Embracing Mystery in a World of Certainty
There are magical rubber duckies.
You heard me right – they’re little yellow rubber duckies that have continued to magically show up – in the hundreds in every shape and size you could imagine – around my nieces.
Big yellow ones, small pink ones, Halloween ducks and New Year ducks, ducks with mohawks and ducks dressed as other animals. My nieces are 1, 3, 5 and 7 years old and together we’ve been on the hunt for where these things are coming from…
We’ve reached an obvious conclusion: there’s a mystery guest in our midst.
What else could it be? Having spent a lot of time looking for this mystery guest, I’ve concluded that having a mystery guest is not just a nice thing to have, but it provides an essential role of uncertainty and wonder in our lives.
I feel like we’re constantly surrounded by answers, best practices, things we should do. We have access to podcasts, courses, Google and still the occasional paper book. Information is available at our fingertips for nearly everything imaginable. But… with all that information… We all still have challenges, don’t we? What’s missing? Our own mystery guest – the embodiment of the unknown and the uncertain.
Information itself isn’t enough (although it might be super helpful). It’s also not where sustainable breakthroughs in performance comes from – for individuals or organizations.
Information, while undeniably useful, is not the sole key to sustainable breakthroughs, whether for individuals or organizations. True breakthroughs arise from a process of inquiry, not from the comfort of certainty. When we cling to the notion that we 'already know' everything, we close ourselves off to fresh ideas, diverse perspectives, and innovative approaches. This mindset can lead to merely replicating what has been done before, stifling creativity and growth. It’s status quo at best. And soul-deadening at worst.
It's crucial to look beyond the information presented to us. We must question how it connects, what implications it holds, what other truths might exist, and how different perspectives can reshape our understanding. This shift from merely consuming information to actively engaging with it can transform the way we apply knowledge and integrate it into our being.
If you're reading this, chances are you've found success with the answers you have. But to reach new heights, we cannot solely rely on what we know, what we've done, or even who we've been.
We must embrace the discomfort of mystery in a world of certainty, explore uncharted territories, dare to discover new answers that could hold the key to our growth.
This is where our 'mystery guest' comes into play – the unknown that challenges us to stretch beyond our current confines.
Now, if I could send magical ducks to all of you, to remind you of this, I would. However, I still don’t actually know who this mystery guest really is, as best as we’ve tried to catch him/her. My nieces have numerous theories but haven’t definitively settled on exactly who it could be since their appearance is, well, quite mysterious. 😁 Strangely, I’ve found these ducks on Amazon and I invite you to grab a few of your own as a reminder to wonder, imagine and question what else there could be. Meanwhile, I’ll keep an eye out for that mystery guest myself.
As we navigate through the wealth of information at our disposal, let's use it wisely. But let’s not stop there. Embrace less judgment and more discovery. Shift from certainty to inquiry. Know less and question more. In doing so, we each find our own 'mystery guest' – a catalyst for growth and discovery.
There’s always more for us just beyond being open to it.
