Les Mottosky

Avoidance is our favourite pain strategy. It feels good. It feels like relief. It feels like comfort, but it's the worst strategy for our long term health. Avoidance of pain blunts our vitality.

Originality, perhaps, is not raw, brazen inventing from scratch. It’s more like a remix of reality into something nature didn’t quite try: a twist of absurdity, purpose, or rebellion.

There’s a lot of talk about waking up these days. A mass awakening leading to a collective leap in consciousness. The world is shaking, and it seems to be shaking people awake.

If one of the world's foremost industrial inventors is letting-off the innovation gas-pedal, what's the insight for today's leader?

Far as we know, humans are the only critter aware of — and able to limit, explore, or expand — its capacity. This awareness is the key to our superpower: adaptation.

Start asking: What if I tried this differently? What if I dropped this identity? What if I just said yes for a week? You get to be both subject and scientist. Explorer and experiment.

Curiosity opens the door. Astonishment walks through it, looks around, and forgets there even was a door. It's too occupied with hushed appreciation.

Convenience breeds comfort. And comfort, while sometimes necessary, is addictive. Extended coziness turns to dependence.