Be More Velcro. Why having laser-like interests leads us to repetitive ideas and what to do instead.

Feeling generally unfocused and like you have too many interests?

That’s not such a bad thing.

David Hieatt of The Do Lectures teaches a concept called “Be More Velcro”.

He explains it as follows -

The way velcro works is that on one side is a series of hooks going in lots of random directions. On another side is a series of loops going in lots of random directions. When a hook meets a loop, they connect. Velcro is in the connection business.

It’s the randomness of the hooks and the loops that makes Velcro work.

But if we think about hooks and loops as ideas, and putting two odd seemingly random together until they suddenly click, that’s what creates novel concepts.

We should be picking up magazines we don’t normally read.

Going to new places we’ve never visited before.

Eating at places we wouldn’t normally choose.

Apple is famous for its “Think Different” slogan. But in order to think different we need to read different. Travel different. Cinema different.

If our inputs are all from one area, there’s no new connections and our ideas will be the same as everyone else’s.

The next time you catch your mind wandering to a subject you deem “off topic”, take a minute to deconstruct what you notice there that could relate to the problem you’re supposed to be working on.

You may just find the answer.

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