#ThinkfullyHabit: Look beyond others
It often makes sense to look at other people’s solutions; to steal inspiration and nab fresh ideas. However, it also limits us to what other people have done. There’s a huge amount of inspiration that can come from looking beyond what others have already tried.
Take the example of James Dyson, the Industrial Designer, who was inspired by his visit to a local sawmill and noticed how the sawdust was removed from the air by large industrial cyclones. As a result, his “engineering instinct kicked in” and he got the idea of putting a small scale cyclone inside a vacuum cleaner.* It led to the world’s first bagless cleaner. Or, Professor James Marshall of Sheffield University who is reverse engineering the bee brain to help develop software for the next generation of drones.** These are two extremely different examples, but both started from taking inspiration from one part of life and applying it to a totally different purpose. Neither Dyson or Marshall started from other people’s solutions.
“I used to think being inspired was about sitting around waiting for ideas to come to you. That can happen occasionally...but generally, it’s not like that at all. I liken the process to seeing ghosts: the ideas are always there, half-formed. It’s about being in the right state of mind to take them and turn them into something that works.”
WHY?
Using other sources of inspiration to solve problems can lead to incredible breakthroughs which often start with looking either to nature or to other industries entirely. There’s lots of examples, from porcupine quills inspiring surgical staples***, to the firefly inspiring LED light bulbs****, to the ballpoint pen triggering the design of the roll on deodorant.*****
Yes, it requires us to ask different questions such as, ‘where else have I seen this problem tackled?’, or ‘how would nature solve this?’, but really it starts a lot earlier. It starts with our attitude and mindset. It requires us to be more like this:
Deliberate. Rather than waiting for connections to be made, go and look for them.
Curious. Be playful and inquisitive. Don’t be overly regimented or overly ordered at the expense of seeing where ideas take you.
Resourceful. Spot the opportunities as they present themselves and be open to where these may come from. Push against being limited by what’s expected or prescribed.
Fluid. Expect there to be several ways to solve a problem. Don’t be too quick to believe there’s only one way to achieve something.
The challenge for us all is to open up our sphere of inspiration, go beyond what other's have done and look for genius ideas that can emerge from unexpected places.
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