Think like a child.

A child’s mind operates in a world of infinite potential. Nothing is impossible until they are programmed by parents and society to regard it as such. Imagine the possibilities if we cultivated
that ‘pre-programmed’ way of looking at the world.

As an illustration, let me offer a snippet from the novel Sophie’s World; a book that ranks among those that substantially altered my world view at an early age. The author describes a typical morning kitchen scene with Mom, Dad,
and Baby sitting at the table together. As Mom goes to the refrigerator, Dad,
for no apparent reason, begins levitating out of his seat and proceeds to hover
quite contentedly near the ceiling. Baby, seeing this, begins to laugh and
point in fascination at Dad’s neat new trick. Mom on the other hand, when seeing
this, screams and pa**** out. Why the two very different reactions to the same
event? Baby is new to the world. Hence, he hasn’t been told that people cannot
levitate (I won’t say ‘learned’ since this implies that this outlook is correct
and, thus far, I have yet to be given 100% incontestable evidence of this).
Mom, however, ‘knows’ that what Dad is doing is impossible. Hence it is in
direct conflict with her well-established view of reality, resulting in fear
and confusion.

How many time have you heard a perfectly good, albeit ambitious, idea get shrugged off by people with pithy responses like 'We could never do that' or 'But that couldn't possibly
work in our society.'?

Whenever I hear this, I find myself thinking, why not? Just because people regard something as impossible, does that always really mean that
it is? Think of the innovations that would not have come to pass if everyone
thought this way. What does it serve us to stomp out new ideas in their infancy
just because we can’t imagine how it could be effectively implemented? Given
that we live in the world we do and (chances are) have no experience of other
ways of life, aren’t we judging thing with a rather narrow mindset?

Try this as an exercise: Take an idea that is generally regarded as impossible. Spend a day in which you allow yourself to believe in its possibility and try to figure
out ways that it could happen. Don’t limit yourself by social/political
constraints; just see it through to its logical manifestation. It’s not easy,
and this does not mean that you won’t occasionally come up with some really
elaborate off-the-wall ways for something to happen, but it’s very interesting
how this trains your mind to think unhindered by previously-perceived barriers.

I’m inclined to regard any idea, regardless of how out-there it may initially seem, as at least a possibility worthy of due thought. Whether or
not, after unpacking it, the idea turns out to be probable or practical given
the circ**stances is another matter entirely. But imagine how many new and
interesting ideas would last perhaps a little longer and perhaps even see their
way to fruition if more people operated under the child-like premise of
‘Nothing is impossible.’

This principle manifested in my life in a very real way early this year. While visiting friends in London,
I was introduced to an even called the Social Media Cafe, also known as the
Tuttle Club. I was immediately taken by the very premise of the event: groups
of people from varying backgrounds, but with a common interest in the internet
as a means of exchanging ideas, getting together for a couple hours over coffee
and hanging out. Some of the projects and ideas that have arisen from Tuttle
are quite extraordinary. I lamented that such a thing did not exist in my area.
After talking it over with the organizer of the group, he suggested that I
simply up and start one up myself?

I initially balked at the notion. ‘Me?’, I thought. ‘I can’t possibly run something like this. I work in a museum. I’m not a tech-savvy
internet/blogger/social media mogul or anything like that. What do I know about
putting together something like this?’ But the more I thought about it, the
more it occurred to me that there was in fact nothing preventing me from doing
such a thing. Sure, I’m not as much a hardcore ‘net user as some. But simply
making arrangements for a venue and spreading the word to interested people so
they could get together? Why couldn’t I do that? So, casting off all
self-created barriers of defining my capabilities by my work or chief
interests, I took the plunge.

As a result, the Leeds Tuttle Club is approaching its third monthly gathering and has a confirmed website membership of over 70 people and growing. Thus far it
has brought together artists, journalists, bloggers, activists, and everything
in between (even museum people), resulting in great networking and inspiration
for all.

‘Nothing is impossible’ is the essential starting point to any attempts at innovation. Everything after that is built upon that foundation.