Reflections, ruminations and contemplations

reflections,
originally uploaded by binnur gul.

Amazing! Yet another year is done, when does it end? Wait, don’t answer that… Frankly, if it wasn’t for the calendar telling me otherwise, to me it is still 2007. Normally about this time of the year, I reflect on the past, wonder and plan for the future. Since every part of my senses still believe I am still in 2007, I have to manually kick start the reflection and pondering process. After all, it is part of the rejuvenation and renewal cycle.

Looking back, in my early years, I almost felt proud of the fact my brain was constantly on. Something about the phrase “I think therefore I am”… However, when I started meditating regularly, I became aware of how noisy and cluttered my thoughts are. Zen teachers often refer to this as having the monkey brain. Quite appropriate…

Is our mind our worst enemy? Think about it. What we see, observe and think is shaped by our life experiences and by our environment. How we respond to life changes and events is based on what we already consciously or unconsciously learned, know or intuitively observed. Our mind is our vessel for all of that knowledge and experience. It can move mountains or cause us to lose wars before the battle even begins.

Our brain is an amazing machine… Can I really, confidently define what is real and what is not? “If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”

The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business has a quote from Francis Crick:

“What you see is not really there; it is what your brain believes is there… Seeing is an active construction process. Your brain makes the best interpretation it can according to its previous experience and the limited and ambiguous information provided by your eye.”

The authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip and Dan Heath, talk about the curse of knowledge. This is the paradox (or pair of ducks, as hubby would say ) where the increased knowledge and expertise creates an undetectable containment field that interferes with our ability to create and innovate, and break out of the rut. (Quack, quack, quack…)

It is in our nature to classify and generalize. As a matter of fact, our economy is built on our ability to identify the target market and customer, and then exploit it to its fullest. Don’t get me wrong. This ability to classify and generalize is an important function of our survival. Through this amazing skill, which we fine tune through our life experiences, we can problem solve and intuitively deduce how to behave, respond and communicate. Yet, this amazing ability can also create invisible walls that can take a lifetime to break, if then…

Zen teachers talk about the importance of having a beginner’s mind. It is this openness, the attitude of possibility, curiosity and childlike brevity to question, wonder and doubt that enables us to see things as fresh and new. Next time you have the opportunity, just follow a child through his day, you may be amazed at the possibilities.

So, how is all this tied to innovation and technology management? Quite simple actually. Thru self-awareness and realization it is possible to reinvent oneself. And, I truly hope reinvention is not just limited to near-death experiences as the Forrester blog highlights. The reinvention, rejuvenation and renewal are all necessary aspects of innovation and creativity. Through persistence it is possible to move mountains, where we can even put a man on the moon.

As departing thoughts, also take a look at Think Simple Now’s article on 7 habits of highly innovative people. If some of the items make into this years resolutions, be sure to make them SMART.

Happy New Year everyone!

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