237: Conservation vs. Creativity – Friday Fundamentals

Conservation vs. Creativity

With 7 Billion people and growing rapidly on the planet today, we face some serious challenges that weren’t once a problem. From food, water, and housing to healthcare, education, and resources, we are faced with some large scale challenges that must be addressed. Government officials, scientists, economists, physicists, and so many other smart people have worked towards solutions for many of the challenges we face today. These solutions can be categorized into two simple categories – conservation and creativity. Conservation, simply defined, is the careful preservation and protection of something. Creativity rather is the ability to make something unique.  However, when we approach these world-scale challenges, most often we take the conservation approach. We want to save resources, use less, spend less, consume less, etc.

World Scale Solutions

World scale solutions won’t come by the way of conservation. This approach only conserves our finite resources. It doesn’t create unique solutions to these world-scale challenges. When we take a creative approach to world-scale solutions, we open ourselves up to unlimited options. Now you may be thinking, I’m not setting out today or this week, or this year to solve global challenges, and that’s understandable. These are huge challenges and require equally challenging solutions. But this conservation vs. creativity perspective can be applied to not only global challenges, but to your personal life, and everything in between. If you can begin to apply creative solutions to your own life, you can take those apply them to a broader scale, helping millions or even billions of people.

One of the most influential people of the 20th century, Henry Ford created the first Model T automobile in the early 1900s. He set out to create a new way of transportation and make it available to everyone. Henry Ford famously said of the Model T,

“I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

A lot can be learned from the likes of Henry Ford and other visionaries. The solution starts with you, the individual. There are probably certain problems that you see right now and could provide a unique solution to if you gave it some thought. When you approach these problems, think creatively and outside the box. This is where true solutions will come from. Let’s look at a few ways how to do this.

  1. Abundance – There are abundant solutions, abundant opportunities, and abundant resources. When you come from the perspective of abundance, it changes the way you think. Scarcity is just a mindset, not a solution.
  2. Positivity – If you are going to take on world-scale challenges, or personal challenges in your own life, they should have a positive impact.
  3. Everyone – If you can create a solution that helps everyone, then that is a powerful thing. “The best way to become a billionaire is to help a billion people.” Peter Diamandis
  4. The greater good – Solve problems that will be for the greater good. When you have a cause that motivates you, you’ll be much more likely to find solutions.

You Are Capable

Each and every person has a unique ability. You have a unique ability. It’s your responsibility to use that and make a difference in this world. You have the ability to solve world-scale challenges. Seek out a challenge you’ve experienced. Come up with a creative solution, and then apply that on a larger scale. Everything you’ve ever set out to do, you’ve accomplished. Don’t believe me? Look to your past experiences for proof. You are capable of anything you set your mind to. So seek out challenges, come up with creative solutions, and you might just change the world in the process.

Resources

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