The Weekly Spark #9: “Practice makes perfect, but it doesn’t make new” Adam Grant

We all agree that one of the most dangerous sentences in the language is “we’ve always done it this way”. I’ve never heard anyone actually say this sentence, but I see so many constraints and dependencies in my everyday life that embody it –we end up justifying ourselves with sentences like “it’s not up to me” or “I’m just doing my job”. This is the result of our culture and the way of doing business since the First Industrial Revolution: we tend to look for efficiencies and small-scale improvements, but always within the guardrails.

These are the rules of the game

The way we do something impacts what we look for and where we focus our energy – it shapes us from the beginning of our lives through to the end. It’s easier to be part of a story than write your own. Yet there are some people that stand out, whom we either tend to look up to or in any case cannot ignore, the “crazy ones” as Steve Jobs would call them. These are agents of change, and today I would like to focus on the fact that anyone can be an agent of change.

So back to the provocation in my last post: given what the future holds, maybe it’s finally the time we start thinking and acting less as machines and more as humans?

With the rise of AI and pattern interpretation becoming automated, as humans we will be required to shift our focus even more towards original and creative thinking in our jobs. I believe this opens the opportunity for a positive cultural transformation as creativity gives us the possibility of reconnecting to ourselves. But how can we champion creativity?

I was very much inspired by Adam Grant’s “Originals” book, whom I believe gives some ground-breaking insights that I have summarized in the below 5 points:

1)????? Give yourself permission to think differently and challenge the status quo --> ask yourself if the way you’re doing something still makes sense, if you’re actually contributing to solving a problem, or if there’s more that can be done. Do you accept the default settings?

2)????? It’s not about the quality of ideas, it’s about the quantity --> the great originals don’t have few good ideas, they have a lot of ideas and a few stick. Don’t fall in love with your first idea: you have to rule out the first few familiar ones to go to the novel ones. Fail the most and try the most.?

3)????? Seek out your peers for feedback --> it’s unlikely that a raw idea will stay unchanged throughout the creative process, so it is fundamental to be open and seek out peers who can give you feedback and help you evolve your idea.

4)????? Find hobbies totally outside of work to improve your mental models --> for instance, if you have a scientific job, go do something artistic. Fun fact: the average Nobel prize winner is +30% more likely to have an artistic pursuit vs normal people. Don’t get caught up one the creative-scientific divide: the two are heavily correlated and we all need both. ?

5)????? Procrastinate --> start fast but take your time to finish. To be original you don’t have to be first but just different and better (Facebook wasn’t the first social media every created, and Apple was never the first to launch a new technology). Use the mindset of “I’m just not there yet”.

The earlier we begin, the easier it will become.