Swimming In New Soup
You know the space is new when you don’t have the right words to describe the phenomenon.
When there are two opposite sequences of events and you think both are right, you know the space is new.
You know you’re thinking about new things when the harder you try to figure it out the less you know.
You know the space is outside your experience but within your knowledge when you know what to do but you don’t know why.
When you can see the concept in your head but can’t drag it to the whiteboard, you’re swimming in new soup.
When you come back from a walk with a solution to a problem you haven’t yet met, you’re circling new space.
And it’s the same when know what should be but it isn’t – circling new space.
When your old tricks are irrelevant, you’re digging in a new sandbox.
When you come up with a new trick but the audience doesn’t care – new space.
When you know how an experiment will turn out and it turns out you ran an irrational experiment – new space.
When everyone disagrees, the disagreement is a surrogate for the new space.
It’s vital to recognize when you’re swimming in a new space. There is design freedom, new solutions to new problems, growth potential, learning, and excitement. There’s acknowledgment that the old ways won’t cut it. There’s permission to try.
And it’s vital to recognize when you’re squatting in an old space because there’s an acknowledgment that the old ways haven’t cut it. And there’s permission to wander toward a new space.
Image credit — Tambaco The Jaguar