Willing to Be Led Astray

06/14/2011

I think of the trees and how simply they let go.
May Sarton

In Expect the Unexpected (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2002), Roger von Oech offers the following advice on expectations...

"When we go off the beaten path, we often find something better or more exciting than we were originally looking for. For example, physicist Karl Jansky improvised a new antenna to study the effects of telephone static. Instead, he discovered radio waves from the Milky Way galaxy, and in the process helped create the science of radio-astronomy. In 1856, chemist William Perkin searched for a synthetic quinine to combat malaria. Instead, he discovered a dyestuff that was the first practical synthetic color...

"How can we prepare ourselves for the unexpected? I suggest that we: 1) loosen our preconceptions about what we expect to find in any given situation; 2) pay special attention to the anomalous rather than ignoring it; and 3) use what we discover as stepping stones to something very different. Why don't we adopt this outlook more often? A major reason is that in order to get things done, we tend to filter out information that strikes us as 'irrelevant'. Indeed I find that I'm less likely to find the unexpected when I'm in a hurry or narrowly focused on a specific task. Conversely, when I'm relaxed or playful, there's a greater probability that unexpected things will flow my way."

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