Get Lucky

“As the man once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

Ted Lasso

Ted Lasso is brilliantly scripted television, as good as it gets. The main character’s optimism and homespun wisdom is just what our times need. Which “man” he meant in this line is unclear but it’s a thought worth acknowledging and absorbing. One man who did express this inspiring notion was French scientist Louis Pasteur, inventor of vaccination and pasteurisation. He said…

Chance favours the prepared mind

Louis Pasteur

The more you practise and prepare, the more chance you have of spotting something important or making a break-through connection, original/surprising connections being the essence of creativity.

Pasteur’s exact words were:

“Dans les champs de l’observation, le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.”

Being sensible is overrated

“No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.” [WH Auden]

Just on my way back from my first ever visit to the Royal Opera House, London (for an opera – I saw President Clinton speaking there once). The plot of La Traviata has more holes than a magic flute. Auden’s reflection on opera reminds us that sensibleness, rationality, logic and seriousness are not the stuff of generating creative ideas. Playfulness, silliness, absurdity and irrational imagination are the essence of idea generation in creative thinking.