tinoker
n. To manipulate unskillfully or experimentally
As an entrepreneur, you probably like to tinker. You probably like to ask a bunch of questions to the point that you get annoying. You might like to experiment with different machines by taking them apart. Or you may even like to take peoples’ sentences apart while they are speaking to you and analyze every single word for their true meanings and intentions.
The tinkering mind is a great mind; it’s a sharp mind that stays hungry with a voracious appetite for understanding, manipulation, and the unknown. If you aren’t tinkering, then you should be.
Here is a list of 5 things that you can begin your tinkering journey with:
- 1.) When somebody tells you something that they have done and want you to give it a shot, then go for it but make sure to tinker. For instance if your friend tells you to try a new recipe for brownies, then why not add a few of your own ingredients to see if it’ll taste better. It may or may not, but that’s not the point. The point is to try new things and experiment.
- 2.) If you like to read books, then start combining ideas that you have learned from various books to make entirely new approaches to doing something. Many times, when you combine two concepts, they often have unknown synergistic effects.
- 3.) Never stop asking questions and trying to break down everything that people say to you. If you don’t understand something, then ask further. If you want to learn more about something, then keep on asking. It’s always good to tinker with knowledge that you are learning from people. Because when you do that… you sometimes stumble upon new ways of thinking – new thought patterns. Many teachers hate when student meddle with their lessons, but the entrepreneurial mind will not accept that.
- 4.) Take things apart. Seriously, spend some time every once in a while and take something apart – anything, it doesn’t matter. When you take things apart and attempt to learn about how they were constructed, you are exercising your brain and using your creative energy to understand new concepts. After some time, you will be thinking on new levels and applying new understandings to everything that you do.
- 5.) Look for patterns and put things together. I like to stare at random shapes and try to reorganize them in my mind. I picture them from different angles, with different lengths, widths, add new dimensions, etc… this is good, because you are enhancing your imagination with this type of thinking.
I know…. I know… many of you will deem these suggestions as a big waste of time, but what do you have to lose? Not much. The bottom line here is to continue to exercise your mind and strive for knowledge and understanding in unknown areas.
Entrepreneurs should never stop questions how things work, why things are the way they are, and anything else that they don’t understand or would like to dig deeper into.
Tinker with the world!
