Listening to Ideas
Happy Weekend, everyone.
Being a visionary can seem overwhelming at times.
Things don't go as planned
We have big audacious goals
Time, energy, and resources are limited
Remember to take time to focus on things going well.
The wins are there, but sometimes you have to dig in and look for them.
Let's be grateful for another opportunity to do the things we love and spend time with people we enjoy.
Every day is a big deal.
Now... lets dive in.
‘I love to lose myself in other men’s minds’, wrote Charles Lamb. ‘When I am not walking, I am reading; I cannot sit and think. Books think for me.’
For many people, reading and research is more a device for avoiding thought rather than as an aid to it. But reading for diversion or entertainment, or reading merely for information, is different from reading for idea generation. What kinds of reading will develop your creative imagination?
I can hear myself better when I take the time to read because my mind is calm at that period. The more I interact with the author's idea the better I understand, and I do get more Insights on steps to take about the issue been expounded. The kinds of reading that develops my Creative Imagination more is Mind development related books and the Bible. Reading without reflecting has been compared to eating without digesting. ‘Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested’, Francis Bacon put it more accurately. One page or even one paragraph properly digested will be more fruitful than a whole volume hurriedly read. Or, as the film mogul, Sam Goldwyn, said to a hopeful author, ‘I have read part of your book all the way though.’ When you come across significant parts – the passages that speak to you – it is worth remembering the counsel of the Book of Common Prayer: ‘Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.’
I believe a good reader should be able to listen and to be a good listener, you must firstly have curiosity, that all-essential desire to learn. That requires a degree of humility, the key to having an open mind. For if you think you know it all, or at least if you believe you know more than the person to whom you are talking, you are hardly inclined to listen. Having an open mind does not guarantee that you will buy the idea, proposition or course of action being put to you. But it does mean that you are genuinely in the marketplace for new ideas. You will buy if the price is right :)
The next requirement is to control your analytical and critical urges. For your first priority is to grasp fully what the other person is actually saying, especially if it is a new and therefore strange idea to you. Have you a clear picture of it in your mind? A hearer only hears what the other person is saying; a listener discovers the real import of their words. A person who listens because he or she has nothing to say can hardly be source of inspiration. The only listening that counts is that of the talker who alternately absorbs and expresses ideas.
Being able to listen to ideas is key to the innovation process. What is your subconscious trying to say to you? What is your heart telling you? It's crucial that you pay close attention to this inner quest. You may have even started working on an idea or you just got an idea but you're trying to figure out how to go ahead with execution. I will say you should pay attention to your enviroment and what your inner-self is saying, you may get the clue you're looking for. I've been in circumstances when I'm stuck, but a lot of the time, a certain event or book can spark my imagination, and I'll put the pieces together and realize what to do next. You might also attempt that.
I will next share on moving from concept to communication.
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