations in this construct.

Creativity is defined as a 4-criterion construct, which includes attributes of novelty, utility, aesthetics, and authenticity. Novelty attribute stipulates that a creative work brings something new into being, which presents a new conceptual framework and/or modifies or violates an existing one. Utility attribute stipulates that a creative work is what a producer or a recipient considers creative, what represents an important landmark in spiritual, cultural, social, and/or political environment, and what addresses moral issues. The aesthetics attribute stipulates that a creative work presents the fundamental truth of nature, which is reflected in a perfect order, efficiently presents the essence of the phenomenal reality, and is satisfactorily complex, expressing both tension and intrinsic contradiction. Authenticity attribute stipulates that a creative work expresses an individual’s inner self and relates one’s own values and believes to the world.

These attributes establish a comparison matrix, which can be used to evaluate and compare the levels of creativity of works from different areas of human endeavor.

Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin

———-

Creativity of the mind is exactly the same as creativity of innovation … it is multidimensional and needs a balance of construct and freedom in order to maximize potential.

I will remind everyone of one of my favorite thinking & ideas books – A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young. He suggests that producing new ideas is one big part process and lots of little freedom parts baked in. James Webb Young suggests two general principles behind producing ideas:

– 1. an idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements

– 2. the capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships

Well. If he is correct <and, in general, I think he is>, than true creative freedom is found within fences … not without.

This also suggests chaos is unproductive.

Ah.

Once again.

Unconstrained Chaos bad.

Unconstrained Construct good.

Anyway. As I said in the beginning: “Life, as well as business, is best lived within a construct and while I believe society and some experts try and establish some silly rules … rules, in general, are good and boundaries typically enhance creativity.”

Freedom is a loosely used word and not all freedom is created equal.

I would suggest that the highest quality freedom <in and of anything>, the most satisfying freedom, is not found without fences, but within fences.

Last note.

Before anyone quarrels with me on this please remember I am the author of “I have a lover’s quarrel with the world”. Yeah. I do, typically, chafe within some of the silly rules & boundaries society & business seems to demand we ‘roam’ within. But. I do typically thrive within the non silly rules & boundaries.

==================

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

——-

Michelangelo

=============

“Go higher and higher, until it becomes impossible to bring you down, I wanna use a microscope to locate you, don’t even dream of coming down.”

―

Michael Bassey Johnson

================

……….. Pierre Pauselli …………..

Business, in general, has a wacky way of talking about bad news & ‘less-than-positive’ business information. In business, and Life I imagine on occasion, we look at down in some fairly absurd ways using voodoo math, clever graphs and … well … some dubious comparisons all to prove that down is actually up.

Yeah.

It has to be voodoo – math or graphics —  to show both down AND up.

No shit. Really.

To them … well … Down isn’t down, it is really up <if only my bank balance could implement that math>.

Examples.

Unemployment is down this month <but its still up versus a year ago>.

Sales are down <but it’s up versus the rest of the category>.

Our new product is losing money <but we are getting new customers>.

And maybe the most famous ‘up is down’ scenario … “we have cut our spending but get more with what we have!” <always be very very leery of this one>.

WTF.

Let’s be clear.

In business when is down, well, up?

(Answer to that question) ………. NEVER.

Down is down.

Down is bad.

Down is never the objective.

Sigh.

If I hear this one more time in one more conference room my head will explode:

————–

 “… well Mr. Giraffenee, it’s a tough economy right now. The category is trending downward at 11%, but we are only down 5%. So we are doing well in a tough category. In fact … <insert pregnant pause here> … we are actually up when you look  it that way.”

— people staring at powerpoint looking serious … “hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm …” —

(Mr. Giraffeney after a minute or so)

“So our sales are down … but not really down? I love it!”

————-

What a load of bullshit.

To me negative is down. And bad <because it isn’t up>.

To be fair it is easy to talk your way into the down but not really down rabbit hole of economic unreality <in fact … I say hanging my head sheepishly … I have done it myself years ago>. It is often a self-preservation, program preservation, technique <albeit a slightly dubious one>. Today’s management seems intent on finding something wrong to fix, someone to blame and some reason they will not look good. making down look up can be an effective way to protect a good long term idea in the short term <sad but true>.

To be fair It is extremely easy to justify ‘down but not down’ by saying if people aren’t spending, it must be ok that they are not spending with us. It is extremely easy to say if times are tight than that must be the reason they don’t value our brand as much <or any brand>. It’s a tough competitive world out there and it never hurts to remind everyone it is a tough competitive world.

Lastly.

To be fair … It is important to note that a person might not know he/she is doing something he/she shouldn’t do. Training in today’s business world is pitiful. Teaching people how to tell the tough truths, the harsh truths, is almost nonexistent.

Anyway.

It may be easy to fall into this ‘down is up’ double speak, but it is bullshit.

Up is up.

Growth is always the goal. And if you are not growing you are dying.

Here is something to chew on <a business truth as it were>.

A truth with no caveats on market status, economic challenges or budget constraints.

Business is out there.

People are buying stuff.

And there are plenty of people buying stuff.

Yeah.

Even today.

Even yesterday.

Even tomorrow.

Plenty of businesses are gaining market share and there are a boatload of profitable companies <flush with cash by the way>. And there are a lot of companies with increased sales. And there are a lot of growing companies.

The truth is that we have an extremely robustly sized economy out there my friends. When people talk about ‘shrinking economy’ or ‘shrinking industry’ … don’t laugh too hard in their faces … size is relative. No reasonable business is in an industry with only $100 dollar available and it is shrinking by $5.

Sales and growth are out there for the taking.

Note: while I originally wrote this during the ‘great depression’, fundamentally, this is true during the pandemic. while economies have clearly shrunk, people are still spending money. Every business should have the objective of ‘they should be spending it on me.”

I say all this because it can be easy to justify doing what you are doing a variety of ways and saying down isn’t really down is a way a lot of people do so.

Stop.

Just stop.

Up is attainable.

Growth opportunities are always there.

You may just have to be a little smarter to get it. “Smarter” almost always resides in appealing to consumer needs without losing sight of the fact you have to make money … profit. You cannot <and should not> discount your way to success. That path is a very slippery slope not only from consumer attitudes perspective <defining how they value you>, but it is also puts a massive strain on profitability <which impacts the organization like a bad ripple effect>.

You have to be smart and insightful with how you talk with people you want to buy your stuff.  Maybe you need to seek a new role, or a differently defined role, that is more vital and easier for consumers to rationalize. And, god forbid, tell the truth & have something worth paying for.

Here is a fact.

People will spend against need – real or perceived. They also search for value, but that doesn’t mean people will not spend premiums for quality. Or spend more money for a heightened sense of perceived need <which is actually a “want” if I was going to be technical with myself>.

Look at SUVs, Starbucks <where they are open drive thru lines are nonstop>, Apple and Whole Foods markets <I could point out a shitload of under-the-radar businesses but you wouldn’t know who the are>.

All doing quite well thank you very much.

All ain’t the cheapest shit out there.

This is simply finding growth under pressure … and under existing market conditions.

Harsh truth for everyone? Persistent sales stagnation is most likely a reflection of how people perceive needing what you have to offer more so than it is “the economy.”

(sorry to burst anyone’s excuse bubble with that)

If you want to look at the larger economic situation go ahead, but do so by just accepting an attitude that the economy’s growth is going to be minimal at best, with the risk of another sharp downturn very real, and quit whining and go out and find a way to grow. Businesses must not stop their quest for growth even in ‘bad times’ nor should they stop their quest under the guise that ‘well we were down … but not really.’

Here is one thing I can promise you about growth companies.

In every case, there are a group of people in that company that see things not just as they are, but as they could be.

And then they go out and get it.

No excuses.

So.

I guess I wrote this to warn people about people who stand up and say “we had a good year … we are not down as much as everyone else or the category.”

Down is never up.

And, by the way, up is attainable. Today. Yesterday. Tomorrow. No excuses.

I guess I wrote this to suggest to businesses that the greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. Go get some market share.

————————-

“It is easy to go down into hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one’s steps to the upper air – there’s the rub, the task.”

===

Virgil

—————————–

There’s nothing like great literature to make a point about life. I think this is Virgil’s way of saying it sure is easier going down then up. With anything. But here’s the thing. No matter how far down you go, even to what feels like hell, 99% of the time you will have the chance to climb back out. Reaching the bottom simply defines the task yet to be done – to get back up to the ‘upper air.’

Now. It takes some strength of character, some attitude adjustments (you have to start believing you can do it), some acceptance of some pain/anxiety/discomfort along the way & some resilience to do it, but it can be done.

Dr. Jason Fox recently shared an idea called “oscillation” in which things, people included, oscillate in an infinite loop being tugged in different directions throughout the loop (making the oscillation in constant flux between symmetrical and asymmetrical movement, i.e., it wobbles).

Yes. It sounds dizzying. Yes. It is.

That said. Oscillation is a natural state between good & bad, better & worse, righter versus wronger.

That said. As a counter to the oscillation is the fact that all things, left to their own devices, will “irrevocably slide towards a state of maximum entropic dissemblance.” (Metamodernist Manifesto) . Therefore, unfortunately, gravity is ‘worse’. Conceptually this suggests ‘better’ (or ‘getting to upper air’) needs to exert some force greater than gravity to not only achieve lift off but to also maintain some velocity/momentum against natural gravity.

This all gets compounded in the oscillation. Assuming oscillation exists in the ‘infinity’ loop ‘better’ is at larger risk in downward loop sections as gravity, as gravity does, snatches momentum & drags it down.

Wait.

It gets worse.

Ponder the dimensions of gravity:

• entropy (natural state to stagnate)
• attitudes (failure begets stronger belief of future failure)
• the natural order that there are more ways to fail than succeed  (which is somewhat like a gamblers odds in Vegas).

—————————-

“negative things are real enough to be managed, we are bad at predicting positive things for ourselves (even with the help and wisdom of others), and we all create our own spice in life that makes things work for us in our own way.”

Zat Rana

—————————

This means fighting this gravity is:

• a desire for happiness (which most of us view in a misguided way)
• a desire for success (which most of us view in results/achievements rather than progress)
• a lack of desire to gamble with our Life (yet, no risk, no return).

Well.

That’s a depressing formula.

Regardless.

Despite natural gravity, 99% of us do not find Hell acceptable.

Despite all the depressing thoughts I just shared, 99% of us ‘get on with getting on.’

Despite having traversed our way into Hell, 99% of us will seek a way up & out of it to get to some upper air place.

Now. “Up” is a direction. Not a specific one, but a direction nonetheless. This is a really really important point. To borrow a Jason Fox line: “directionality is important.”  Even moreso if you are in Hell and need to get out. Gravity can bring you to a shitload of Hell-like places if you are not careful. In fact. Sometimes when you get there you really aren’t sure exactly how you got there. It can happen thru a variety of incremental steps all the while you are on a seemingly natural oscillation between good and bad things. I say that because this means ‘retracing your steps’ is often not an alternative. In fact. I would suggest its a shitty alternative. The path that brought you to Hell, well, no longer exists. It has come and gone. The path out of Hell is, well, Up. This may sound nebulous, but better is better and progress is progress and up is up.

Anyway.

I will suggest “Hell” is metaphorically whatever you want it to be – complexity, disaster, crisis, stagnancy, ignorance, continuous failure, etc.

I will suggest Life has a habit of relentlessly testing us.

I will suggest gravity is against you. Yeah. Sorry about that. To fly you have to fight gravity. Kind of a good lesson to remember.

Going to Hell is easy. Getting to Heaven is hard. In other words. Going down is easy. It is Up that’s hard. Ponder. I would suggest if you don’t ponder you may find yourself residing in Hell.

======================

“Don’t tell me how good you make it, tell me how good it makes me when I use it.”

Leo Burnett

=================

Even though I don’t get paid to do so, I think about work, its meaning to people, how it may create some meaning for people and how we could make work, and the way we work, better.

“Man is an agent… a center of unfolding impulsive activity “teleological” activity… seeking… some concrete, objective, impersonal end. …he is possessed of a taste for effective work, and a distaste for futile effort. He has a sense of the merit of serviceability or efficiency and of the demerit of futility, waste, or incapacity. This aptitude or propensity may be called the instinct of workmanship.”

Thorstein Veblen 1899

I, personally, believe whatever work we do, especially if we get paid for that work, always means more than just ‘work’ or a paycheck. It is part of our identity. This view is not shared by everyone. There are many people who say “your work is not who you are” or “work should not define you.” I believe that’s absurd.

That doesn’t mean I believe work should be all that defines you, but even if the workplace, itself, treats you as if you are a widget or judges you in some less than human ways, more an ‘output generator’, this does not mean you should ignore the workplace as ‘de-humanizing’ (or wall off because it doesn’t encourage ‘positive human identities’). In fact. I believe its healthier to say “despite the environment, its more than a paycheck” and start thinking about what you do that actually has meaning (things that make things, or people, better). I believe its healthier because work, whether you admit it or not (or like it or not), represents a significant portion of waking hours within which there is a constant feedback mechanism between “what I do” and “what I get.”

What I “get” is sometimes called ‘purpose’, I will not do so. I think it easier if people just acknowledge that everything we do touches people, and by extension, changes people’s lives – in a little, medium or big way. And, yes, I said everything.

Which leads me to the invisible economy.

To be clear, in economic terms the invisible economy is a reference to ‘unmeasured GDP.’ This is not what I am talking about. My invisible economy are the unseen workers, who contribute to not only GDP but just to making sure the daylight working force gets its shit done.

• • • The high school maintenance person at 6:30 in the morning clearing the grounds for students
    • The nurses walking in for their shift at 7 am (and the ones leaving who got there at 10 pm)
    • The trucks rumbling down the streets at 4:30 in the morning carrying supplies & food stuffs for buildings, offices & schools throughout each city
    • The groundskeepers who mow all the public lawns & fields, at 6 am, before everyone arrives to use them
    • The garbage trucks
    • The building cleaning teams working overnight

They aren’t faceless, just invisible doing what they need to do so well we don’t even notice. Yes. When they do their work well we don’t even notice. I bring them up because far too often we look at these invisible workers (when we choose to see them) and think “they must be miserable” or “they must be doing it just for the paycheck.” Well. I certainly know some people who say and think this.

This belief is driven by the insidious ‘some work is more valuable than other work.” That’s utter bullshit. All work is invaluable to a business. All work.

Note: if you doubt me on this please take a look at Zach Mercurio’s study “Its Time to Stop Dehumanizing Frontline Workers”

“I don’t know how to talk to everybody, only to somebody.”

Howard Gossage

Look. I love working. I am probably a borderline workaholic. It kills me a little each day I am not working. I have had two of my closer friends say in different words that my work defines me. I cannot argue. And, frankly, I don’t want to. But that’s not the point <although it will contribute to my points>.

My point has 2 aspects:

The perception that work is a grind. Yes. Sometimes it is. No. You don’t always have to be passionate or find some grander purpose . But. Work is still a valuable part of a life.

At best, work should be fulfilling and your efforts reflect tangible benefits.

At its worst, people drain the meaning out of it and encourage you to believe anyone could do it. That said. Even at its worst the benefit of what you do STILL EXISTS its just that the environment and people are trying to convince you it does not.  If you listen to people telling you your job is mundane and worthless, it becomes easy to believe so. Don’t.

Related to that.

A significant amount of people in my generation are ‘dropping out of the rat race’ and shifting to ‘doing something that matters’ <let’s call it ‘doing something nobler’ for the sake of this post>. They are doing so like it is a light switch moment in Life.

Off with ambition and ‘work.’ On with noble and ‘purpose.’

Watching closely, younger people see what is happening, hear our words, and are questioning whether the work world my generation created isn’t lacking something or that there is something wrong with ‘this rat race they built.’ Therefore, they are coming out of the blocks into the working world looking for careers ‘doing something that matters.’ Seeking to make some grand gesture or higher purpose investment of time & effort.

Well.

With all due respect to my generation <and hopefully young people listen and follow along> I think we are making a mistake. In my pea like brain I think this whole discussion of ‘purpose driven business’ or even ‘business with a conscious’ is kind of wacky. Ok. Maybe not wacky, because it has great intentions, but misguided. It is so, well, grand. I tend to believe we would be better off focusing on the gestures.

Teaching that work can be done with purpose … not TO a purpose.

Teaching that purpose doesn’t have to be grand … but rather working with purpose is noble in and of itself.

Teaching that work, done well, is meaning in and of itself.

Inevitably it seems to me that we would be better served if we simply taught people <and encouraged people> to be the noblest version of themselves regardless of what they did in the working world and who they worked for. It seems like work itself would be better served because then work IS never just a paycheck or some achievement, but rather HOW you did your work.

Note: There is a difference between doing and achievement.

Anyway. Here is a big problem to work: how an individual defines progress.

“Our motivation/focus/attention/behaviour will naturally gravitate to things that provide the richest sense of progress.”

Dr Jason Fox

If the de facto emblem of progress is money or materialistic proof, people will inherently gravitate towards it even if it may not actually be the ‘richest sense.’ This issue gets compounded because at exactly the same time we often value effort more than we value, well, real value. What that means is currently far too many people view progress through a progress toward riches and not rich progress perspective.

Note: I will not invest a lot of time today on progress, but I would highly recommend reading “How to Lead a Quest” by Dr, Jason Fox or for a less intellectual view try my piece The Forward Progress Theory or How Exceptional Doing can Drive Progress.

Without getting too philosophical I would suggest, if you don’t get your definition of progress right, you will never truly find meaning at work and the arc of your career life will bend toward “it is just a paycheck.” And if that happens, I would suggest the problem is not work, or what you do, but rather you and how you think about your work.

Anyway.

This is all food for thought and I imagine my thoughts will be tested in the coming years as technology (AI & automation) seep into work itself.

I, personally, believe discussions of a world in which people do not have jobs, or don’t have a job, is absurd. And, yes, I see a distinction between “work” & “job” and I see work as being ‘creation/doing’ and job being a hollow label for showing up.

Note: listen to Mike Walsh and Calum Chace discuss this..

I do not believe automation or AI or technology will replace human doing jobs, but it will surely change how people work.

I do not believe a job is just a job.

I do not believe people don’t intrinsically enjoy at least some aspect of work & working.

I do believe if you strip away many of the industrial age tropes that barrage people showing up everyday and doing the best they can every day, you will find a core substantive intrinsic interest in productivity.

All that said.

I fully understand increasing self-awareness runs the risk of creating further disengagement with the institution itself even as the institution pursues a different, better, way of judging/assessing human (identity) value in the workplace. On the other hand, we, the workers:

• know there is not only something wrong with business, as an institution
• know there has to be a better way of conducting business
• know most businesses do not maximize our potential
• know (for the most part) we do not get assessed properly.

In other words, we know our work (mostly) matters and we know it is partly a reflection of our identity and we know the institution of business doesn’t engage workers in ways that enhance our identity and meaning in the best, and most effective, ways. In knowing that maybe any short-term disengagement is simply the cost of a longer term better way of doing business.

Let me end by saying:

• 99% of jobs are more than a paycheck
• 99% of jobs that feel just like a paycheck, are actually more than just a paycheck
• 99% of people who say their jobs are just a paycheck, it is actually more than just a paycheck

All of these above are unresearched numbers, but I would bet they reflect some basic truth. Ponder. Because every day you bring home a paycheck it just doesn’t reflect dollars & cents, but also how you did what you do and how it impacted other people. Once again. Ponder.

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.

===================

Ok. The whole concept of “original” idea seems to bring out the worst in people. And maybe because I get to teach and talk with high school kids on occasion (and, boy, do they have ideas — lots and lots and lots of ideas — all original in their minds) I get to talk about the “truth” about original ideas.

For example.

I get to say. There are no original ideas.

Okay.

That was black & white.

Let’s say they are truly truly rare.

Look. I have been lucky in the whole ‘seeing awesome ideas’ category.

I have seen some of the world’s best innovations groups.

I have seen some of the most successful entrepreneurial business people in the world present their ideas.

I have seen some of the most creative people in the world show ideas.

And?

I think I can count on one hand truly original ideas.

Okay.

Derivatives and nuances?

Sure.

Original?

One hand.

So. Let’s break original ideas down into two aspects.

1. The thought.

2. The implementation.

The thought is a “what if” or “could this be” type scenario.

Forget it.

Here is the truth.

Someone, somewhere, has had the same thought.

Some people have figured out a way to share it. And if those some people have figured out a way of articulating it well <or well enough that people understand it> they are the ‘some people’ with credit for an original idea.

By the way. All these are diminishing numbers.

Ok <and “uh oh” thought to follow>.

And then there are the ones who articulate it well enough to be understood and have an audience who (a) gives a shit and (b) wants to do something with it.

By this time you can be found somewhere dancing on the head of pin with the few others who fit there with you.

Oops.

“Wants to do something with it.”

Yup.

(b) is important because truly original ideas scare the crap out of most people.

——–

“Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”

Howard Aiken

——-

Now, unfortunately, the quote above is incredibly dead on right.

Huh? Go ahead and visit most management teams and talk about scared and ‘great ideas’ and I can almost gaurantee you will get some happily delievred version of “great ideas should scare you”. Uhm. Here is where you unfortunately run into the infamous “what people say versus what people do.”

What do I mean?

People say: “show me ideas that scare me” quickly followed by “if it scares us it must be a good idea.”

And then.

People do nothing. Yeah. Nothing.

They may say: “They <note: it’s never ‘me’ it is always ‘they’> were too scared to do it. They just didn’t see the risk return on it.”

Well. I will make one point here and then move on … ORIGINAL MEANS IT HASN’T BEEN SEEN OR DONE BEFORE SO HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN!!!!

<yes. I shouted that AND used exclamation points>

Maybe because it is new <and therefore untried or unseen> people get nervous. Anyway, suffice it to say, original ideas are every rare.

Okay. Moving on to the protecting the relatively rare original ideas.

People spend gobs <lots and lots and lots … well … you get the point> of time worrying about protecting proprietary ideas and proprietary process and ‘original ideas.’

Corollary: Even if they don’t have one they invest lots of energy discussing and worrying about them.

Okay. Look.

If I am a drug company, maybe a software company or technology company with some engineering widgetology or maybe P&G which has some skin lotion formulation that some whiz bang ingredient then, yeah, you get protective. Okay. “Maybe” you get protective.

note: Just for humor at the end of this post I have included a “proposed confidentiality process” we sent to a maniacally protective prospective client <yes … we did send an actual one, but they were fun people as well as maniacally litigious and wanted to have a little laugh over their obsessive behavior with regard to confidentiality>

Anyway. Throughout my career I have encountered company owners who were obsessed with ‘protecting our original ideas.’ I kept on trying to point out to them that unless you’re a new products innovation group the odds of you truly having an original idea is lower than USA men’s team winning the World Cup.

I sometimes believe people spend so much time thinking they have an original idea and investing so much energy trying to keep it a secret they forget the energy it takes to actually get it to happen.

In fact. To be honest I believe I have been in several situations where we actually had a fairly original idea, however, in presenting the idea I probably went overboard trying to draw links to things people have done in non related industries. It’s a little crazy, but original ideas have an easier time being implemented if it feels ‘fresh’ to the industry it is going to happen in but ‘used’ by someone else first.

Note: this is actually a concept called “optimal newness”

If you are not very, very, careful, you actually end up making original ideas look ‘not so original’ so that they can be implemented.

Crazy huh?

Regardless, in the end, I would worry less about whether it is “original” or not. I would worry more about whether it was a good idea.

And idea that will work.

In fact … it is true (take this one to the bank) if you stop thinking ‘original’ and start looking for “similar to” it becomes easier to implement and easier to sell (or have someone implement).

Sound wacky? Yup.

But it’s true.

Just face it. Originality (as with many things in life) is a shade of grey.

Or maybe an aspect of something that already exists. Or maybe just worry about this:

——-

“Until you can create something that captivates people, I’d invite you to just shut up. It’s easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It’s a lot more difficult to perform one.”

Chuck Palahniuk

——–

Worry less about original.

Worry more about the idea and worry more about making it actually happen versus protecting it.

So. That said. Here are some thoughts if you want to protect your “original” ideas:

<yes … we really shared this with a client>

——–

< dear maniacal company>: Additional Confidentiality Steps

–          Cyanide pills

The pills are embedded in team member teeth caps with a tracking chip set to identify and explode upon the presence of a <competitive company> employee.

(note: this is covered in our dental plan)

–          Enigma coding machines

We have identified the two last working Enigma coding machines.  We can place one in your offices and the other will remain in <the managing director’s> office (which is better than card protected room because his executive assistant is better than a pit bull protecting that office).

–          Etch-a-Sketch communications

All communications will take place via etch-a-sketch. Twice a day all team members will shake their etch-a-sketch.

–          Invisible Ink

All written communications will be conducted in invisible ink. (but still under lock and key guidelines).

–          Fort Knox

Quick research has uncovered that the majority of the gold has been removed from Fort Knox and space is available. We may have to tweak the compensation agreement, but we would be willing to consider setting up a field office in the Fort Knox vault to service your business.

–          Cosa Nostra

Through some relationships <our managing director> has, we may be able to make some arrangements to completely eliminate the <competitive company’s> conflict once and for all (if you know what we mean). Once again, we may have to tweak the compensation arrangement to accommodate this service.

These are just some initial ideas which we would be willing to discuss in the interest of collaboration.

======

Originally posted August 2010

Alice:                    “How long is forever?

White Rabbit:    “Sometimes, just one second”

============

<Tim Burton from Alice in Wonderland movie, but never in Lewis Carroll’s books. Its kind of Tim Burton’s version of Mr. Margorium’s “37 seconds is a lifetime if used well.” >

================

Today I am writing about living instead of waiting, doing instead of thinking about doing, and recognizing that even if you do live & do, some moments in time are different than others <although they all surely look the same as they appear on the watch>.

It all begins with recognizing Time is a funny thing.

It can ebb and flow all within a finite amount of time.

It can increase speed and decrease speed and yet remain an extremely identifiable finite amount of time.

It can take years of asking and creating questions and, yet, a second to answer everything.

All of which makes me think of two things:

–          Memorable moments

–          Moment of clarity

Obviously they are not the same thing, but could end up being the same moment. Anyway.

              Memorable moments.

I sometimes call these untangled moments. Life is a tangled snarled bunch of moments. But every once in a while you inadvertently pull the right end of the string and the knot is released and, well, everything becomes untangled.

It can be a smile from some across the room.

It can be a falling star.

It can be something really big — a seemingly small decision made amongst many.

It can even be, in business, tugging one project out of a seemingly endless list of projects to do.

Frankly, you don’t notice many of these ‘one seconds’ when they happen.

==================

“In real life turning points are sneaky. They pass by unlabeled and unheeded. Opportunities are missed, catastrophes unwittingly celebrated. Turning points are only uncovered later, by historians who seek to bring order to a lifetime of tangled moments.”

Kate Morton

==================

They happen, shit gets done, and only in reflection you realize that these seconds last forever — they are a moment etched in time. These are truly ‘a second that is forever.’

Ponder. I have just explained one of Life’s most interesting paradox so now you can tell someone how one second can also be forever.

            Moments of clarity

Clarity is an amazing thing. It can be forced externally <let’s call these ‘oh shit’ moments> and internally <I call these ‘lock picking’ moments>.

Oh shit moments. Physiologically ‘oh shit’ moments actually causes the mind to become intensely focused. This physiological response actually permits our brains to record more data than normal. Physiologically what also happens is that memory then ends up replaying the information in slow motion mostly to assimilate all the additional information stored in there.

Think of it like filming something with a high speed camera and then replaying it at a normal speed.

I cannot figure out if time slows down or our mind speeds up to accommodate more information. Doesn’t really matter. “Oh shit” makes us focus and when focused our minds are pretty amazing computers. They create moments of clarity. These moments may be fleeting <and some of us actually miss the clarity moment as it passes by> and the consequences of not recognizing these moments of clarity <no “oh shit” to get us to focus>  is that we simply become overwhelmed by all the data being shared with our brains.

That leads me to the internally forced moment of clarity and a second way of looking at moments of clarity.

Focused minds overwhelmed by data still offer an open window to a moment in clarity.

The challenge? Life slams the window shut pretty frickin’ fast. You have to almost train yourself, and your mind, to see thru the window for the moment it is open. So I would suggest the second version of ,moments of clarity is the ‘lock picking’ moment.

Lock picking moments. Why do I call it ‘lock picking’?

I don’t know how to crack a safe or pick a lock <and I imagine I wouldn’t broadcast it if I did>, but I do know what it feels like to have a moment of clarity when thinking about something. It is like having all the tumblers in the lock suddenly align and you hear the click of the lock unlocking. And, yes, I swear I hear a sound in my head when it happens. Oh. And it is a frickin’ beautiful sound. I am often asked to describe it, and I do so, but I cannot explain the noise of the moment of clarity when the tumblers align.

I imagine it is just in my head. But I tell people that is what you are seeking. When everything just falls into place your mind will tell you in some form or fashion that you have entered into a moment of clarity. Interestingly <maybe this is just me>, but I have found that these moments are also very similar to the first one I described in that Life doesn’t hold that window open for long. What I mean is that I have learned over time to write it down or say it out loud to someone when the tumblers fall into place. Maybe the mind simply opens that door which you just unlocked and closes it behind you and you immediately enter a new hallway with dozens of other locked doors and the mind moves on.

I don’t know.

All I know is that moments of clarity are simply moments. They may echo in eternity <lasting forever>, but only if you actually recognize them. If you don’t? That one second just gets buried under the mound of other missed seconds.

================

“My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?”

David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

==================

And, yet, within the multitude of drops, the limitless ocean called Life, one second can be forever.

Uhm. “Can.” You just have to make sure you pay attention.

That said. I will end with two relevant quotes from two great thinker/writers:

==============

“Forever is made up of now.”

Emily Dickinson

———–

“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”

Kurt Vonnegut

=============

Kurt & Emily probably loved Alice in Wonderland. There is no why because how can there be in a world of nonsense where we seek to find some sense? The ‘forever one seconds’ always end up being trapped in amber.

Anyway. Here you go … the full Tim Burton script:

“It is better to be feared than loved.”

“The Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?

Alice: I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would.”

“I’m not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours”

”Alice: How long is forever? White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second”

In the end I can only chuckle.

One second? Of course one second can be forever <and I am not entirely bonkers>. You just have to pay attention to moments and then make the moment matter.

Mr. Magorium:

“37 seconds.”

==

Molly Mahoney:

“Great.

Well done.

Now we wait.”

==

Mr. Magorium:

“No.

We breathe.

We pulse.

We regenerate.

Our hearts beat.

Our minds create.

Our souls ingest.

37 seconds, well used, is a lifetime.”

–

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder emporium (here is the clip )

Well. 37 seconds … well used … is a lifetime. This is a big thought. Big enough that I think most people will balk at it.

We breathe.

We pulse.

We regenerate.

Our hearts beat.

Our minds create.

Our souls ingest.

Most people will balk because they can’t figure out how to do what they want to do even within 2 hours/7 days a week. In fact. I imagine most people think of ‘doing things’ in terms of … “oh, I only wish I had time to … bla bla blaaaa …”

Or.

“I wish i had more time.”

<followed by a wha wha waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ... that’s whining in case you need a definition>

Look.

Here’s the deal.

Everyone has the same amount of time.

We all get 24 hours in a day. We all get 365 days every year <except one year and it is really only one month anyway>.

How we choose to spend that time is about prioritizing. Figuring out what is most important to us <and, yeah, I said ‘us’ and not someone else and responsibilities and stuff like that>

In fact I would argue how you spend the time is kind of irrelevant, it’s more the fact that you recognize you actually have a choice with what you do with your time and, well, choose.

In fact. Maybe even choose what to do with the next 37 seconds.

Anyway.

We make choices.

We live with the consequences.

Use your time for something useful <or don’t>.

That’s up to you.

Once again.

99% of the time the choice is yours.

99.9% of the time I would argue the next 37 seconds are yours to choose what to do with.

But, please, please don’t tell people you don’t have enough time. And if you want to argue you with me that it is impossible to do anything useful in 37 seconds I will argue with you that the best thinking, the best living, the best creativity, is done within constraints and 37 seconds may feel like a huge constraint, or conversely, it could be the hugest freeing amount of time you have ever had.

Just ponder.

Because 37 seconds … when well used … is a lifetime.

================

“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way.”

―

Barack Obama

===========

Everybody talks about building something. Or create a new life. Or get a new start on things. All of them are aspects of aiming toward making your own personal mark on the world.

Now. Your “mark” doesn’t have to be the front cover of Time magazine. It just may mean making sure you max out on your potential, or be the person you want to be, pretty much anything that has the highest likelihood of leaving a mark on the world around you.

But. Here is a controversial view on this. To do so something needs to be “destroyed.” Why do I say this? Well. Because creation is about the destruction of something.

It can be current thinking, an attitude, a belief, heck, it even may be something as simply as a fence or boundary.

By the way. This is not a small idea. This is truly a “big idea” (unfortunately I didn’t come up with it). Some brilliant economist (a guy named Schumpeter) in the 50’s wrote about the concept of ‘creative destruction.’ It is used as a shorthand description for the free market’s (capitalism) messy way of creating progress.

The main thought is that creative destruction incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. Someone called it “the perennial gale of creative destruction.”

Anyway. Back to “making your mark” (or having to destroy to create) or creative destruction as it pertains to people and their lives.

Herein lays the paradox of any personal progress.

A person cannot reap the rewards of creative destruction without accepting that some individuals (relationships, friends, companions, “your current circle”) might be worse off, not just in the short term, but perhaps forever. This is a reflection of the fact that personal creative destruction will include destroying part of your current situation and context (which inevitably includes people).

At the same time, attempts to soften the harsher aspects of creative destruction by trying to preserve or protect things will lead to stagnation and decline (in other words slowing down “making your mark” or the change necessary to enable the rewards). Yes. Making your mark does not reside in the zone of mediocrity nor is it typically found in incrementalism. Making your mark often resides somewhere quite near to ‘go big or go home.’

Creative destruction reminds us that, in personal progress, pain and gain are inextricably linked. The process of creating ‘new’ does not go forward without sweeping away at least some preexisting things (that’s the whole destruction thing).

What do I mean?

Beliefs. Progress is about learning and implementing new learning. That sometimes means letting go of old, incorrect beliefs and replacing them with more accurate beliefs. Oh. Some people around you may have liked the old beliefs better.

Behavior. This one is obvious. Changing appearance, enhancing self image, becoming healthier … all of these things mean modifying current behavior in some form or fashion.

Oh. Or it could also be tied to your revised belief structure. Your behavior may be modified by something you learned.

Oh (once again). Changing personal behavior may scare some people around you who was used to, and maybe even kinda liked, the old behavior.

Materialistic stuff. This isn’t just about purging stuff. This is about purging stuff anchored to significant memories. Memories that possibly contain baggage you want to leave behind. Think of it as getting rid of stuff that may slow you down as you move forward. Simplistically you are creating a new future by destroying parts of the past.

Self image. This is ‘destroying’ of aspects the old image in order to gain new identity aspects. This can be as simple as adapting to new responsibilities and new challenges in career. At its toughest its destroying portions of immature identity characteristics and moving in a more mature fashion in life.

In the end. Simplistically we could think of this as decluttering a life to move forward. Serious decluttering often means making hard choices about which things stay and which ones go (& which people stay and which people go as well).

Resistance to creative destruction is counterproductive to happiness (assuming happiness is linked to ‘not being stagnant’). Sure. Change can, and usually will, be uncomfortable. The destroying part can be uncomfortable. The creative part can be scary (you are kind of assuming people will accept the creative change).

Here is the truth. Its only when you get to where you want to go that it becomes comfortable. That is the prize of personal creative destruction. But. The process of creative destruction in our lives is an absolutely necessary part of growing and changing in a positive direction.

Last thought. The tricky part.

Yes. The process of creative destruction helps you pull attention from things that no longer play a valuable part in your life, and frees up energy, mental space, and yes, attention, that you can redirect to focus on new priorities.

But. Creative destruction also means time gets stretched in different ways. So your routine, your typical schedule, can become discombobulated (I love typing that word) and that can often throw even things and people you value out of whack. Basically you are potentially destroying your current way of life.

Anyway. The point is that to “make your mark” at some point you will have to embrace creative destruction in some form or fashion. THAT I can guarantee.

So. To end this.

Schumpeter wrote about creative destruction with competition at its core. Ok. And he may be right (because I assume he was smarter than I). But I prefer Ayn Rand’s perspective on creative destruction with regard to this topic:

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.

So. Go make your mark. Go achieve. Go destroy something to create something. But do it for yourself … not with the intent to beat others.

——

“It’s extremely exciting to know that planets with potentially Earth-like conditions are out there, but learning what they actually are like will require a great deal of fortitude, creativity and hard work.”

=

Gregory Laughlin of the University of California, Santa Cruz

—————-

“Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.”

=

John Dewey

———————

So. Several years ago I saw “Another Earth may be 500 light years away.”

No way.

Ok.

How awesome is that? <answer: awesome>

Then.

And I immediately thought: “inevitably we will show a failure of imagination.”

What do I mean ? Well. I should be excited but instead I am wary of how ‘we the people’ will move forward. In fact I envision no moving forward, no ‘trying to do what it takes to get there’ and no imagination to overcome the cries of ‘why waste money on something like this!”

Anyway. Let me get the ‘another earth’ detail out of the way first.

===

USAToday:

Some 500 light-years away, a little planet basks comfortably in the heat of its sun. It’s probably rocky – as the Earth is – and it’s probably just the right temperature to boast liquid water. In other words, it’s about as close to Earth as any planet we know of.

Unveiled at a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society, the planet Kepler-438b may be the Earth twin that researchers have long sought. Other planets have made claims to that title, but Kepler-438b is more similar to Earth in both size and in the amount of energy it receives from its star than a celebrated runner-up, several scientists said.

That runner-up, planet Kepler-186f, might be called “a cousin of Earth,” the University of Puerto Rico’s Abel Mendez, keeper of a database of planets outside our solar system, said via email. But 438b and another recently discovered planet are “brother and sister-in-law. We are getting closer.”

Kepler-438b and compatriot planet Kepler-442 b “are the best candidates we have so far for Earth analogues,” said astronomer Willy Torres of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a co-author of a paper in The Astrophysical Journal describing the new planets. Both were found with the help of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, which launched into space in 2009.

Kepler 438-b is only 12 percent bigger in diameter than Earth, unlike the large number of “super-Earths” scientists have turned up outside our solar system. It has a 70 percent chance of being rocky, which scientists regard as a requirement for supporting life. And its surface receives roughly 40 percent more energy from its small star than Earth’s surface receives from the sun.

Kepler-438b “could be a perfect twin of Earth. We just don’t know, because we can’t pin down the measurements,” Torres said.

Sadly, Kepler-438b may represent something of an astronomical dead end. It is so far away, and its star so dim, that finding out whether it bears life or even an atmosphere is a daunting challenge, if not impossible.

“Discoveries of worlds like Kepler-438b are simultaneously satisfying and tantalizing,” planet-hunter Gregory Laughlin of the University of California, Santa Cruz, said via email. “It’s extremely exciting to know that planets with potentially Earth-like conditions are out there, but learning what they actually are like will require a great deal of fortitude, creativity and hard work.”

Unlike previously discovered planets outside the solar system, these candidates orbit stars much like our own sun.

“These candidates represent the closest analogues to the Earth-sun system to date,” said Mullally, “and this is what Kepler has been looking for.”

These new Earth-sized candidate planets in the water-friendly zone of their stars “are super-exciting,” said Lehigh University astronomer Joshua Pepper.

====

Ok <part 1>.

This is awesome.

I don’t care if it is 500 miles or 500 light years, it is a journey we should seek to take. It is a ‘task’ of which we should partake.

It is a task with an objective, but not the means < today> to attain the objective.

This is where we, the people, typically excel. When we are told it is not possible.

Ok <part 2>.

Now my concerns.

All this ‘another earth’ seems slightly impossible doesn’t it?

Well. Only with the failure of imagination.

The key thought in the words I wrote then:

===

We seem to have become the generation of measurement rather than the generation of imagination.

===

ROI, measurement, practical rewards & output, that is what we ‘do’ these days. This is how we conduct business and … well … lives.

We seem to have forgotten the value of unsought discovery. We seem to have culturally turned our back on imagination and the power of imagination. We seem to not want to risk any money or time without the certainty of “direct return” <that certainty is impossible>.

What if we were to send a ship with dozens of people and create a new civilization?

What if we could start a world from scratch?

Shit.

What if we found another civilization already residing on this ‘other Earth’?

Well. I am afraid we will never even get out of our solar system let alone explore the universe other than telescopes and unmanned probes.

It is because of a lack of imagination that we don’t see that actually exploring the universe would be the greatest journey of all for us as a species. In fact. The comments under that one USAToday article years ago unequivocally reflect a majority of “so what.” Or “why waste our time.”

===

… it simply makes no difference either way.

500 light years is far beyond our practical reach so long as the speed of light is an absolute limit.

While it’s interesting to fantasize about the possibilities in the future the fact is that it is very possible that we will never be able to bridge the incredible vastness of space to other potentially habitable planets.

===

Well. My main answer to this negative view of imagination <it’s not failure … simply the inability to envision ‘what could be’:

————–

“Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.”

Jules de Gaultier

——————–

Look.

I want to be careful here because I do not want to diminish the individual challenges many people have with regard to paying everyday bills and the day to day pressures of enduring a recession.

But we, as a society as a whole, need to think long term.

What makes civilization great is how we forge through crap like unemployment and recession and day-to-day challenges and get to ‘hope’ and imagination and innovation and find out what is beyond the next horizon.

I would also point out that the reaching for the horizon tends to solve unemployment and recession and the day-to-day hardships thru innovations and overall betterment of Life. I can unhesitatingly say that if America decided to ‘do’ this project, assume responsibility for reaching another Earth … we will succeed. Not by working harder than anyone else, but because we permit hope and imagination to prosper.

Ok. Maybe I am crazy.

But.

If I am, let me be content in my craziness.

——-

“Here’s to the crazy ones.

The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Short version of an Apple Computer Ad

————-

I am no genius by any stretch of the imagination.

But.

I can recognize the value of imagination.

I can recognize the value of discovery.

I can recognize the value of seeking what is beyond the horizon.

—————–

“Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization.

Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities.

So I believe that dreams–daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing–are likely to lead to the betterment of the world.

The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster, civilization.”

L. Frank Baum

—————————

Imagination fosters civilization.

Imagination fosters all that ‘could be.’

The search for the way to reach ‘another Earth’ is one big prosperous innovation initiative – assuming someone has the kahones to do it.

This could be the rebirth of NASA and science.

Shit.

This is the rebirth of imagination if we choose to make it so.

====

“Once, I saw a bee drown in honey, and I understood.”

–

Nikos Kazantzakis

==============

So. One of the most difficult things to do in Life is to temper, or ration, your enjoyment.

Wow.

That sounds crazy doesn’t it?

It is kind of odd, but happiness, or bliss, has some similar characteristics to despair in that once you get in the quicksand of the feeling it is incredibly difficult to get out.

But, you may ask, despair I understand … but why the heck would you want to get out of the bliss?

I won’t answer with the trite ‘there can be too much of a good thing’ because I struggle to find an example of too much good thing. Instead … I will suggest that drowning is simply drowning.

It is about the inability to handle the situation.

It is about losing control.

It is about encountering a reality that ultimately you cannot deal with.

That is drowning.

But maybe even worse <in my bliss example>?

You actually can swim, but you have just become so immersed in the bliss of the moment you have forgotten to swim.

Yeah.

You drown even though you can swim <ponder that>.

I will point out that this is very very easy to permit to happen.

Especially if, contextually to everything else in your life, this honey appears to be water in a Life dying of thirst. In other words, we confuse the honey for water.

That may sound weird, if slightly unbelievable, but it happens to us all the time.

Sometimes Life is such a grind day to day it makes us thirst for anything to relieve the dryness of the grind. Relief comes in a variety of shapes and forms – some healthy & some unhealthy <self help books with formulas for Life & social media come to mind>.

This means that when the moments of bliss or ‘honey moments’ occur we stop and dive into the honey as deep as we can and drink as if our thirst can never be quenched.

And sometimes we drink so deeply we never stop to breathe.

And sometimes we dive so deep that no matter how big a breath we took before we dove … we run out of air … and drown.

Yeah.

I know.

In such a crazy world where the most of people deserve some extra happiness and true bliss it seems pretty stupid of me to talk about drowning in a honey moment.

And I will admit.

I never thought I would ever write about drowning in bliss in a cautionary tone.

Well.

Maybe all I am really offering is simply a word of caution.

Maybe it is a reminder that maybe there are more moments than you imagine and you don’t need to drown in one … just recognize, like most bees do, that if you are persistent you can find honey everywhere.

Maybe I just saw this quote … paused … and could clearly see in my mind how we worker bees could easily drown if and when we found honey.

Maybe I just worry, on occasion, today’s world can make us so thirsty for honey we forget to not drown when we actually find some honey.

Maybe I realize I like drowning <I am a voracious reader and user of some social media and love working>.

Or.

Maybe I just liked thinking about why a bee could drown in honey.

<originally posted November 2015>