T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
adhere as firmly as intended. Velcro was another flop, the mili-
tary’s attempt to create a fastener that could be “unzipped” with-
out making any noise.
Often the “genius” idea comes disguised as irrelevancy. The
folks at Pringles potato chips had no luck trying to devise a better
bag for their chips, one that would keep the chips fresh and prevent
crumbling. They found their answer only when they expanded the
search from “bag” to “container” and began looking at crazy stuff
like tennis ball cans.
Invention often comes from dogged determination, as when
Thomas Edison tried out over seven hundred different materials
before discovering that tungsten would glow without burning up
when he allowed an electric current to pass through it.
How can you afford to try out seven hundred wrong answers?
Maybe the question should be: How can you afford not to?
When you’re busy, you stop seeking creative breakthroughs.
You don’t even welcome them if they somehow manage to thrust
up through the wall of conscious thought and insist on recogni-
tion. Instead, you dismiss them as interruptions. You’ve already
finished that project and need to get on to the next one. There’s no
time to go back and rethink it.
But instead of rejecting, you must embrace.
Welcoming the Ah-Ha!
The history of humanity is filled with dramatic creative
breakthroughs.
Archimedes discovers the displacement theory while sitting in
the bathtub one day observing the level of water in the tub fall as
he stands and rise as he eases himself back into the water. Kekule
dreams about a snake biting its own tail and discovers the struc-
ture of the Benzine ring after failing for years to discover it in the
lab. Coleridge “writes” his “Kubla Khan” in a trance. Paul Stookey