Where Do Ideas Come From?
Aug 19, 2025
Have you ever thought about innovation and how it’s shaped the world we live in? Today is Aviation Day, which is what got me started thinking about innovation. What is it and where does it come from and why does innovation and imagination seem to disappear in most people as we get older?
Let’s take flying – the concept of humans flying is found in ancient mythology – wings strapped onto backs didn’t work as well as they had hoped. Leonardo da Vinci pioneered the principles of aerodynamics based on the study of birds, Isaac Newton added the knowledge of air resistance, Bernoulli’s water work on the relationship between speed and pressure added the idea of lift, until finally the Wright brothers accomplished the first heavier-than-air engine-powered flight along the Atlantic shore. Those innovations, spanning centuries, kicked off a frenzy of refinement and development that we take for granted today as we strap in for what’s become a routine event.
It was creativity and imagination that drove the early innovators in their desire to create powered human flight. Key personality traits included outside-the-box thinking, perseverance, and belief in themselves and their goals. If you think of the friends you have today, who is always the first person to have the latest technology? That’s your innovative, creative, imaginative friend. It’s estimated that only around 1 or 2 percent of the world's adult population shares these traits.
Yet children and dogs are amazingly innovative. I never had kids, yet I adore watching them learn and adapt their learning to new situations, just like my smartest dogs do. If you have (or have had) dogs or toddlers, see if you can see yours in this comparison:
- Kacey likes to chase toys. When I’m working and she wants me to throw a toy for her to chase, she brings it to me and bops my leg with it. Repeatedly. She knows if she can make me laugh, she’ll probably get my attention and her game of fetch. A toddler wants interaction instead of solitary play. They might use a toy or an object to get a parent's attention when they want to initiate play or a conversation. They might even say, "Look, look! I found this," to draw the other person into interaction.
- Kacey learned a lot of tricks when she was a baby puppy. Later, when we took a Rally obedience training class, she quickly adapted those tricks as she learned to heel and perform them alongside me. A toddler is focused on the toys and realizes that stacking blocks is child’s play and they want more of a challenge. They add a ball to the mix, stacking first one and eventually more blocks on the ball, experimenting with the concept of balance.
- Kacey likes to meet people face-to-face and isn’t allowed to jump on them. When someone comes to the house, she jumps on the couch, then drapes herself over the back of it so they are at face-level for her and she’s not in trouble for jumping on them. A child loves to hug and is discouraged by adults from hugging anyone and everyone whenever they choose. The child learns to modify their approach, perhaps gazing up and saying, “you look like you need a hug…want one?” That way they get to hug without getting in trouble.
While innovation and creativity doesn’t have to, it often declines with age. Factors like habitual behaviors and routines, cultural indoctrination, and economic pressures can cause us to stifle our own creative abilities. Katherine Graham, Grandma Moses, and Frank Lloyd Wright are just three examples of people who nurtured their creativity and innovation well into their 9th decades of life.
Today, allow yourself to imagine something you’d like and don’t have. It could be something that already exists, or it could be something you wish existed and no one’s invented yet. Who knows? Maybe your imagination will spark the next great innovation that will change the world!
Wags,
Sandy Weaver
The Voice of Wagaliciousness
#success #leader #lawofattraction #dogtraining #conformation
