Last Monday night, Mars and Saturn were aligned just under the moon in the northwestern sky. After an evening of hotdogs on the grill (an easy meal and a staple of ours) and a little streaming (no spoilers, but you should watch Atypical on Netflix if you haven't) my wife and I (she's a STEAM teacher and is way into amateur-no-telescope-astronomy) hurried outside at 9:00 PM and were greeted by...clouds. It was too cloudy to see the pinprick of light that would mark the position of the planets.
Enter the SkyView app. Now, this is not a commercial or an endorsement of the SkyView app. It is a tool on our phones and sometimes my better half and I use it to get a close-up look at the goings-on in our sky. This was one of those times.
As we looked at the AI-rendered planets and constellations I found myself musing about how innovations almost always happen to meet a need - not a survival need, but a need for understanding. From there I rabbit-holed my way down to how innovative ideas are sometimes found to be balderdash (Mount Olympus, sea monsters, the secrets in Capone's vault), while others lead to amazing advances (flight, vaccines, space exploration, the Internet).
The common thread to all innovation is the determination not to quit, the determination to see failure as a challenge rather than a stopping point. The common thread is the choice (yes, it's a choice) to have a growth mindset.
I was pulled from my reverie by the mosquitos that decided that we were outside to provide a smorgasbord for them, not to regard the grandeur of the night sky.
We escaped the swarm and hurried back to our living room and then up to bed (9:00 PM is usually bedtime - as my bedtime reminder on my phone tells me every night).
As I drifted off to sleep, I was again reminded of the planetary alignment as a symbol of how a host of innovations made it possible for me to explore that alignment in a very complete way, rather than just seeing a sparkly dot on the horizon and saying, "man, that star's bright."
It's the need for the complete exploration of a topic/idea/need that leads to innovation. It is invariably an innovation on some level that allows for our curiosity to be satisfied; for us to feel, well, complete.
I hope this is a week of complete moments for you!
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