Research suggests you are actually capable of thinking differently and more resourcefully because of the need to get scrappy — whether it’s because of outside pressures or your own choice. The operative word here is “need.” When your brain needs a solution, it will seek one out and find it.
Some of the most interesting parts of scrappy stories occur during the journey, not just at the end. These individuals unknowingly stimulated their creativity to navigate the challenges in their path. It’s the choices they made at the various turning points that changed the game. Something happened the moment they decided to do something big (or at least big for them) that created a mental shift.
The brain wants its problems and predicaments solved first because it can’t deal with anything new or different until they are addressed. The brain has no incentive to come up with new ideas if it doesn’t have to. As long as your brain knows you have another out, it will always be content with keeping you alive by coming up with the same idea that it used before.
This suggests that when you decide to get scrappy, a shift occurs and seems to unlock a door. Once that new door opens, you are more capable than ever of getting innovative because your brain has been activated to manage discomfort or challenges first. You’re able to work on a new, perhaps more advanced, level with heightened energy and focus. It’s that initial commitment, that literal act of saying, “I’m going for it!” that stimulates your mind in new and clever ways and ultimately leads to the generation of fresh ideas.
Excerpted from “Scrappy: A Little Book About Choosing to Play Big” by Terri L. Sjodin (Portfolio/Penguin)
