Embracing Naivete

What possibility would you step into today if you didn't know it was impossible?

Is anything really impossible?

Human locomotion and flight were impossible until they weren't. So were the lightbulb and the internet. So were thousands of other ideas and inventions.

Think of the complexity of walking and talking. These endeavors require coordination and conceptual thinking that are impossible to completely and fully articulate or understand. And yet, you began both walk and talk before or soon after your first birthday.

How does the impossible become possible? By embracing naivete and acting as if you can be or do the impossible.

I'm not suggesting you cultivate willful ignorance or recklessness. That would be unhealthy and dangerous. But what if you reclaimed your childlike sense of wonder, imagination, focus, and boldness whenever you confront a challenge or impossibility?

What if you suspended your value judgments, status anxieties, and fear of failure when presented with a chance to step into possibility, develop your potential, or deliver on your promise? What if you stopped insisting on certainty and assurance?

You've done this before. Not only did you learn to walk and talk without a manual or guarantee, you also learned to read and write and do hundreds of other things that were impossible until they weren't.

What if you baked a little unsophistication, ingenuousness, and credulity into your approach to the difference only you can make?* What if you began looking at the task at hand with the intention and integrity of beginner's mind? What impossibility might become a little bit less so and a little bit more possible?

* Need to look up ingenuous and credulity? I know I did! Click here to broaden your vocabulary.

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

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