The Power of Irritation - doesn't exactly sound like the next Nightingale-Conant blockbuster, does it? Well, we're not far from the truth.
A TV show I've really become enthralled with is American Inventor. While I'm not a huge fan of TV reality shows or exactly TV in general (besides ESPN, TV Land and my recently discovered Food Channel), American Inventor is kind of a reality unto its own. And, American Inventor has two great tie-ins to the World Leader in Personal Development, Nightingale-Conant! How's that for a lead in?
Doug Hall, one of the judges, has a wonderful N-C program titled Jump Start Your Brain. Maybe in the future, I'll do a whole blog on just that. All I'm going to say now is that Doug is a really cool guy and not the curmudgeon they sometimes make him out to be on the show. He's a super-creative guy as his record attests to and really knows his business. But, like I said, more on that another time.
I recently had the pleasure of working with a gentleman named Bob Maurer. Dr. Bob Maurer actually. As with many N-C authors, I found his material fascinating, but one aspect in particular. Now I've been producing programs at N-C for 12 years now and many people seem to think that there's no new ideas under the sun. Not in this case. Now Bob deals with something called the Kaizen method. All I can say about Kaizen is it's a different way to reach your goals. And, it's been used by a whole bunch of successful folks from Dr. W. Edwards Deming to John Wooden to J. Willard Marriott to a whole bunch of folks in-between just like you and me. But what I found even more fascinating about this whole process is that many great inventions in recent years came from situations that you and I and probably many others would consider annoyances, frustrations, petty irritations and probably just bug us to no end. Well these enterprising people turn these annoyances into a great idea and eventually a ton of cash! For example:
The guy who invented Velcro got the idea from all these burrs that got attached to his leg and all over his dog while he was out for a walk. Now wouldn't that bug the heck out of ya? Pull 'em all off one by one, mutter a few choices words and get rid of 'em, right? How dare they infringe on our time!
The guy who invented Post-It notes wanted to mark his place in his hymnal at church because the bookmarks kept falling out every time he raised the book up. There was a glue at 3M that wasn't quite strong enough for normal functions and the rest is history. Wouldn't that bug ya, too?
While on vacation Edwin Land took a picture of his 3 year old daughter - well, she wanted to see the picture right away! Instead of being irritated by the kid (how many of us wouldn't be?), Ed saw the possibility. Five years later, the first instant camera was developed.
There many, many, many more but I'm starting to get bugged by the great things people have done instead of getting bugged!!
Bob and Kaizen give you the steps to get there. Thus, The Power of Irritation (maybe a future N-C program, but not Bob's) What's great is that Kaizen is not only used for great inventions, you can use it to lose weight, get better health habits, improve relationships, gain control of your finances, become the next contestant on American Inventor or just become a swell human being!
What's buggin' you today? Turn it into something great.
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