Derek Sivers: weird, or just different?

How many times have you gotten bogged down to thinking that there is only one way to do something? How many times do you use the same object over and over again not even realizing it could be used for something else?  How many times have you overlooked another person’s point of view without even giving it much thought?  How many times have you become so deeply enveloped in a theory or a way of doing something that you just simply can’t see the other side?

Throughout the years the world has become very black and white and people have become accustomed to just accepting what is around them.  Assumptions are made all too often, and we live in a world based on habit.

Here, in his TED talk, Derek Sivers points out cultural differences from around the world.

This two-minute talk opened my eyes to many different things. Don’t just limit yourself to thinking about cultural differences.  It can be related to anything: how important it is to keep an open mind, to look at the world from different angles.

It makes me think back to when I was a kid.  I loved Where’s Waldo, I Spy, and those search and find puzzles. Anything that had me looking for something small and unique in a huge picture full of different things would have me quiet for hours. (Well, maybe not hours, but long enough to keep me out of the way.) Whenever I was doing one of these kinds of puzzles and I couldn’t find what I was looking for I would always, always, flip the book upside down.  Sure enough, after a few minutes or so, Waldo would be looking me square in the eyes.

Who would have thought something so simple like turning a picture upside down would be so successful?  I wasn’t worried about looking funny, or doing it wrong, I just wanted to find Waldo.  And I did.

Looking at things from a different angle can lead to a whole new world of opportunities.  In fact, the other day I learned that Charles Darwin, the man who came up with the theory of Evolution, was actually a geologist.  That’s right, a guy who studied rocks for a living, was able to come up with what today is known as Darwinism.  We can’t be afraid to be wrong.  If we are we, won’t ever come up with anything original.