We read from the same books, take the same exams, and drink from the same cup of knowledge. This cup has been passed around quite a bit. In the process, we inevitably consume a certain amount of backwash.
“Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.”
– Mark Twain
This is not to say there’s no value to growing up. We need Real World Adults to beat back the wilderness and keep the wolves away. But we pay a price. To give our lives focus, we put on blinders. We starve our imaginations. We fall out of sync with our inborn ability to see what no one else can.
Recapture the innocence of childhood, and you’ll open the windows in your brain. Once the windows are open, you can’t keep imaginative ideas from entering—or, more important, from coming out.
Great ideas can come from childlike minds, the psyches that are naive and unafraid. The essence of the Eureka! Way is to rekindle that way of thinking, so that you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch as if for the first time.
Recapturing innocence and opening our minds is more than just a means for getting greater pleasure out of life. It’s a method for capturing the spirit of entrepreneurial thinking and enthusiasm that made this country great.
It’s also key to jump-starting your brain.
Consider your last five jobs or significant life roles. List them on a piece of paper like this:
Job 1: ____________________________________________
Job 2: ____________________________________________
Job 3: ____________________________________________
Job 4: ____________________________________________
Job 5: ____________________________________________
Think back to your first 30 days on each. Try to recall the rush of ideas you had, the problems you saw, and the solutions you imagined. If you’re a parent, remember the thoughts you had before your child arrived. Remember how you were determined to be the perfect parent? Remember how you weren’t going to make the same mistakes your parents made?
Chances are, you were a fountain of energy and enthusiasm, a veritable fireworks display of ideas. Why? Because you were new, naïve, and innocent.
Then one of two things happened. You ran with your ideas because you didn’t know any better and you shined … or your ideas flickered and died because you kept your mouth shut. And that was the end of that. Before long, you were “educated,” as in “processed.”
Where are those thoughts now? Whatever became of them? What do you wish you’d done with them?
“You just open yourself up to become like a child. All of a sudden, the world is a wide-eyed experience again. You start feeling again, and you see the world through the eyes of a five-year-old. Once you get rid of preconceived notions, ideas can start to cross-pollinate.”
– Eric Schulz, Buena Vista Home Video, the Walt Disney Company
Once, when my eldest, Kristyn, was small, she decided she would grow up to be an artist. The day before that, she was going to be a nurse. The day before that, she was going to be a ninja. Today she’s studying engineering at Smith College and still dreaming. Last fall she wanted to solve the world’s environmental challenges. This summer she wants to be a patent lawyer helping independent inventors.
To her, everything was possible—and happily, still is. It may not be the most practical point of view, but it beats being a Real World Adult.
The Power of Simple Things
Step outside yourself. Are you the person you wanted to become? If not now, when will you get back on track?
1. One of the great powers a child has is the ability to find joy in small, simple things. As adults, we have a love of complexity. To recapture that wonder of small, simple things, spend a day with a child. If you don’t have a child of your own, borrow one: a child between the ages of four and seven, maybe a niece or a nephew, a neighbor’s kids, or your grandchildren. You want a child with no grown-up tendencies whatsoever.
Go for a walk, take a ride, share a Special Day with a child. Special Days are big occasions at my house. On Special Days, the kid is boss. The kid decides what to do and where to go.
Be forewarned that you run a risk here. You risk floating a paper boat on a pond at the park, building a kite from scratch or maybe heading off to a second-hand thrift store and buying a bunch of dress-up clothes. You run the risk of lying on your back in a grassy meadow and imagining faces and horses galloping in the clouds overhead.
Whatever your child does, you do it, too. Don’t just stand there like a bump on a kosher dill. Ask your child lots of questions. Find out everything you can about your child. Don’t be afraid to ask silly questions. Have some laughs.
2. Read a book to a child. Find a book with no connection with reality, like one by the late Dr. Seuss, arguably one of the great creative minds of our time. His characters and stories will live forever because they aren’t like anything anywhere anyhow.
Grab your coat, run to the library or nearest bookstore and pick up a pile of Dr. Seuss’ greatest works. Here are a few suggestions. Note: these are also ideal books for your personal creativity library.
• Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? The old man in the Desert of Drize shows us how good we really have it.
• Oh, the Places You’ll Go! The world is a big place, filled with colors, shapes and possibilities. It’s dangerous and scary, but you’ll succeed if you only get going.
• The Sneetches and Other Stories This collection of stories exposes the silliness of prejudice and stubbornness and equips you to battle your fears.
• Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! The doctor prescribes methods for stretching the imagination, a la “Oh, the THINKS you can think up if only you try!”
• The Lorax An environmentally-conscious fable of high drama about the Oncle-ler and the damage he did to the Truffula Trees for the sake of his lousy Thneeds.
3. Another way to recapture innocence is to kick loose from your day-to-day modus operandi. Take a mental vacation, even if for only five minutes.
Sure you could hook yourself up to a biofeedback machine or go floating in a sensory-deprivation tank, but there are plenty of simpler, less expensive ways to kick loose, many of which are available at your local toy store.
Here are some of my favorite prescriptions for restoring the spirit and innocence of your once childlike mindset.
• Get outside: Take a hike, go for a bike ride, or take a flying leap into the nearest lake—feel the group hug of Mother Nature in the great outdoors.
• Look closely: Get out your digital camera and take 100 pictures of your backyard. Look at the grass, the fence, and the dog doo through new eyes.
• Make music: Get out your old trumpet, tuba, or fluegelhorn and reprise your high school fight song. At campfires, pull out a bandolier loaded with harmonicas, even if you can’t play a lick. Take your tom-tom and beat it. Better yet, get some friends together and do your own version of a Stomp performance (for hints and inspiration, visit http://www.stomponline.com.)
• Stretch yourself: Buy a cookbook and force yourself to create dinner from scratch. Go to the local hobby store and buy a kit for making stained glass, painting, soap, candles, or whatever interests you.
As noted, most of these activities have some degree of risk, at least initially—there’s a chance you’ll feel a tad bit silly. Don’t worry. It’s just the Real World Adult in you rebelling.
Fight back. Seize control of your imagination. You can do it. After