Winner's Circle Network with Lou Tice - 3/22/06 - "Being Surprised"
Can you be very cool and sophisticated and also highly creative at the same
time? I am not so sure it is possible.
Do you know anyone who is too sophisticated, too cool to ever be surprised?
If so, don't be envious. The experience of surprise is also a sign of our
readiness to grow. Amazement and wonder are clear signals that our
self-concept and our concepts of the world and other people, are flexible
and open to being reshaped. What's more, it takes commitment and the ability
to focus to allow us the experience of surprise.
Now, the so-called cool and sophisticated person has a hard time being
surprised. He guards against anything that even suggests surprise, because
he needs to believe that he has everything figured out. But what he's really
done is build a wall around his creative reservoir with his veneer of
sophistication. It is people like this who are most unwilling to commit
themselves to anything, least of all an ideal, and certainly not the
development of their own creativity.
Creativity must be encouraged and nurtured if you want to grow as a person.
You have to be willing to seek out and develop that which is new in
yourself. At the same time, you are letting go of old habits, beliefs and
expectations that are no longer useful.
That's creativity in action, and in the long run, it's far more important
than being totally cool!
Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute
www.thepacificinstitute.com
"TPI teaches people how to manage change, set and achieve goals, lead more
effectively, and think in ways that create success."
