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The Edge

Imagine a vast forest. Imagine standing right in front of it. The trees are tall and the smell of pine mixes with the fresh mountain air. You stare into this wilderness from the edge of it. From the edge, you can truly see the vastness of it. It makes your mind fill with wonder, with a strange excitement for what awaits as you take the first step in the wilderness.

What is it about the edge that makes us so curious? Approaching the edge of what can’t be done drives our creativity through curiosity. Thinking about things that haven’t been made, that do not exist, that’s the power that the edge brings to the table. It’s when we feel most alive: knowing that what we’re about to do is nearly impossible.

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” –Kurt Vonnegut

(From Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands by Kevin Roberts)

“Great ideas can come from anywhere, but most of them turn up on the edge. The places that are restless and resourceful. The places that don’t understand “can’t be done.”

“When species change, it almost always occurs first at the fringes. Here the population is most sparse and the orthodoxies of the center are weakest. Here you can flourish isolated from formula and rules, free from the corrosive belief that everything great has already been done.” The-Edge

Where’s your edge?
How can you take your work to the edge?
Where’s your “almost can’t be done?”
Where’s your wilderness?

I believe that standing on the edge of sure success and utter failure is where we feel alive. We thrive on that feeling of uncomfortable and it lets us know we’re here. The edge is where great ideas happen because we can see more clearly what COULD be made not just what’s been done. We can see what’s possible. The only question is:

Are you willing to go there?

Happy Thursday!

Chris

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