Tinker

Goal Messed Up? Play with Mistakes (SEOT Tip #20)

In 1928, Alexander Fleming was a scientist exploring how bacteria can grow.

Before he went on vacation with his family, he set aside some bacteria to grow. Bacteria is incubated on culture plates. When he came back to his lab, he discovered that the cover of one of the dishes was accidentally left off.

Here’s how Alexander Fleming described what happened next:

“A mould spore had fallen and had begun to grow. I noticed another thing also. …the bacteria around the spot of mould had apparently disappeared while those some distance from it had continued to increase.”
ALEXANDER FLEMING
SOURCE: Woolf, S. J. (1945). Sir Alexander Fleming—Man of science and of Penicillin. American Scientist, 33(4), 242–252 as cited in K. Lalchhandama (2020). Reappraising Fleming’s snot and mould. Science vision, 20(1), 29–42

Fleming was curious. He would go on to explore the mould and see what happen with different types of bacteria. He went on to explore different types of mold to see whether they could also kill bacteria.

Eventually he would narrow down the antibacterial source as Penicillium.

Even then, many people in the medical community didn’t see this as an important discovery. It would take decades before a chain of events and other researchers would eventually lead to medical use and mass production.

This was the start of modern antibiotics. It happened because of an error, curiosity, and then a lot of work exploring and learning about the error.

SEOT is an acronym to help us get the most out of life. The T stands for Tinker.

(It’s explained more in the goal setting slideshow)

Watch SEOT YouTube Video #20:

SEOT Step to Success #20 is to PLAY WITH MISTAKES

When mistakes happen, we usually focus on fixing the error and moving on. Sometimes we feel embarrassed, or we want to hide the mistake or shift the blame.

But what if we took the time to explore what went wrong. What if we took the time to play with our errors and see what else happens?

If you working on a goal for a while – there will definitely be times when things didn’t go as planned.

Maybe you’re a runner and you just locked the front door when you discover you left your phone inside. Instead of going back in, why not run without your phone and see what happens.

Maybe you will notice things differently if you don’t have music to sing along with.
Maybe your mind will wander in a way that it doesn’t when you’re listening to an audiobook.
Maybe it might feel nicer to run without having to carry your phone.
Maybe you’ll feel better without notifications.

Explore the error.

What if you didn’t have your phone at other times, too?
What would it be like if you didn’t use your phone in the bathroom?
What might happen if you left your phone at home? After all, there was a time when people weren’t always connected to the internet.

Think about your goal. What’s something that didn’t work?

When a mistake happens, you may not be in the headspace to think about it right away – you might feel embarrassed, frustrated, or disappointed.

But, later on when you’re not so close to the moment, give it some time and just play with the error. Who knows what you might accidentally discover?

Good luck!

(Hey, teachers! Check out this growth mindset lesson package or this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

Creative Process 2021: Write it down (SEOT Tip #16)

It’s amazing how the mind works.

You could be hanging out with friends, going for a walk, or procrastinating from work and all of a sudden – you have an idea. A moment of inspiration.

Taylor Swift writes a lot of songs inspired by multiple genres. With multiple international top hits in her discography. she knows a thing or two about the creative process.

When she gets an idea for a song, she immediately records a voice memo of herself singing it or she writes it down in her phone.

Later on, she reviews her notes. Her ideas could become a fragment of a verse, a little bit of melody, a background vocal, or another part of the song. Or, it could just be nothing and she just deletes it.

We can learn from her creative process to help us achieve our goals.

SEOT is an acronym to help us get the most out of life. The T stands for Tinker.

(It’s explained more in the goal setting slideshow)

Watch SEOT YouTube Video #16:

SEOT Step to Success #16 is to WRITE IT DOWN

Tinkering is about trying little experiments and seeing what happens. It’s about cultivating a sense of wonder and making space to be creative.

So, what should you do when an idea pops in your head? Here are three steps:

Step 1: Write down your ideas

The first step is to write it down.

Come up with a system where it’s easy to immediately jot down the ideas that pop into your head at any hour of the day.

Maybe you keep a little notebook or agenda that you carry around.
Maybe you jot down ideas on the back of the closest napkin or scrap piece of paper.
Maybe you use your phone and type a quick note in an app or record a quick voice memo…

Writing it down immediately is just the first part. The second step is reviewing your notes.

Step 2: Review your notes

Set aside a regular time to look through your ideas. If you don’t clean out your idea notes, they’ll just pile up and they won’t be as meaningful because you never look at them.

You don’t have to do every idea that you brainstormed.

Some ideas, you might put into a “one-day” category.
Some ideas, you might just throw out.
And some ideas, you might decide to explore further. That’s step 3: tinkering.

Step 3: Tinker

Tinkering is when you start to play around with one of your ideas to see what happens. Most of these ideas may not pan out into anything but maybe you’ll stumble across something that really works. And with a lot of hard work, you’ll be able to turn that little idea into something great.

Think about your goal.

Where could you record ideas about your journey to achieve your goals?
When will you take the time to look at these ideas and review your notes?
When you come up with an interesting idea, when will you find the time to test it out and see what happens?

Good luck!

(Hey, teachers! Check out this growth mindset lesson package or this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

Bonus video clip:

I learned about Taylor Swift’s creative process when I was making the 6Cs Creativity / Innovation unit. Here’s one of the videos I found about Taylor Swift talking about her creative process:

How Taylor Swift writes her songs

Best Goal Setting Strategies 012 Procrastinate with Purpose

We all know procrastination is a bad thing.

It’s about putting off something we don’t really want to do. And then, when we have to do the task, we often feel more stressed out because we have even less time to do it.

But, what if there was a way to make procrastination work for us?

Jihae Shin is an assistant professor at the Wisconsin School of Business. When she was a PhD student, she told her professor that she had her most creative ideas when she was procrastinating.

Her professor was an organizational psychologist, and challenged her to collect data.

So, Jihae went into a bunch of companies, had people fill out surveys about how often they procrastinate, and then asked their bosses to rate how creative and innovative those employees were.

As it turns out, people who procrastinate moderately were rated as more creative than people who either didn’t procrastinate or procrastinated too much.

The theory is that people who rush in and finish a task right after learning about it don’t really give themselves a chance to play with the problem. They’re so focused on getting it done right away that they tend to go with one of the first solutions they come up with.

And people who procrastinate too much only focus on the task because the deadline is right around the corner. At this point, it’s hard to incubate ideas because they’re under immediate stress to get the job done before it’s due.

But the people in between who procrastinate a little bit, but still make sure they have enough time to get the job done well before the deadline – they’re in the sweet spot.

They have the opportunity to cook up new ideas in the back of their minds as they procrastinate and do other things. Their mind can wander and wonder about the nature of the problem and why it exists, instead of just rushing to get the problem done.

SEOT is an acronym to help us get the most out of life. The T stands for Tinker.

(It’s explained more in the goal setting slideshow)

YouTube Video #012:

SEOT Step to Success #12 is to PROCRASTINATE WITH PURPOSE

Tinkering is all about playing with our ideas to see what happens.

If the research suggests that procrastinating a little bit might actually help us be more creative, then how might we do that?

Well, if we’re going to procrastinate with purpose, then we would need to make sure we understand the problem first so that our mind can work on it in the background as we procrastinate and do other things.

Think about your goals.

Wonder about the nature of your goal.
Wonder what’s keeping you from achieving this goal?
Wonder to yourself, what might be the next action you might do to help you reach this goal?

You don’t have to do any action right now. You’re just wondering about what you might do.

Maybe you would try to eat healthier snacks.
Maybe you might try to avoid the middle part of the grocery story to avoid buying packaged foods.
Maybe you might stop using your credit cards because the interest is so high and instead just pay with debit or cash.
Maybe you might ask that friend if they want to grab a coffee.

Just wonder about your goals and what you might try to reach your objective.

Then procrastinate and see what pops in your head.

WARNING: Procrastinating with purpose only works if

you understand the assignment first, AND
you make sure you have enough time to complete the task before the deadline.

Otherwise, it’s just procrastinating.

Good luck!

(Hey, teachers! Check out this growth mindset lesson package or this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

People didn’t always use Post-It® Notes

THE OBSTACLE: Not everyone loved this brand new sticky note invention – Should they continue working on this project, or move on to something else?

You can have the greatest product in the world, but if people don’t buy it, that’s a problem. So, how do you overcome this obstacle?

Take 3M for example.

According to their website, the story goes that in 1968, Dr Spencer Silver tried to invent a super-strong adhesive. Instead, he accidentally created a glue that didn’t really stick things together.

Dr. Spence Silver, a 3M scientist, is busily researching adhesives in the laboratory. In the process, he discovers something peculiar: an adhesive that sticks lightly to surfaces but does not tightly bond to them.
SOURCE: 3M website

One day, another scientist at 3M, Art Fry wanted a bookmark that didn’t fall out. He dreams of something that was only a little bit sticky and the rest is history.

This story is often given as an example of a life-changing accidental invention.

It’s important to note that there is some controversy over the credit for the invention of the sticky note.

In 1997, inventor Alan Amron sued 3M claiming he was the true inventor of the sticky product:

Amron said his idea in 1973 came about with chewing gum. He was looking for a way to stick a note on his refrigerator for his wife and used gum, providing inspiration for the adhesive he would use on his Press-on Memo. That year he took the sticky notes to a New York trade show and met briefly with two 3M executives, Amron said, but nothing came of the meeting.
Source: LA Times

Regardless of the source of invention, in 1978, 3M found that test markets showed that people had mixed reactions to the Post-It® Notes. People weren’t sure if this was something they wanted to use.

(Crazy, right? Today, sticky notes are everywhere.)

What would you do?

You have this cool product that you’ve created. You see a lot of value. You want people to use it. But, when you asked a few people what they thought, some people like it, and some people don’t.

Do you continue on with the product, or do you scrap it and go with something else?

3M thought that success depended on people actually trying the sticky notes to see for themselves how useful it could be.

So, they go to Boise, Idaho and put in an enormous amount of effort to see what happens when office people actually try their sticky notes.

It’s now known as the Boise Blitz. 3M simply flooded the office supply industry with samples, and then afterwards, asked consumers what they thought. It turns out to be a huge hit!

“An astonishing 90 percent of consumers who try the product say they’ll buy it!”
SOURCE: 3M website (archived)

So, the 3M managers decide to take this product, polish it up and sell it.

In 1980, Post-It® Notes are launched in the US and they’re a hit!

A Growth Mindset Example of Strategies, Effort, Optimization, and Tinkering

I don’t know if the people behind the Boise Blitz sampling effort had a growth mindset or not.

But, I do know that we can look at what happened in this story to realize that if we do certain things, we can overcome obstacles.

Perseverance means to not give up, and one way to not give up is to realize that there are always obstacles in life, and there are things we can do to help us overcome them.

Teacher Pro Tip: Use the following free Google Slideshow to give this example of perseverance by using strategies. Here is the FULL SIZE Slideshow Link

3M’s Post-It® Notes are a great example of how we can use strategies, effort, optimizing and tinkering to overcome obstacles.

Strategies

We see a little bit of tinkering with the story of the sticky note / post it note invention.

Dr Silver was trying to make a super strong glue. One of his attempts failed and resulted in a super weak temporary adhesive.
Amron was trying to find a way to stick a note on the fridge for his wife. He tried gum which might not work, but maybe something initeresting would come out of it.

Most of the things we try when we tinker don’t actually work. But sometimes, you can make interesting discoveries along the way.

Effort

We see some effort in this story. The marketing team at 3M decided to give free samples out to the office supplies industry in Boise, Idaho.

A little bit of effort might have been going to a couple of people and giving them some free samples.
A lot of effort is when you do a blitz and give out a ridiculous amount of free samples, “saturating the office supply industry with samples.” Source: 3M website.

Optimizing happens when you keep track of how things are going, come up with theories about why you’re getting the results you’re getting, and then try to improve your results.

Optimization

We see some optimization in this story.

In 1978, the marketing team at 3M showed their Post-It® Notes idea to some test markets.
The people in the test markets gave mixed signals. Some people loved it. Others, not so much.
They figured out that they needed to get people to use the product and once people experienced its awesomeness, they would want to buy more.

Strategies

I like to use this story of the Boise Blitz as an example of using strategies to overcome obstacles

In 1978, the team at 3M had a problem. People weren’t loving this new “Post-It® Notes” product that they were developing.
I imagine people shaking their heads. It’s an awesome innovative idea. Why aren’t these people loving it?
Someone probably realized the underlying reason why people in the test markets had mixed reviews was probably because some people could see its usefulness in day-to-day life, but not everyone.
So, rather than just asking groups of people if they think they would buy this new sticky-note product, they changed strategies.
They had to get the Post-It® Notes into the hands of office people, get them to use it, and then ask them if they would buy the product.