When I was about six or seven years old I drafted a plan for, what I thought, was an ingenious invention – the motorized scooter. I was so proud of it and I even showed it to my mom. With my genius on display, I prepared for an early retirement, surely I would be rich. The problem was that my idea never made it passed the drawing phase.
Years later, while impatiently waiting for the barrage of commercials to play between TV show segments, I came up with the revolutionary idea to be able to fast forward or skip through those advertisements. Unfortunately, this idea never even made it to the drawing phase. Clearly, I was not the only person who had that idea. However, I’m sure that the eventual inventor of the dvr (digital video recorder) system and I shared one thing in common – we noticed a problem that needed a solution.
I am amazed at the ingenuity I see when I look around our society. One of my favorite examples, perhaps for its simplicity is the banana guard. Although I don’t like bananas, I can still recognize the inventiveness of such a device that allows you to carry a banana in your backpack or purse without the risk of squishing the banana. It is evident that whoever came up with that idea had probably experienced an unfortunate and possibly messy banana mishap once or twice.
The question is, are these inventors all geniuses or did they simply maximize their ingenuity and use it to solve a problem? There is a difference. A genius is defined as someone of exceptional intellectual power or ability. Less than ¼ of 1% of the world’s population fall into the ‘genius’ category. Ingenuity is the quality of being clever, original or inventive. So let’s all breathe a sigh of relief. You don’t need to be a genius to fulfill your purpose but you do have to utilize your ingenuity.
THE TRIGGER OF INGENUITY
For as long as humans have existed they have been seeing and fixing problems. Everyone reading this has had the experience of sitting at a wobbly table and grabbing a small book or stack of papers to place under the uneven table leg. Once a pipe that was connected to our sump pump burst and I ran to grab some duct tape to temporarily stop the spray of cold water in my face. (I’ll admit this was not my most ingenious idea.) The simple and obvious truth is that if there is no problem to fix, then a solution is also unnecessary.
However, I have talked to many people who have complained about an issue at work, in the government, in their neighborhood, in their family or with some piece of technology. Oftentimes these same people have voiced their ideas on what “someone needs to do” to solve the problem. What if the problem triggered them to tap into their ingenuity? What if that trigger was the very thing prompting them in the direction of their purpose?
THE TRIAL OF INGENUITY
Once you know the problem and you have begun to attempt various solutions there will come a time where your brilliant idea is tested. This may come in the form of doubt, fear or naysayers (many of whom aren’t fixing anything). When trials come we must guard our minds so that negative thoughts don’t impact our ingenious thoughts. Dr. Myles Munroe said, “Our thinking creates our lives.”
I’m not the most tech savvy person and when I was creating this blog there were many times where I was on hold with tech support as well as times where I wanted to throw my computer through the wall. But I persevered and now these posts have reached Rwanda, England, India, and all over the United States. The comments of how they have blessed others have in return blessed me. The most powerful thing in the world is an idea. The ingenuity of your idea is a gift from God that you are supposed to deliver to the world. Don’t let setbacks cause you to abort an idea that can give life, hope or purpose to many others.
THE TRIUMPH OF INGENUITY
Though I’ve never given birth I have watched my loving wife endure two pregnancies and I was present in the room for the birth of both of our daughters. There is something so rewarding about seeing the fruit of your labor (no pun intended). She and many other women can tell you that the triumph of the birth far outweighs the travail of the pregnancy.
In essence, seeing the problem is not a reason to quit but rather a reason to persevere. If the problem you see irks you enough to complain about it everyday, even to people that you don’t know and to write angry posts on ALL of your social media platforms, then you should probably do something about it. One final reason worthy of your dedication to solving a problem is that your ingenuity is often the key to your wealth. Therefore, work while no one’s watching and eventually many will pay to watch you work.