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February 18, 2006
Innovation
Tonight I'm going to start with two quotes, then tie them together with my experiences today:
Goethe said something like, "“Whatever you do or dream you can do - begin it! Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.�
Stemming from an ancient Roman saying, "Necessity is the mother of Invention."
These two phrases ARE related in a big way. I'm kind of a creative, inventive person and a troubleshooter. I do software technical support for a living, so pinpointing problems and finding a solution has become more standard procedure for me than an oddity. I love to solve problems. And I love creating beautiful things!
Today I was at the bike shop teaching Ying how to rebuild a bottom bracket. Bike repair is interesting, but even more interesting when we find out two key things about the bike we are working on. One is when we discover that the part has not been serviced in a very long time, as evidenced by the congealed, hardened grease, or what's left of it. The second is when we discover that this part has been altered by someone and is non-standard. It takes a long time for grease to get into this condition! And so, thinking about the alterations on this bike, I have to think that the repairs were also made a long time ago. The crank was stripped and had to be replaced, so we either had find a crank and sprocket that was right for this bike or improvise as the original mechanic had done. We tried but found out that this old three-speed bike originally had cottered cranks and the crank we were replacing was a single-piece crank. Well, that was fun! But we weren't going to put an old cottered crank bottom bracket together, though we probably could have done it. We instead put another single-piece crank together. We improvised with an old Huffy single-single piece crank using the original chainring that the bike had on it. Then when we put it together discovered that it wasn't an exact fitt because the s[rpcket ended up too close to the frame. So we improvised again and found a safe way to make this work. When things did not work, we used creativity and found a good solution. We were actually inspired by the original repair job, but did it better.
Then after the bike shop I went to my art studio and worked on some Ukrainian Easter Eggs. On one design I splattered some water on it while draining the egg and got some white splotches on the egg. I then tried to correct this by using a cue-tip and wiping some die on the egg to cover the lightened areas. That didn't work. It made it worse. So, instead of trying to match the original darker tone of the surrounding areas, I found a natural division of areas on the egg and made that whole area a lighter shade by rubbing the color with the cue-tip dipped in dye. It made a striking image on the egg and the design was actually improved over the original intent!
This is where the genious, power and magic come in. Once we get into something and it's not working so well, if we are creative we invent a solution. This is why we are encouraged to follow our dreams and just do it! Because if we do, once we are in it, being creative beings, we will find solutions to whatever obstacles we come across. In fact, before we begin many things we don't even comprehend what obstacles or challenges we will face because they are hidden from us. Necessity is the mother of invention. Once we discover the problems we can work on a solution to the problem. We can be creative.
So whatever you dream of, just begin it! Be creative and the magic will follow.
Posted by carl1236 at February 18, 2006 10:16 PM | Attitude