the challenge
I’d like to use today’s entry and the following two to reflect on three insights I had following a podcast by Todd Henry. As always, it starts with a challenge.
In one of his Daily Creative episodes (a great show, by the way), Todd discussed the importance of defining (and keep practicing) your ethics. These are the values that define you — the values you wish to practice in everything you do and in every interaction you have. It is part of your operating system.
The idea of having such a compass that will guide my way and (hopefully) affect everything I do was not new to me. To be honest, I thought I already had one. What I did find enlightening (and far from being trivial) was the recommendation to phrase your ethics using only a few words — not even sentences. And with that came a real challenge.
As in many other cases, squeezing ideas into a few words is a challenging task. Most of us just don’t practice this daily — we love to explain our ideas in details. Of course, there’s a massive benefit in reduction, but only if you manage to find the exact words that will encapsulate what you have in mind. Hence, the challenge.
my insight
Wonder.
That’s the first word I chose. When I began this exercise I thought creativity would take the first place, but as I thought about it I realized that creativity is the result, and to wonder, on the other hand, is one of the core things that drives me.
reflection
I love how the word wonder encapsulates several meanings which seems unrelated at first.
Its first meaning is to be curious and to desire to know something. It also means to feel doubt. Curiosity and doubt are two of the foundations of creativity. Without them, we will just keep moving with inertia — doing the same things over and over again. Doubt and curiosity are the triggers that drive us to explore new territories. They are the driving force of change.
In my personal and professional life, I aim to always be curious and to never take anything for granted. I wish to be the one who consistently drives the search for new alternatives. Sure, there will be many cases in which you will eventually decide the alternative is not needed — that the current way of doing things is just fine. But you have to actively and continuously wonder if this is still the case. And that’s the message I wish to carry (and follow) in whatever I do.
But the beauty in the word wonder does not stop there, because wonder is also feeling admiration caused by something beautiful and unexpected. An essential part of my operating system is trying to see everything with wonder. That is the force that drives my photography, and that is an integral part of seempli and the message I am trying to convey to anyone using it.
I believe being curious and being fascinated by everything I come across is a powerful combination. I try to make it part of everything I do, and I hope that I manage to pass at least some of it to others every day.
mental notes
- Never stop wondering.
now it is your turn… be creative!