The best way to grow ideas to their optimised point is to challenge them.
Experts enjoy having their ideas challenged because they know that challenging ideas propels their evolution.
When someone challenges our ideas and viewpoints and those challenges hold constructive substance and value, we are afforded the opportunity to revise and improve our original ideas or opinions. Experts call these types of constructive challenges “inspirational interactions.”
People are traditionally the best source of inspirational interactions. Individuals’ differing views, beliefs and opinions mean that wherever you go, as a Expert, you’re bound to find someone to challenge you.
The goal―what we as Experts strive to do―is to be open to these interactions; to put our ego and arrogance aside and hear what the other party is saying. We do so because questions and debate surrounding an idea can strengthen it, help us pinpoint its issues or potential issues, and spark off an even more powerful idea.
Get Out More
The biggest challenge in coming across these inspirational interactions is to actually get yourself out of the office, away from the desk and to free yourself from your surroundings a little. Just as you can have inspirational interactions within those spaces, it’s likely that you’re so accustomed to routine interactions around the office by now that you’ve been blunted from seeing their real potential. By actually putting yourself in other environments and interacting with different people, you’re much more likely to gain that inspiration.
Going out can mean hooking up with some like-minded business friends or just running out for a cup of coffee, even if you need to take your laptop along. Just a small change in scenery or a shakeup in your routine should get some other ideas working in your mind.
The bottom line seems to be that inspiration is not always in the things we look at every day, because we’re often just “too close” to those things to view them holistically and objectively. Experts understand that a little break within their routines should be more than enough kindling to create a few sparks of inspiration.
