Believe the Impossible— Lessons from Wonderland
For those elsewhere in the world, the weather in NYC this Halloween weekend has been (kind of) unexpectedly dreadful, and I hail from the land of perpetually unpredictable weather. That, coupled with my partner in crime being out of town this weekend, has led to a Seamless order, a snuggly spot on the couch, and watching a couple of movies and an obcene amount of Law and Order on Netflix while trying to figure out thise whole “blogging” gig.
One of these movies was Alice in Wonderland, and a conversation between Alice and the Mad Hatter spoke to me. It went like this:
Alice: Sometimes I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Mad Hatter: That is an excellent practice.
The Hatter’s character may be intended to be bonkers, but he has a point. This didn’t come across as just another lesson in dreaming big and having high expectations for yourself, but rather, believing the impossible helped Alice succeed in a practical (as far as Wonderland is concerned) way to acheive her seemingly unattainable goal.
The practice of thinking foolish thoughts keeps us always looking for more creative solutions to increasingly difficult problems. Search wasn’t entirely innovative idea in an of itself back in the day, but it soon became the means to impact nearly every internet user today.
Thinking big is great, and essential to forward progress and innovation. Equally important are the practical applications associated with some of these big ideas. I can’t wait to see the future of Marty McFly’s kicks and see them transform from an awesome idea inspired by science fiction to a real solution to a real-world problem.
