ONLY IDEAS RULE THE WORLD
Ideas feed upon themselves. Ideas build on other ideas to create yet more powerful ideas. Breakthroughs are usually not something new, but instead are the result of two existing elements that together produce a new concept. Bring me a good idea and I can then give you a great idea.
Don’t be scared by new ideas. Be scared by old ones that have expired. Many breakthroughs come when you question the premise. Even someone with a limited intellect can spot a wrong answer. Intelligence is being able to spot a wrong question.
In building ideas, one should attend a couple conferences a year that are outside of his field, where he will struggle to keep up, and think in vastly different arenas. Every year look for one or two conferences you can attend, where you might be the dumbest person in the room. Though it might not be easy for you to find conferences that meet that criterion, but they’re out there.
If you’re in retailing, go to something on Internet marketing. If you’re in Internet marketing, go to something on manufacturing. If you’re in leadership, attend a symposium on chaos theory, the unified field, or whether God exists.
To become a critical thinker, to become a creative thinker – you need to be challenged. You need challenges that cause you to think creatively, critically, logically and laterally.
One last suggestion I would give to you is to read (or reread) Mad Genius book by Randy Gage with an agenda. The agenda is to do some critical thinking about each of the scenarios laid out in the book – cloning, designer babies, 3D printing, virtual reality sex, crypto-currencies, and all the others – and ask yourself how that development will impact in your area of expertise.
Obviously we have cultural norms, standard operating procedures, “best practices,” and lots and lots of rules. Rules are useful, and necessary. But remember this: all innovation, pretty much all human advancement, and almost every serious breakthrough has to be done outside the rules. Otherwise they would never happen.
You need to ask, ‘Why?’ on a regular basis. Because if you don’t – eventually someone is going to be asking, ‘Why you?
Don’t be scared by new ideas. Be scared by old ones that have expired. Many breakthroughs come when you question the premise. Even someone with a limited intellect can spot a wrong answer. Intelligence is being able to spot a wrong question.
In building ideas, one should attend a couple conferences a year that are outside of his field, where he will struggle to keep up, and think in vastly different arenas. Every year look for one or two conferences you can attend, where you might be the dumbest person in the room. Though it might not be easy for you to find conferences that meet that criterion, but they’re out there.
If you’re in retailing, go to something on Internet marketing. If you’re in Internet marketing, go to something on manufacturing. If you’re in leadership, attend a symposium on chaos theory, the unified field, or whether God exists.
To become a critical thinker, to become a creative thinker – you need to be challenged. You need challenges that cause you to think creatively, critically, logically and laterally.
One last suggestion I would give to you is to read (or reread) Mad Genius book by Randy Gage with an agenda. The agenda is to do some critical thinking about each of the scenarios laid out in the book – cloning, designer babies, 3D printing, virtual reality sex, crypto-currencies, and all the others – and ask yourself how that development will impact in your area of expertise.
Obviously we have cultural norms, standard operating procedures, “best practices,” and lots and lots of rules. Rules are useful, and necessary. But remember this: all innovation, pretty much all human advancement, and almost every serious breakthrough has to be done outside the rules. Otherwise they would never happen.
You need to ask, ‘Why?’ on a regular basis. Because if you don’t – eventually someone is going to be asking, ‘Why you?
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