When faced with a challenge or wanting to build something new, which toolbox would you prefer?
It's clear "B" is the best option.
Now think of your mind as a toolbox and your talents, interests, hobbies and learnings as a type of tool.
How would it look?
What you definitely don’t want is a "mental toolbox" that looks like this…
A toolbox with few tools that do more or less the same.
Diversify your toolbox with the right inspiration.
Two types of inspiration can lead to two different types of "toolboxes," and therefore, two very different ways of thinking and creating.
A. Immediate Inspiration.
Inputs that are "close by" and within your circle of competence.
For example: what your closest friends think, what your competition is doing, information that is "comfortable" and “easy” to find.
This type of inspiration causes affirming-thinking. You build on your same skills and beliefs. This type of thinking often results in non-original work with little impact.
A toolbox full of “hammers”.
B. Outlying Inspiration.
Inputs that provide a new perspective and draw from disciplines and fields that challenge and improve your understanding of how things work.
For example, listening to people with opposing views, learning about the arts and sciences, reading about history and information that at first glance has little to do with your current project or work.
This type of inspiration causes cross-thinking. You combine existing knowledge with new information from various fields that can result in surprising, groundbreaking outputs with a more significant impact.
A toolbox with vast and diverse “tools”.
Here are some examples of cross-thinking:
The renowned Catalan architect and mastermind behind some of the most beautiful and visited buildings in the world like La Sagrada Familia and Casa Batlló.
What made his work revolutionary and different was his capacity to draw inspiration from nature and apply his learnings into new ways of building and designing.
After dropping out of college, the founder of Apple took a calligraphy course.
What seemed like a class with no practical application became an essential factor while building the Macintosh, the first design-aware computer with beautiful typography.
Consider this graph by Katy Börner in "Atlas of science: Visualizing what we know." In it, she shows the fragmentation of academia, as measured by co-citations.
What color is your line of work? Pick another color, seek Outlying Inspiration from that field and find ways it could connect to your work or project.
The Takeaway:
Balance between Immediate Inspiration and Outlying Inspiration.
Find books, podcasts, magazines and blogs that teach you something different and new!
For this you can check out The Takeaway’s Links, a curation of diverse sources of inspiration to upskill you “mental toolbox.”
(This is a live document! If you have recomendations reply to this email so that they can be added and shared with the rest of The Takeaway community).
Find times of contemplation.
Your brain needs rest to process the inspiration and connect the dots. Sleep, exercise, baking, drawing etc. are great activities to "switch off the brain."
Try to incorporate them into your day.
Let me know what you think. Hit reply.
Be sure to check out The Takeaway’s Links.
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I hope you are well.
María Albert