Did you ever think that being immature would be a requirement of success? Isn’t that great news? If you were a late bloomer in life, one of the last to put away your toys and transition to more grown-up activities, your reluctance to move on may be a sign of genius.
There are numerous reasons that it’s not a good idea to put away all of your childish things. Those toys and games you took part in as a child allowed you to make leaps and bounds in development. They helped you practice a sense of wonder and expand your mind. They also instilled an idea that anything was possible.
It still is. If you don’t believe that, you have set up too many adult-size barriers in your life, and it’s time to remove them and return to your childish ways. Your assignment today is to bring back childish things. Return to games that you enjoyed as a youngster. Read a book that transports you into a fantasy world; spend some time coloring or drawing; go to see a movie that has very little basis in reality; eat an ice cream sundae and savor every spoonful; roll down a grassy hill; or make angels in the snow.
Returning to childish things helps you to not take yourself too seriously. It removes a lot of the judgment that adults like to attach to everything we do. When you are just playing, you don’t care about the results. You are in a constant state of experimentation and wonder. Let yourself go back there. It will open your mind and give the judge who resides in your head the day off. The best way to release your genius is to remove anything standing in its way.
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Read the passage above several times. Imagine the world Robert Fulghum created when he suggested that the next secret weapon be a Crayola bomb. Does that sound completely ridiculous to you? Did you turn off this image the minute you were halfway through the paragraph because it was silly and fanciful? Did you question why it was included in a book about achieving success?
Table your misgivings for a moment and go with this exercise anyway. Find a quiet corner sometime today and give yourself permission to experience this world where we solve crises with Crayolas. Draw your own picture of how the earth would look after a beauty bomb is released. Write about how your personal life would change if something like this actually happened.
You don’t have to be a slave to your cynicism. Absolutely anything can happen. You make choices to go with enlightenment or obscurity every single day. It’s not fair to blame anyone else for the state of world affairs, because you are a member of this team. You choose how active you will be in your society. Are you going to cover the world with imagination and a sense of wonder, or are you going to close doors on the future?
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Yes, you are the somebody who has the power to do something about that. A very big part of achieving success is taking responsibility. If you want to excel, you no longer get the luxury of blaming your circumstances on anyone or anything else. You have to get into action and do something about the things that bother you.
So what exactly does bother you? What do you come across during the day that causes you to think, “Hey, I wonder why somebody hasn’t done something about that?” Make a list of items that you think need to change in this world. Nothing is too big or too small. What gets on your nerves? What do you think is just plain wrong? What are you surprised that no one has fixed yet?
Once you have a healthy list going, pick three of the items on the list. Now you are that somebody. What are you going to do to remedy those issues on your list? What actions can you take as an active member of your society that will create change?
You may not be able to fix the entire problem on your own, but you can probably take steps in the right direction that will help to solve it. You can be a catalyst that will inspire others to join your cause and take action. You are more than halfway through this year. The time for reflection and waiting is long gone. Now you must act in order to create a better future for yourself.
