Project Exponential

Tag: perception

  • It doesn’t have to be pretty

    Too often, we get caught up in the finished product before we even begin. We think about what it is going to look like, how it will be received, what people will say. We create an idea of “perfect” and scare ourselves away from starting.

    Along the way, we were taught to color inside of the lines and cut straight across the dotted pattern. Imperfections and mistakes don’t add value. Uniqueness is risky, and we want to make sure our efforts are worth our time.

    It doesn’t matter what it looks like when you start. In fact, intentionally screw something up. Start with the crudest iteration you can think of.

    Something is better than nothing, especially when you’ve gotten in your own way.

  • Redefine work

    It’s no wonder we consider work very separate from play. It’s hounded into our heads since we’re able to talk.

    We watch Dad grimace as he races to work, and Mom moan about never having enough time (and she doesn’t look like she’s having fun). We’re given hours to learn, write, read, and make things. We have separate hours to talk, move, go outside, discover, and mess around. Recess becomes our gold.

    Once the school bell rings freedom, homework hours stand between us and our reward: time to play and make mischief. We quickly learn that good behavior and productivity yields more play time. Decisions are easy.

    Then we’re told to find jobs. Quite naturally, we look for ones that bestow upon us the right to play. We look for more money, more time, more vacation hours to do the things we really want to do.

    “Work” becomes the vehicle through which play is possible, our income, our sacrifice. Worse yet, boredom. “Play” stands for our hobbies, our leisure, our rest.

    Darlene Cohen, author of The One Who Is Not Busy, spells it out:

    “We describe our activity as either ‘busy’ or ‘not busy,’ either productively working or taking a blissful break from working. But actually it is possible to experience both ‘busy’ and ‘not busy’ simultaneously, to reach beyond the labels and connect with our work in a way that is deeply satisfying. What this requires is that we develop the breadth of vision and the mental flexibility to be both busy and not busy at the very same time.”

    Is it possible to shift our perceptions and redefine what’s work and what’s play?

    Can you turn one into the other and find joy in each?

  • How do you see risk?

    Everyone experiences risk. No one is immune to the anxiety that comes with it.

    The difference between the daring and the successful is that they’ve learned to cope with it.

    Questions to ask:

    How can I minimize my anxieties surrounding this?

    Can I make myself feel better about this decision?

    The more you dive, the more you’ll enter the water in a way that doesn’t hurt, and the board won’t seem quite as high…

    Jump.