Ridiculous beginnings...

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or a restaurant’s revolving door. — Albert Camus

If you are like me and don’t know who Albert Camus is I will save you the Wikipedia search: Albert Camus (Nov 7, 1913 - Jan 4, 1960) was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He also won the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44 in 1957, and then died three years later.

This is one of the reasons I love just “wandering around” once in a while — one minute you don’t know, and the next you do. Not only had I never heard of Albert Camus, I’d also never heard of absurdism. Let me save you another search…

absurdism [əb-ˈsər-ˌdi-zəm] noun: a philosophy based on the belief that the universe is irrational and meaningless and that the search for order brings the individual into conflict with the universe.

I suppose at the heart of this I simply like discovery and learning something new — it makes me more interesting at cocktail parties (although admittedly it’s utter conjecture). Aside from the joy that comes with discovering new things I did find the quote insightful, particularly if you are searching for something new.

This experience had me thinking of all those forced “brainstorming sessions” of the past and whether we ever really got anything new out of them — there was lots of discussion, lots of sticky notes, countless flip charts stuck to walls, and in the end, we always ended up with a list of activities that looked very similar to what we were already doing. I wonder if it would’ve been more productive to give everyone the objective, put $100 dollars in their pocket, and have them to wander the city for the day. Everyone would meet later in a park to discuss people’s experiences and what they came up with. No flip charts, no sticky notes, no group stretching exercises to “get the blood flowing”; just lots of conversation and discussion after a day of “discovery” (with someone taking notes). Or to Albert Camus’s point, something even more ridiculous.

Albert reminded me of a universal truism — if you keep doing things the same old way you will get the same old results. And this is fine, until of course, you start getting results you don’t want.

I wonder if this aligns with his thoughts on absurdism?

iamgpe

A new way of looking at things...

Other than this quote I’ve never read Henry Miller — although he is definitely an author that is on the list of must-reads.

“One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things”

What excites me about this quote is not so much the fact that the quote is by Henry Miller but rather he’s touched one of my most favourite topics — the value that comes with looking at things differently, or as Mr. Miller calls it, a new way of looking at things. I probably should correct myself; it’s not just my most favourite topic, it has become a personal and professional mantra.

Up and above the personal joy that comes when someone brings up the topic, there is insight that the place you want to be is the result of looking at things in a new way — and more exciting still, this isn’t just a literal destination (like sitting on top of a warm volcano in Iceland) but also the endless number of figurative locations you may want for find yourself (like the solution of a problem, a happier sense of self, or a career opportunity).

It really is such a simple formula — adopting a new way of looking at things will take you where you want to be, and in doing so has taken you to where you should be. Thinking and looking at things in a new way will take you to a place that will ultimately take you anywhere; it is the destination that opens the door to everything.

At this point I feel obliged to share the story about the Bird and the Snake (which, believe it or not, will be relevant). I can’t really remember where I heard this story and it will take a little imagination —

One sunny day a snake was slithering along on his way to the annual snake convention; he was one of the key note speakers which is a big honour in the world of a snake. The travel was easy and he was making good time until he came to a very deep, and very wide, crevasse.

The snake’s mood became very dark because he just couldn’t figure out how he’d get across the divide and was most certainly going to miss the convention. High above a bird was circling watching the snake ponder the situation and smiled as the snake became more and more agitated. As if the snake could sense being watched he looked up and spotted the bird.

Hey bird?!

What do you want snake?! (as you know birds don’t like snakes so the response dripped with distain)

Can you come down here and carry me across this crevasse. I have to get somewhere.

Why would I do that? You will just bite me and I will die.

No I won’t. I really need get to the snake convention and I would take it as a personal favour. In fact, I will tell all the other snakes what you did for me and they will never bother you again.

How do I know you won’t bite me when we are crossing the crevasse?

Why would I do that? We would both fall to our deaths.

This made some sense to the bird and it would be nice not to have to worry about snakes — they were always trying to eat him. The bird flew down and with a little hesitation introduced himself. And good to his word the snake didn’t bite the bird. The bird picked up the snake and started to cross the crevasse. About half way across the bird looked at the snake and the snake looked at the bird, and then he bit the bird. In shock, and with poison coursing through its veins, the bird and snake plummeted to the ground.

But … why? You … will most certainly die.

I know. But I’m a snake and this is what snakes do.

When you are working on a new way of looking at things it is extremely important to know yourself, your habits, your preconceptions, and your methods for looking at something — and then fight them. It is hard to look at things a new way and it’s important to challenge your current thinking. You need to ensure you aren’t just doing what you’ve always done (or looking at something in the same old way). It is also important to surround yourself with people who will offer different ways of looking at things — when you ask how they see a situation you want differing perspectives that will help you expand your scope of understanding. This will take you where you want to go.

The snake probably should have listened to the bird because he was missed at the annual convention.

iamgpe

Everyone will have an opinion on "different"...

If you read anything I write (which I really appreciate by the way) you will know that I am a big advocate for "different". Different stimulates ideas, offers perspectives to better understand situations, is the champion of change, and makes things happen. It is important to realize though that different will always elicit a response, and this is actually what makes it so important.

But make no mistake about it, the response may not always be supportive. A slightly humorous case in point:

Recently I decided to adopt a whole plant based diet for health reasons (which I should point out does not necessarily mean I've adopted the vegan life style). For my efforts, some of the comments that have come my way went something like this:

• "Where are you going to get your protein from? You are gonna bonk on the ride"
• "You need to eat meat to get enough protein"
• "We were talking about you becoming a vegan and just laughing"
• "You are breaking your vegan rules because there are eggs in the bread you ate"
• " I guess we can't eat at that restaurant anymore"

Sure I received other comments that supported my new eating habits but those mostly came from people who already support a whole plant based diet (aka vegans)... although they may not be so happy when they find out I will still be wearing my leather jackets.

As in my little case study, different will most certainly elicit responses regarding the problems that will come with what you are doing or suggesting — in fact, if you aren't experiencing this it may be an indicator of "group think" or a lack of engagement. Different is supposed to elicit a response, and with it, create discussion. It is in this discussion that better ideas are developed, situations are better understood, and change can be effectively implemented. And in knowing this there shouldn't ever be any reason to shy away from offering a different opinion, taking a different point of view, or offering up that "crazy" idea — you want to invite the pushback, as well as the discussion, because it offers a better result.

And for that opinion on my plant based diet — yes you can get all the protein you need from plants; meat is actually really hard to digest and inflammatory; I'm not a vegan; there are no eggs in the bread I eat, and restaurants are extremely helpful and flexible with what they serve.

So far, so good.

iamgpe