There was a book that had made a deep impact on me in a couple of ways. The book was called Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckels, and I learned a lot of cool stuff during my high school days of the early Internet, and this programming language called Java that made things simple to do, relatively speaking, while being super powerful for all sorts of stuff.
I had not yet discovered LISP, and so was suitably impressed with the object-oriented model, and enjoyed creating a lot of software in those early days with friends and by myself. I’ve written about my long list of incomplete projects that could have been, but there was another deep learning that I had from this book.
Thinking in Java.
I later realized that language constrains one’s thinking and one’s creativity. What freedom when I came across LISP and the macro system that gave the programmer complete power to reimagine fundamental constructs and to build new ones! Imagine not being limited by the shapes of Lego blocks because the box also came with an instruction manual on how to design new Lego blocks and to even make a 3D printer for your new designs.
So I always found everything very limiting.
Defying convention is not about defying anything, but really about being able to express freely what needs expressing without any constraints arising from the words and concepts used in the expressions.
Thinking differently is not about what something looks like, but what it does and how so that the why becomes clear and obvious. We always encouraged everyone in our team to think outside the box, and not be limited by them being “an engineer”, “project manager”, or “designer”, because we wanted raw unadulterated creativity which can only arise when there are no labels.
So yes, think differently, and defy everything. Be in a constant state of non-acceptance of the status quo, for that will release the inherent energy the world needs to become better for everyone.
Defy because you have a purpose, and when you can articulate your purpose in a clearer and clearer manner, the very inherent clarity will manifest the required material to make your vision a reality.
Accept nothing for anything is possible.
