meaningful

[Meaningful Mondays] Think radically

  • 16 August 2021
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[Meaningful Mondays] Think radically
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  • Director of Brand at Typeform
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Some thoughts after interviewing Daan Roosegaarde here in Rotterdam. Apologies in advance for the ramble (and noise):

 

 

And here’s Daan’s Ted Talk I referenced:

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your Monday, people.

Paul


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Fascinating musings (I prefer that to ‘ramblings’ :stuck_out_tongue: !) as always @paul I wonder if there are any tips for getting out of your comfort zone and into that place where radical thinking can actually take flight. “Traveling” through books is great for inspiration but then what do you actually do with that knowledge and insight? We generally live in a world of frameworks, processes and routines – so how do you apply radical thinking when you’re stuck inside such systems? For me it’s a big challenge, I wonder how other people feel?


Really looking forward to hearing from Daan and his take on things. He seems like a fascinating bloke.

 

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@paul - great set of comments about the interview with Daan. I have found his previous talks to be insightful and, pardon the use of the term, thought-provoking. 

Traveling to other people is a great thing - the more you read, of a variety of thinkers who are NOT of the same opinion as yourself, the more you get exposed to other thinking. If we let our minds absorb what we read, what we hear from these interactions, our subconscious will eventually link these new ideas and concepts with what we already have in our memory banks. 

thanks for pushing the limits of our ‘ritual constraints’ @paul 

 

@James - I agree with you on being stuck inside systems, especially after the past 18+ months of dealing with completely new ways of living and working. Lot’s of my own pre-existing routines had been shattered 2 years ago (6 months before the start of the pandemic) when i resigned from a senior management consulting job and started in ‘my own business’ - working for me. It required a complete reset of frameworks and routines, then came covid which altered reality even further. 

what i have re-learned in the past 6 months is to draw a box on a whiteboard and put all the thing i think i have to do on the inside and all the things that i want to do on the outside …. the objective for me is to make enough ‘doors’ in the four walls of the box on the whiteboard (must have at least 4 bullet points on how to get from an inside task to an outside item to create a doorway) to try and eliminate the complete box…. 

sounds cheesy, but it helps me think about getting outside the box.. and then i can focus on the priorities. on top of that, i ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS take 30 minutes at the start of the day to think up ways to do something that i have never done before - blocked in my calendar, before looking at typeform community lol

@paul  - am really looking forward to the full interview … cheers

 

and now back to vacation mode lol

 

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@john.desborough hope you’re enjoying your vacation – I see it hasn’t helped you turn off that brain 🧠 Thanks for sharing your tactics for opening mind doors. I feel like I’m really gonna have to follow you and @paul and get myself a whiteboard (although my wife would kill me as space in our flat is at a premium :P) 

Had a really enlightening conversation last night with an ex-colleague who spoke at Typeform’s Meaningful Event about her approach to deciding what balls to drop to make space to concentrate on the things you want out of life and work. Her system is (ironically) based around a goals framework but helps her free her mind for sustainable decision making.

 

We’re actually planning to bring that conversation here to a Meaningful Monday in September, along with a shared activity designed to help us all find time to invest brainpower in the things we really want to. Hopefully this will help us all to think more radically! Will give you both (and everyone else!) a shout when we post as would be interested to hear your thoughts on the approach.

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@James - lol.. i agree with limited space (previous house i had basement office and one wall was completely white board (20 feet x 8 feet) now i use portable white board sheets that i stick on surface based on static electricity and i can roll up and take anywhere (except on vacation lol) - i usually have 3 or 4 around the office walls 

 

i have also found that my Remarkable writing tablet (remarkable.com) makes for a great small whiteboard - i have used these tablets for almost 4 years now and i don’t travel anywhere without it - ideas, thought bubbles and stick drawings (i will never be an artist) fill the tablet as a small version of the white board.

 

i remember the speaker at Meaningful who talked about it being ok to let balls drop. That’s a very good and free-ing  moment when you realize you CAN let go of things… though we often find it hard to decide which things we want to let drop (baby/bathwater sort of thing… )

now, back to watching the fog lift off the lake across the way and the inevitable coffee.. 

cheers

 

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