The Biography of Achievement
Copyright
2010 Heritage Productions
Thought
Worth
The
Gateway to Innovation
“
Men are strong as long as they stand for a strong idea.”
~ Sigmund Freud
How often have you heard the measure of an individual’
success determined by his or her personal possessions or net worth . . .?
Conventional thinking would have us believe this to be in-deed and in-fact an
accurate measure. But, the reality of it has always been and will always be . .
. The intangible proceeds the tangible or the idea is the gateway to
innovation. No matter how you put it, without first thinking of a new or better
way of doing things, no progress has ever been made. I dare say then, that your
thought worth will always out weigh your net worth, as you can not have the
latter without realization of the first.
Let’s take for
example the incandescent light bulb; long before it was a tangible fixture of
achievement, it was but another one of Thomas Edison’s bright ideas. Then
there’s the matter of history’s first independently powered ”manned flight” an
intangible concept until two bicycle repairmen with the right stuff, believing
the sky’s the limit reached for the clouds, caught them, and the rest of the
worlds attention. That day was, December 17, 1903 ; the place was Kittyhawk North Carolina
Hello, has the concept of “thought worth” begun to formulate
seed with you yet...? Hold that thought while we consider the value of
communicating with friends, family and business associates in this present day
and age... Think about the ease with which we can dial direct to anyone
anywhere in the world. Then consider the efforts of an advocate and teacher for
the deaf, who heard the call to explore new and innovative ways to help them
communicate, resulting in what has become modern mans most common connivance...
the telephone.
Before this contraptions introduction, the telegraph was
“the high tech “of its day with scores of individuals always looking to improve
upon it... That is until Alexander Gram Bell
No...Henry Ford did not give us gasoline or the first
self-propelled four-wheeled vehicle... But, the concept of Henry Ford’ mass
production through a moving assembly-line was revolutionary... Thus making the
Model – T, a vehicle whose time had come, an affordable dream come true for his
time. The first Model - T was introduced Oct.1, 1908...”Ideas are the gateway
to innovation!” That seed can now be firmly planted in the soil of your mind,
with absolute facts to fertilize the value of thought worth.
Okay, let’s water that seed a little with the familiar story
of another innovative farm boy, who dreamed of telling stories through
pictures. As an animator he was average, as a businessman he was an
entrepreneur. But as a storyteller he was a genius who lit the screens and
hearts of all who experienced his stories on the silver screen, creating
opportunity for all who followed him in the realm of celoid ink and paint. His
imagination backed by perspiration yielded the harvest of the world’s first
animated “talking film,” and the world’s first animated feature film, along
with several other firsts in this media. That individual, who with a stroke of
the brush painted his way into history, entertainment and our hearts, was
Walter Elias Disney.
From these seeds of inspiration, imagination, and ingenuity
there is much for us to learn, but hold on...Class isn’t over yet. To further
illustrate the value of “thought worth” let us journey back to the year 1285 as
we fix our sights on Italy, where an Arab scientist called Al-Hazen discovered
how lenses produce images in about 1,000%. Thanks to Al-Hazen’s exploration
into the unknown, this resulted in a magnifying glass that could be used to see
close objects clearly. The idea of spectacles had fertile soil to grow in.
Another seed of independent thought, took root in a young
Polish girl from Eastern Europe, who proved that in science as in life...”Our
reach can not exceed our grasp, if we will pay the price of our passion”. She
did so, not only by graduating first in her class at the Sorbonne in Paris
Madame Curie, professor at the Sorbonne, winner of the Nobel
Prize in Physics and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry died in 1934 poisoned by the
radium she had worked with for so long. I salute her courage and bright ideas
that added days to my own Father’s life. Although a victim of the horrors of
cancer, like Madame Curie he understood the value of vision and never became a
quitter on life. We could all learn from these lessons of courage, commitment
and character.
On a personal note: While in the end my Daddy was no longer
in control over his bodily functions, he none-the-less took advantage of the
law of laughter that had served him all his life. And turned the table on his
troubles, by bringing that gift to all those who suffered with him on his Ward
at the V.A. Hospital
No, it wasn’t something that would benefit his bank account,
it wasn’t a deed that would reach Headline News, or draw the accolades of men.
But it gave him purpose, a mission that mattered; it added meaning to what
would otherwise have been a meaningless existence of suffering. Striking how he
found a goal, where most give up, he found a purpose that to most would be
considered trivial, while for him it was everything. Yes, we do pay a little
too much attention to our bank accounts, academic achievements and professional
packaging, and could do with a little less task orientation, and a little more
people motivation. But that too will require thought, before it can become a
thing of expression.
So you see, we come back to the beginning don’t we “ideas
are the gateway to innovation, “what gives all of this meaning? Well, that
comes from our individual experience and contribution to the idea. That may not
mean your name is destined for billboards and flashing lights, but it dose
place you in the unique position of being a resource, right where you’re at.
Moving ever toward where you want to be, at the gateway to innovation. While
being interviewed by a young reporter Thomas Edison was asked what motivated
him to continue his work on the incandescent light bulb after experiencing some
ten thousand failures. Edison patiently replied; “They were not failures at all,”
but that he had discovered some 10,000 ways in which the incandescent light
bulb would not work. Amused by the young Reporters line of questioning, he went
on to say that had he not found the secret to the incandescent light bulb, he would
be in his laboratory at that moment working on it, instead of talking to the
young man before him.
We laugh, and then quietly wonder, what drives a man like
that. It’s simple, as already expressed on a personal note; he had a mission
that mattered. What else could he do but go on until the seed of his mission
could be harvested in a tangible, working, incandescent light bulb. Your
mission or goal may be more complex, from nuclear physics, to solar
technologies, or as simple as my Daddy’s final days on this earth, to reverse
the focus of his pain and suffering, toward bringing a laugh, or a smile to
someone else suffering like himself.
The whole of it goes back to Sigmund Freud’s statement at
the start of this seed of thought worth, “men are strong as long as they stand
for a strong idea.”
So
go ahead, Do Something Revolutionary…
Think
a New Thought!
~
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