Freedom to Be a Fool

I had a friend come stay with me for a week and we made this crane toy that had been in my head for months. It was so satisfying and exciting and connecting. I had a pretty nice shop setup and had a decent amount of supplies so we were able to get through four iterations in that week. I didn’t go on to sell a gillion of these and make lots of money. My kids just played with it on and off for a few weeks until it broke pretty much exactly how I thought it would, but the process was still invaluable.

Beyond having a well supplied shop, another ingredient that helped us come up with better iterations was being able to feel like an idiot. At the beginning I told my friend that I wanted us to share all ideas. Not just the great or even good, but the bad ones too. The reason I gave back then was that his bad ideas could cause me to think of a good one. I think that was true, but I think there was a bigger reason that I wasn’t self aware enough to see back then.

I really just wanted a safe environment for both of us to just be silly; to let whatever comes to mind flow out. Even though I didn’t use those words I think we created that environment. We didn’t feel personal rejection when a silly idea was rejected; we could just laugh and move on to the next one.