A question of asking questions…

After football last week I started to look for a brush to clean up the changing rooms, when one of the young (U8) players asked me what I was doing?

 

When I told him I was looking for a brush, he responded by asking why I wanted the brush?

 

Now, there was some divvlement going on and when I replied by saying I wanted the brush to sweep the floor, he responded by asking why I wanted to sweep the floor?

 

I’m not sure how long the line of questions would have continued because my fellow coach (the youngster’s dad) told him to quit, but when I thought on it afterwards, two things sprung to mind.

 

The first was this scene from Uncle Buck when MacCauley Culkin questions John Candy – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZMWgW6QNuw – (we were a long way off the record of 38) – but secondly I was reminded of one of the innovation sessions we did a few weeks ago.

 

Now, without going back to check on my notes, I am pretty certain I heard the advice that we should ‘ask why five times.’

 

It may even have been, at least five times and not always necessarily why, but nevertheless it was a reminder that innovation comes from questioning.

 

The questions from the young player might have been directed as a bit of fun to see how far I’d go, but when I thought on it afterwards, I wondered where it might have led?

 

Why did I need to brush the floor? Because the mud from the pitch comes in on the football boots.

 

Why do they need to wear football boots? Because they need the studs for grip on the grassy pitch.

 

Why not look at designing a boot that has retractable studs so the mud just slides off after the game?

 

Why would that not work? What could work better? How can we look at this differently? Where could we find something like?

 

For many of us as adults, we have lost that ability somewhere along the line to question things, perhaps because we are afraid to suggest solutions that seem too ‘crazy.’

 

We like things to be the way they were and if something comes along that changes that, we’d rather moan about it than thinking on a solution.

 

In his book ‘A whack on the side of the head: How to unlock your mind for motivation,’ Dr. Roger Von Oech said:

 

“It’s no longer possible to solve today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions. Over and over again people are finding out that what worked two years ago won’t work next week. This gives them a choice. They can either bemoan the fact that things aren’t as easy as they used to be, or they can use their creative abilities to find new answers, new solutions and new ideas.”

 

Rather than running with the first solution that comes to mind, ask the questions, look at things differently and from a variety of vantage points and weigh up what’s best after that.

 

Psychologist Abraham Maslow once wrote:

“People who are only good with hammers, see every problem as a nail.”

 

So, instead of just battering on. Take a minute to see if things can be done differently?

 

I’ve already been asking myself the question.

 

Who else can I get to brush up after next week’s match!

 

 

 

Behind paper walls

 

The questions stopped.

Got packaged away.

Like decorations in a box.

That somehow we were

supposed to think,

would hold them all.

 

We would free some,

every now and then.

Be so pleased with ourselves

that we had managed

to think outside.

 

Our curiosity imprisoned.

Instead of tearing

down those paper walls,

we hid behind them.

Never questioned why

we had failed to reach

our maximum potential?

 

(Liam Porter 2019)

 

 

Running on empty

You cannot pour from an empty cup. It’s a line on a photo I have on my phone and serves a reminder to me that when I have drained myself of everything – I will have nothing left to give.

 

I have thought on this several times over the past few weeks as I struggled to cope with illness that frustrated me because it saw me operate on less than full capacity.

 

In the grand scheme of things it was nothing major, nevertheless an infection I struggled to shake, meant I had to rest more often than I would like (or be used to) and the frustration was exacerbated once I felt I was not making as good a contribution as I should be.

 

Many times in this blog I have referenced teamwork and how I enjoy being part of teams working towards a well-defined goal – and for me, one of the key elements needed for successful teamwork is commitment.

 

Commitment goes beyond just being interested in something, because when you are interested in something you’ll only do it if it is convenient.

 

Commitment, on the other hand means you won’t accept excuses – only results.

 

I guess if you have that as a primary driver, it can be difficult to accept that you sometimes need to stop – just take a rest for a while and make sure that you do not keep on running.

 

And that is exactly what I found. With projects to start and to finish, with deadlines to meet, with teams to work in, teams to prepare, with grass to cut and miles to drive and stories to write and basically, a whole list of things – all I could see was a to-do list that was growing and would only continue to grow if I stopped.

 

So I didn’t – and while things took me longer or took more out of me than I might have liked, I found – as I have many times in the past, that when you commit to something and pursue it with depth and intensity, that commitment will provide a source of renewal and energy that rejects indifference and apathy.

 

Devotion, dedication and duty, add energy and possibility to the smallest ambition and it is always great to get things done, especially when you feel like you might not have managed them.

 

But it’s also important to remember that if you keep on running until you fall apart at the seams, then you won’t be able to deliver for yourself or for anyone else.

 

Every now and then you have to stop. To take a breath. To recharge.

 

You can’t after all pour, from an empty cup.

 

Unwritten

With my thumb I have already,

turned up the bottom corner of today.

Peeking ahead, I have

let those files from the future

shoot out their hooks.

Now, those lists of lines,

trails of to-dos,

twist and weave

to entangle my thoughts.

I am sketching out tomorrows,

while in the sand of time,

today remains.

Unwritten.

 

 

 

Colour your imagination…

Until last week I didn’t know that pink tastes like a fluffy cloud, that yellow feels like laughter or that black sounds like an echo.

 

But I do now.

 

You see, I was in a classroom last week talking to some amazing children who are working on a creative writing project, so we did a little exercise together writing a colour poem.

 

I gave them an example of a colour and what it feels like, tastes like, sounds like, smells like – and rather than question how a colour can smell like something, they just set to work.

 

It was brilliant – and the work they managed to come up with in a short space of time, blew the socks off me – it was so good.

 

Before we’d started that piece, I’d spoken to them about the importance of using all our senses when writing, so that we don’t just describe what we see – but to try and use our imagination and look beyond that.

 

As I drove back that evening filled with admiration for the teachers who encourage such creative thinking among their pupils, I was reminded of a time when I was at primary school when our class had been set a task of coming up with a new invention.

 

This memory has stayed with me over the years and was rekindled as I watched the development of mobile phone technology and eventually held a smart phone in my hand.

 

You see, my great invention idea back in 1979 was a telephone that would allow people not just to hear who was on the other end of the line, but also to see them.

 

My 10-year-old logic for this was, if we already had telephones and we already had television, then surely a way could be found that both technologies could merge?

 

Now, the memory was rekindled in some ways over the years by a feeling of ‘that could have been me.’

 

But, I am also around long enough now to know that is a feeling people have all the time, when somebody else has the same idea – except that they’ve also acted on it to make it a reality.

 

The main reason it stands out for me is that I was laughed out of court that day.

 

I guess, looking back on it now, the concept was too far-fetched for the teacher to imagine and because he dismissed it, the class followed suit.

 

Fast-forward another forty years and I’m now back in a learning environment, where creative thinking is not necessarily expected, but is actively encouraged – and it is brilliant.

 

It is amazing because we are constantly being jolted out of our comfort zone and every time that happens, we are being dragged from the ruts and tracks that we’ve fallen into as adults and we’re discovering.

 

Yep, just discovering.

 

We are finding it is okay to be like the kids I visited last week in primary school who both question everything and don’t question everything!

 

By that I mean, because of the encouragement they receive and the environment they are in,  they know instinctively when to question or not. They were full of questions about why I write, how I write, where ideas come from, when did I start writing?

 

Yet, when I asked them to write how a colour makes them feel, they just went and did it without question and without fear, because their answer was never going to be wrong.

 

Of course, not having actually invented the smartphone, I understand that success takes more than an idea, but I also realise the importance of encouraging imagination, urging people to voice their ideas – however crazy they might sound at the time – because those are the seeds from which innovation will grow.

 

Every single child last week wanted to read their poem for the round of applause and acclaim that followed.

 

No matter how their colours sounded, tasted or felt, not one felt like a misfit.

 

I hope it was because from the very outset I had told them, it’s okay to be one!

 

 

Misfit

 

It’s okay to be a misfit,

to go against the grain,

chase your own dream.

You were never meant

to be boxed away anyway,

wrapped up in layers

of someone else’s reality.

 

It’s alright to not fit in,

for you adventure lies in wait.

You’ll fight the giants

just for the fun of it,

and fall off cliffs sometimes,

then just climb back up again.

 

It’s quite fine to not conform,

think outside in and back to front,

for you can see a bigger picture

and there you will be happy.

 

It’s okay to be a misfit.

 

Happiness after all,

is the point.

 

 

(Liam Porter 2018)