Recently I was having a meeting with a team about selecting a platform that they could use. In that meeting, one senior team member raised a point and which caught my attention.
“ We have established platforms, then why should we rediscover or try new methods, why can’t we just follow and use the existing ones !”
Almost everyone agreed to that argument and I couldn’t complain, when you look at that argument peripherally it is all correct “Why should we rediscover everything?”
But some things can be and have to be rediscovered right?
A couple of years back I was reading a famous book called “ One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka.
In that, he was telling a story about his starting point. When he was young there was an established method of farming that was passed down and perfected by generations.
But he decided to challenge that with his method of agriculture which he famously called “ Do-Nothing Farming”.
Initially, everyone called him crazy and ignored him, but after some time those who ignored him were queuing up in his old village house to learn about his new techniques.
That was really an inspiration for me. We always accept things as it is and we rarely question why?
Somethings are done or was working in a certain way for ages doesn’t mean that it is always right and it is the only method. Instead, it means that that is the only way we know and hence we believe that it is the only way to do certain things. We can and we have to challenge the Status Quo.
When we start challenging, then everyone will bring up the next biggest question -, “ What if we fail !”.
We ask that question because we all are afraid of failures, we consider failure as an end result. When you consider failure as an end result then it is always a problem but if you consider failure as a step in the journey towards excellence and success then it is not a problem.
If you look at it that way then failure is a result of only one step towards your final journey.
As Thomas Alva Edison once said “ I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”
Now you could argue that “Thomas Alva Edison was not trying to rediscover Bulb”
You are right he was not trying to rediscover bulb instead, “He was trying to find an alternative for candle light which was a norm at that time. A technique which was followed and perfected through generations of knowledge and experience”. He reimagined the ways of working he was ready to ask the why. He didn’t stop by just asking the why, he took the lead in finding an answer for that why.
There is no problem in not challenging the norms, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t challenge them or there is no need to challenge them.
Those who challenge will discover new ways and during the journey they will gain the experience which no one else could acquire.
If you are ready for that journey then get ready to embrace the journey of rediscovery.
Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash
https://bivekrenuji.medium.com/need-for-rediscovery-baed6aeb17eb
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