Innoveering Nebraska

Today I came across a quote from Brenda Ueland.  You may not remember her, but she wrote the best book on writing that I’ve ever read:  If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit   Reading this book is like having coffee with your most encouraging friend.  Really, it’s that good.  Somehow Ueland distilled her impressive teaching skills into writing for each of us to access when we’re convinced we’ll never write anything worthwhile again.   I think everyone who writes or wants to write should have an emergency copy of this book safely tucked away on their shelves in case of a writing crises.

But back to the quote.  It’s one of her best, and I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten it.  Ueland believed that, in order to flourish, our imaginations need “moodling – long inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.”  Just reading that quote, you know she had to love words. 

But what a wonderful concept.  The idea that we need inefficient idling, dawdling and puttering to be creative.  Don’t all good mothers know this?  Researchers recently quoted in Newsweek and the Charlie Rose show said the same thing – except with much less delicious words. 

When was the last time you indulged in moodling?  Should we really consider moodling an indulgence if it’s necessary for creativity?  Those same researchers all agreed creativity will drive the new world economy.  Without creativity we can’t effectively problem solve.  We can’t imagine the next great invention or idea.  We can’t identify correlations between fields.  We can’t be innoveers. 

So go ahead and moodle.  Engage in “long inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.”  Ms. Ueland, your mom and a whole host of researchers would approve.

Here’s another great Brenda Ueland quote:

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Recently I stumbled across a new word in the Next One Hundred Million by Joel Kotkin.  It’s another Japanese word.  (Don’t you love that other cultures identify new concepts we’ve missed?)  

As far as I can tell in general sokojikara means that something has depth and strength.  However Fuji Kamiya, a faculty member at Keio University in Tokyo used it to describe America’s reserve power.  More specifically he used sokojikara to label “the self-renewing power generated by its [the USA's] unique combination of high fertility, great diversity, and enormous physical assets.”

What a great word and how applicable to our personal lives as well.  Remember my earlier obsession with rest?  (Click here for the relevant blog entries.)   I think building rest and time for creativity in our daily lives gives us personal sokojikara.  Sokojikara is a powerful thing – and not just by definition.  If all your batteries are fully charged (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) nothing can stop you.  It’s like a good hair day on steroids. 

Take care of yourself and achieve personal sokojikara. 

No time to read or listen to the book?  Check out one of Kotkin’s talk here or here.   Before you rule out reading the book though, you should know that I think it’s the best nonfiction book I’ve read in the last year – and I’ve read a lot in the last year…

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If you read my blog or follow me on twitter, you’ve probably figured out that I really enjoy words.  There’s just something about finding exactly the right word or combination of words to accurately convey your intended meaning that makes me happy – very happy. 

It’s geeky, but I really do love it and would like to do it a lot more often.  Not knowing how to approach such a career, I’ve dilly dallied about helping friends and family as they’ve asked.  I’ve also relished naming every little project I work on for myself.  So far I have SeasoningSmith (flavoring for yogurt and popcorn), SeeMore (a cool new mirror), the Habitmaker (bands of various colors that you use to establish new habits) and Innoveering. (pioneering innovations). 

Late last week a friend told me to get started already.  I won’t get to do this more often until I start advertising that I’m available.  So here I am: ready, able and happy to help. 

I’m starting small with just a page on my site that I’m calling Innoveering Words.  I admit that it’s not a super creative name, but the activity falls within the scope of my Innoveering Nebraska work and it feels appropriate to have the name reflect this relationship. 

Click here to check out the details – and maybe even send me something to help you name.  I’m giddy with excitement at the thought..

I’ve been contemplating what I love most about my self-employed status.  There’s an addictive feeling of contentment which arises from a sense that there is a direct correlation between the work I do and the rewards (financial, satisfaction of helping others, building something worthwhile, etc.) I receive.  I’m not saying that a formula runs this correlation (at least not any simple formula).  Instead I’m confident that, if I’m creative and work hard, eventually there will be positive results. 

But contentment doesn’t explain it all.  Which is why I’ve found myself contemplating this issue so often lately. 

I’ve decided the big explanation has more to do with chickens.  Specifically free range versus cooped up chickens. 

Have you ever seen Food Inc.?  It’s a documentary about the food industry and where our food comes from today.  In it there are images of these chickens with chest muscles so large that they can only take a few steps before they fall down.  They can’t fly at all and don’t even try.  They’re cooped up together in this large one story structure where they mingle like drunks at a bad party in a too small ballroom.  They’ve been bred for large chest muscles because of our great fondness for chicken breasts.

The big breasted cooped up chickens are well fed, they get to socialize a lot and nothing much is expected of them.  They’re probably happy – mostly because they don’t know anything different from their current circumstances. 

But if you put a free range chicken in that place the free range chicken would be miserable because it is accustomed to the freedom and thrill of dodging predators, hunting down a juicy insect, flapping it’s wings and all other types of chicken joys and trials large and small.  Milling about in a room waiting for dinner or the time to become dinner would be a bore for the free range chicken. 

Which doesn’t mean that it’s evil to be cooped up.  The chicken coop has it’s advantages.  Even a free range chicken might want to rest in a coop every now and then. 

But once you’ve been free range, you know when you’re cooped up. 

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On the Fourth of July the History Channel ran an America the Story of Us marathon and I DVRed every single episode.  I love the series and have never been able to see all of it. I’m slowly watching them one by one now and savoring every little bit.  Yesterday I learned that NASA has used (and may or may not continue to use) whale oil in space.  Apparently it’s the perfect lubricant for space exploration because it doesn’t freeze at the low temperatures found there.  Imagine that, an 1800′s relict enabling the exploration of space.   

Today my favorite quote came from a guidebook that was given to new immigrants at Ellis Island.

Forget your customs and ideals.  Select a goal and pursue it with all your might.  You will experience bad times.  But sooner or later you will achieve your goal.  Don’t take a moments rest.  Run. 

Wow!  How amazing is that?  Can you imagine showing up to a new job and being handed that pamphlet?  What would you think?  How great a company would that be to work for?  How great a country is that to live in?  Oh I hope we still hand out similar pamphlets to new immigrants.  I also wish that we’d hand out similar pamphlets to our existing citizens. 

Had you forgotten how wonderful a place we live for encouraging and enabling entrepreneurship?  I had until I listened to that quote.  I wish I had that pamphlet to sprinkle all over town – at the library and the post office and the coffee shop where all the entrepreneurs hang out like exotic safari animals at a watering hole. 

Your country needs you.  Select a goal.  Get to work.  Don’t take a moments rest.  Run.  Sooner or later you will achieve your goal.

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Tuesday morning I was woken by a call from my neighbor Jan.  Her son, Eddie, had been killed in Afghanistan on July fourth.  He was eighteen years old.   I didn’t know what to say to comfort her then and I’m afraid I still don’t know.  Instead I’ve listened to the neighbors talk out their shock and grief and I’ve coordinated a carpool with the older neighbors for his funeral.

What I do know is that Eddie Wood was a good kid who grew into a good man.  And I think he’s exemplary of Nebraskans.  We grow good people here. 

The story that explains this best happened two winters ago.  It was around 10:30 at night with lots of blowing snow and a good six inches of wet, heavy snow on the ground.  My street is on a high ridge and for some reason I was driving the car rather than the truck.  Do you have a mental picture? 

As I approached the driveway (thrilled that I made it up the hill), I realized there was a big figure standing behind the truck.  I panicked for a moment thinking that they might walk into my path or that they might be lurking with plans to sneak into the garage.  

But in the next instant I realized the person had shoveled my walk and the side of the driveway leading to the garage.  They were just finishing up the stretch of driveway behind my truck. 

I parked the car with no problem and walked down the drive to figure out which of the neighbor guys was helping me out.  And it was 17 year old Eddie. 

Who shovels the neighbor lady’s sidewalk and ridiculously large double driveway that late at night when it’s that cold, windy, snowy and frankly miserable out? 

These types of actions come from good people who have been raised by good parents in good communities. 

In the past, Nebraska’s slogan “the good life” has annoyed me.  Especially when viewed near one of Iowa’s university slogans “preparation for the great life.”

I don’t believe it will anymore though. 

In thinking about Eddie during the last few days, I’ve decided that good is often a very solid but modest excellent.  Because of this, good can be even better than great.  We grow good people here…and sometimes they die way too young because of it. 

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In catching up a little with my DVR this weekend, I watched several Charlie Rose shows.  In one Philip Johnson (an influential architect – the reason we have glass buildings) is visiting the Frank Gehry designed Bilbao Guggenheim Museum for the first time.  Overwhelmed, he says “It’s too bad there’s no words.  Architecture is not about words.  It’s all about tears and love.” You have to see it to really understand its impact.  Check it out here and fastforward to 06:14). 

Being a teary person myself, it got me thinking about the other times when there are no words.  Even when we’re teary because of good circumstances, these are still difficult times simply because they are so emotional – and often so hard won.  

I’m writing about it today because sometimes this happens in business.  And we don’t talk about this much.  Business, by definition is business-like.  It’s supposed to be formal, professional, arms-length.  It’s nothing personal, it’s just businesses. 

But it’s not.  At least I think it’s not more often than we like to admit.  For example,  in two different shows, Charlie Rose also interviewed  Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora.  Pandora is an on-line music provider that caters what you hear to what you love to hear.  Each artist and song are categorized into a dizzying number of categories (patented and named the Music Genome Project) which means that when you click to communicate that you’re really enjoying a song, the system knows what and who else you’ll like. 

Pandora struggled for more than ten years to become an overnight success.  Tim Westergren is thrilled to finally be pulling a salary and still shares a car with his wife.  He gets a little teary when he talks about the lean years, especially when he mentions how some of his employees worked without salaries for two years.  It’s not just business to him, it’s personal.  Personal for his staff, personal for his family who stuck by him for more than eight years of unsuccessful trying and personal for his passion to help people feel strongly about their music again.   

Last month I became embarrassingly teary when two businessmen asked me about the state of my first business endeavor.  Neither was taken aback by my tears as they pressed me for what felt like every little detail.  In my pain, I was slightly amazed by this phenomenon until one of them told me that everyone has a hard business experience in their past.  Apparently no one survives unscathed.  Once survived, no one likes to think about these things, much less discuss them. 

But we should.  Despite his hard business experience, this businessman is now very successful.  He mentors and supports many new businesspeople.  And he gave me a wonderful gift that day: knowledge that others have made mistakes and have not only survived them, but thrived afterwards based on what they learned.  We can survive if we’re in the right business for the right reasons with the right partners. 

Do you get a little teary about your business?  Are you willing to push through the issues and messes that ultimately lead to tears of all sorts (frustration, fear, anger, gratefulness, failure, joy…)?  If not, are you sure you’re in the right business?  Business building is hard work.  Remember the Heath brothers’ rational rider and emotional elephant?  (Click here for relevant blog entry)  You’ll get further if your elephant is engaged – even if it costs you some tears.

One last note, if someone claims to have survived all their business experiences unscathed I think they’re either a) unwilling to be honest with you, b) in denial, or c) the person who does the scathing.  Think about it.

As the fourth of July neared this year I found myself thinking about freedom a lot.  I have an increased appreciation for freedom.  The neighbor boy who used to mow my lawn graduated from high school and joined the Army last summer.  This spring he went to Afghanistan where he’s been interacting with insurgents and hunting for IEDs.  One day in May some insurgents blew up his Humvee.  Luckily he and his co-workers were walking about looking for IEDs at the time.   Still it seems wrong for a sweet hard working 18 year old to be worrying about his ride being blown up in a 3rd world country.

In his almost 19 years on the planet, he has done far more than I have to defend our freedoms.  Which has gotten me thinking about whether or not I’m even fully utilizing those expensive and hard-earned freedoms.  Sadly, I think I’m not, but I’ve resolved to do better. 

For myself, I think I conform to irrelevant and sometimes even meaningless rules, social norms, and preconceived notions.  I’ve done this thoughtlessly, simply following the expected path and/or the path of least resistance.  I think I’ve also conformed out of fear sometimes.  It can be hard to stick out in the crowd.  But no more! 

Don’t get me wrong, some rules, norms and notions are necesssary for a safe and harmonious society.   I have no intention of becoming rude.  You’ll also notice I’ve not listed laws in my litany of little ways I unconsciously but willingly give up freedom.  Laws I won’t disobey.

So what does this look like in practical terms?  I’m more conscious when I’m making decisions now about why I’m making that particular decision.   From the big stuff.  Such as why don’t I think I can or should take on that project – is it for real reasons or stuffy conventional reasons.  To the little stuff.  Am I wearing that clothing  because it’s comfortable and I’ll think well in it or because it’s what I think I’m expected to wear?  Is that really the expectation?  The point is that I think about it now.  I’m thinking about all these decisions more now.  Or rather I’m thinking about what factors should contribute to my thinking about all these decisions now.  It’s shockingly enlightening.  Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean. 

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I’ve spent so much time writing about finding the right word and searching to make sure you can use it for your intended purpose, that I feel the need to mention something else.  Words are great, but it’s the work and the ideals they represent that really matter. 

The perfect word can do wonders to boost your business, but you have to have a functioning business to obtain the boost.  No word can guarantee success – you definitely have to work for it.  It’s the same as getting a great location in the busiest block of your town.  If you don’t manufacture the inventory and if you don’t show up to man the store, you’ll go out of business quickly.  Even though you have a prime location.

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