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# Daily Inspiration: "The thing about sandcastles: you're never in danger of repeating yourself!"
**URL:** https://jimcarroll.com/2019/02/the-thing-about-sandcastles/
Date: 2019-02-18
Author: JimCarroll
Post Type: post
Summary: “The thing about sandcastles: you’re never in danger of repeating yourself!” – Futurist Jim Carroll I’m on a beach! There are no buckets and shovels! There are no little kids! There is no havoc! It’s kind of weird! Which tells me 3 things: – I’m definitely older, as we are at a Sandals Resort with my […]
Categories: Daily Inspiration
Featured Image: https://jimcarroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Sandcastles.jpeg
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“The thing about sandcastles: you’re never in danger of repeating yourself!” - Futurist Jim Carroll
I’m on a beach! There are no buckets and shovels! There are no little kids! There is no havoc!
It’s kind of weird!
Which tells me 3 things: - I’m definitely older, as we are at a Sandals Resort with my sons and their girlfriends, and they are no longer children, but young men! - my goal of writing an epic daily quote post about our epic sandcastle that was built yesterday would be a fraud, since there are no buckets and shovels with which to build one! - but my original quote of writing my daily about sandcastles is still worthy, as it is one of the best blog posts I ever wrote!
The quote? You know that observation attributed to (but not by) Einstein: If you keep repeating the same routine and expect a different result: that’s insanity! It certainly fits for sandcastle building!
Consider the field research I have previously made with sandcastles: 13 years ago, I made it into Business Week Magazine - not for some deep complex business insight, but for my blog post, “Why Innovation Thrives in the Building of Sandcastles!” Why? Because while my sons & I built them, I thought about the unique innovation & creativity lessons that came about as result!
It was a good, concise overview of the unique innovation and creativity ideas that come from such an effort, such as: - hierarchy has disappeared - creativity is implicit - If it doesn’t work the first time, do it again! - experience doesn’t cloud insight - everyone picks up on the passion - feedback is instant - the competition is easily scoped - no idea is too dumb - the reward is clear - it’s fun!
Think about the hierarchy issue, in which I wrote: “In most cases, there isn’t a boss, a reporting structure, or anything else that can cause organizational sclerosis. People just pitch in and do what needs to be done. The lack of a hierarchy is implicit to most successful teams.” Sandcastle innovation! It’s a thing!
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