The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


Why Process Can Kill Potential …
January 24, 2018, 6:16 am
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Chaos, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Cunning

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big believer in chaos theory.Not, as you may be shocked to learn, because it validates my global-scale disorganization, but because I firmly believe chaos lets you create what order can’t.

Hell, I even based the whole of The Kennedys on this concept.

Anyway, while for some – the idea of this is basically professional kryptonite – there are others out there who believe in it’s power. One of the best is economist and journalist Tim Harford who wrote the brilliant book, Messy on the concept.

Of course, I am not advocating that all process is bad.

Hell, if I’m having an operation, I want the surgeon to follow the rules as carefully as they can … but the fact is, they only got to those rules because someone, at some point, decided to ignore the rules to explore what else is possible.

Hence my belief is that process is fine if we remember what we’re trying to achieve, but the moment the process is more important than the outcome we seek … then we have our priorities all wrong.

So as 2018 is still relatively fresh – I thought I’d leave you with 15 minutes 32 seconds of chaotic inspiration. Enjoy.


34 Comments so far
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While you obviously will claim that you wrote that it’s Monday on a Wednesday as an example your endorsement of chaos, others may take a less charitable view.

Comment by John

Such as you only start working on Wednesdays and by that absence you ensure the success of your colleagues and clients.

Comment by John

Thanks to my son loving the idea of seizing the day before the day has even begun, I’m up and saw my deliberate mistake and decided to change it. Now if only I’d thought of that at the time I wrote it.

Comment by Rob

If only I didn’t have the original page open on my laptop …

Comment by John

How far in advance do you prewrite stuff Rob? Is it going to be where we don’t know you’ve died for months because the posts will keep on coming?

Comment by DH

that would be just like him. evil fucker.

Comment by andy@cynic

I bet Tim Harford will be so happy you’re linking him to you. That’s as bad as the time you said someone confused the 72&Sunny founder with you.

Comment by DH

I think If you asked John Bouler if 72, he would say someone saying you look like me is worse than me saying I admire someone for a shared topic of interest.

Comment by Rob

You’ve made me listen to jazz.

Comment by Marcus Brown

Nice.

Comment by John

I’m not a massive fan of jazz so the idea that Keith Jarrett suffered pleases me slightly.

Comment by Marcus Brown

Jazz or jizz?

Comment by Billy Whizz

jazz is just a bunch of fucking musicians wanking off.

Comment by andy@cynic

I’ve missed you, Billy.

Comment by Marcus Brown

another thing you can hate campbell for marcus.

Comment by andy@cynic

Probably why so many planners like jazz, Andrew.

Comment by Marcus Brown

insight.

Comment by andy@cynic

Smashed it.

Comment by Marcus Brown

Well this has gone downhill quickly.

Comment by Rob

You started it.

Comment by John

I think we’re adding a certain degree of… panache.

Comment by Marcus Brown

OK, I’ve listened to 14:30 minutes of that bloody “The Köln Concert”. Unbearable nonsense. Doesn’t even have guitars in it.

Comment by Marcus Brown

We’re just commenting like it’s 2007, Robert. Old school musings, etc.

Comment by Marcus Brown

when this blog was moderately fucking bearable.

Comment by andy@cynic

I was in the shed. It was the only thing I had, Andrew.

Comment by Marcus Brown

campbell youre fucking chaotic. thats very fucking different to being into chaos.

Comment by andy@cynic

True.

Comment by Rob

I like Tim Harford but I like the comments more. It’s like it’s 2008 all over again.

Comment by Pete

unlike campbells fashion which is like its fucking 1978 all over again.

Comment by andy@cynic

The insight is Marcus’ presence ignites immaturity commentary. No higher praise.

Comment by George

Rarely been so proud. I should point out that I’m going to make an effort to contribute more to this blog again. I’ve been slack. We all know it. It’s the elephant in the comments section.

So I’m kind of back. Let the immaturity begin.

Comment by Marcus Brown

What a fascinating tedtalk. Thank you for bringing it to my attention Robert.

Comment by Lee Hill

Agreed. For all the tom-foolery in the comments, it is a nice little talk and the story of The Köln Concert is marvellous.

Comment by Marcus Brown

[…] I have said before, sometimes the most powerful moments of creativity are born from adversity but when you know what you want to communicate, the reward can be something quite magical. […]

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