Have you ever noticed that it is impossible to do something without structure. There has to be some framework or foundation upon which to build whatever creative endeavor comes to mind. Dancers require a solid floor. Drummers require a rigid shell and a taut drum skin; painters a canvas and frame, even the most abstract sculpture rests on a foundation and is cached in the rigid structure of a gallery. Notice that your body alternates rigidity and flexibility (bones and joints).

Habits are similar to these rigid structures. Good habits, often hard to come by, provide a basis for high efficiency and high quality production. Bad habits, unfortunately, provide consistently negative results. However, whether you look at the good habits or the bad habits it is to your advantage to realize that habits are a springboard to more creativity and innovation. How?

Use your existing habits, focus on the good ones, as a platform for learning something new. If you’re a rapid reader with good retention try reading in a different subject area. If you’re in business you could read about the process above or below you in the pipeline. Or you could study something completely different, such as a radiologist studying metallurgy. The goal is to develop new habits that can expand your mind and your collection of capabilities.

For more detail and ideas consult this article in the New York Times.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Life Guides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.