Nothing comes into existence fully-formed.
The most perfect ideas can only thrive if they’re nurtured in an environment that encourages imperfection. An environment that assigns at least as much value and respect to “I’m curious about …” as it does to “I’ve got it!”
An environment that knows that no idea is inherently bad.
Toxic environments, by contrast, believe there is such a thing as an inherently bad idea.
They belittle and reject imperfection.
They don’t realise they’re rejecting wonderful things that just haven’t finished forming yet.
As without, so within
What’s more, environments have a tendency to seep into the people who are immersed in them.
And when they do, their beliefs become amplified.
Those external voices that reject imperfection, that reject ideas that aren’t fully formed, become inner voices that reject those same things with even more conviction.
Question that voice
Your inner voice, your thoughts and fears, they’re not facts.
When your inner voice tells you that an idea isn’t good enough, it’s only trying to protect you1. But you might not need that protection any more.
Reassure it that everything will be OK.
Ideas that stay within are often lost forever.
Ideas don’t have to be perfect to be shared.
If someone is foolish enough to attack you or think less of you because you shared an imperfect idea, that’s on them. Wise people in wise environments know not to do that.
It’s not only safe to nurture that imperfect idea outside of you, but preferable.
It feeds on ideas and suggestions and reactions from others, morphing and growing into something it could never have been on its own.
Speak up.
Or the most perfect of imperfect ideas will never see the light of day.
I find myself thinking about Pixar’s Braintrust. It’s a sort of council of storytellers who provide advice and counsel to whoever’s working on a story. They understand that ideas in their formative stages are precious, fragile things, like babies. You can’t shake them too hard at the start, or they’ll die. You need to nourish them and let them flourish first. You need to ask lots of exploratory questions with good-faith, rather than cross-examine them looking for flaws and mistakes. Once it’s found its legs, THEN you can start to challenge it, spar with it, and it’ll grow stronger as a result.
http://visakanv.com/1000/0675-smart-vs-kind/
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From your peers in the playground laughing at you for making a mistake? From your parents belittling you for getting something wrong? From whatever else you were affected by when you were too young to protect yourself. ↩
