Even Keeled

The New York Times had a very interesting piece on innovation, specifically how looking at existing habits and adapting new ones helps creativity and problem solving. By forcing change into our lives, we become more effective at overcoming the challenges we face on a daily basis. Successful problem solving results in breaking through barriers and opening up new ideas. A virtuous cycle which keeps the brain from atrophying, literally.

Not all “new thinking” leads to success, sometimes the failures are catastrophic and long lingering in our collective memory. Today is the 71st anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, a frequent reference for any project that is not well planned and poorly executed with a very public collapse. However, it is also the anniversary of the 4 minute mile barrier being broken by Roger Bannister. Bannister initially faced failure during the 1952 Olympics and considered quiting competitive running entirely. But, he instead he looked the the 4 minute mile as a challenge, something to retrain his mind and body to overcome. Success followed. Bannister looked at this as just one milestone in his life however, and now looks at his achievements in the area of medicine and neurology as more important than any timed race.