PhotoCredit: WhatDoesTheFoxSay
I spent my early school days somewhat distracted. Focus was not my thing. Unless it was to determine which sandwich ingredient best stuck a slice of bread to the ceiling. Marmite, it turns out, works best. I thought it would be hilarious if my lunch rained from the sky in the middle of class. Sadly it happened in a split second and about two people noticed it.
Decent execution. Poor outcome. Like many things, it made more sense in my head.
My mind drifted back to school as I was reading this article over the weekend. Paul Graham, rather a favorite thinker/writer/entrepreneur of mine, opines on the importance of being smart. He notes that this can be useful for winning arguments but doesn't necessarily support innovation. He notes that this is the beginning of a thought for him but adds that Einstein should be thought of more as an innovator than an intellect. Clearly both, but it is arguably his innovation brain that lead to him being a household name.
I'd like to classify my lunch-escapades as innovation, largely because I wasn't winning by any intellect measures at that stage of my schooling. Later on I buckled down, worked hard and got some decent academic achievements. Scholar was not one of them.
Pondering this I thought 'intelligence seems mighty linear and squiggling is more aligned to innovative thinking.' Squigglers, by necessity, must excel at solutions rather than theory. We need to be ideas people. Often operating on the fly. Squigglers are like the fox: cunning, artful, wily. All great squiggling qualities. The tech industry might call it being "agile" but that has become far too process-compulsive to be interesting through an innovation lens.
But I wouldn't even use innovative as the first word to describe myself. The most important quality any squiggler (and any pandemic-thriver) must cultivate is resilience. The ability to rebound. From failure, illness, sadness, bad days, and even frustration. Resilient like a fox...just like my most most favorite fox.
Squigglers take defeat and turn it into victory. Just give us a minute. Or a few years. The greatest stories of achievement all seemingly begin with being knocked out. Literally, if you take Muhammad Ali's career as an exemplar of resilience.
I still have moments of not feeling quick enough, not smart enough, or not studious enough. It sometimes feels like it's the intellects' world and we mere innovative and resilient mortals just live in it. Well, I have a question for you. Do you want to be right or do you want to win? I'm fine with them thinking they are right. I'll be at the finish line.