Think Differently

Seven-Day blogging challenge, Day 2.

Early last week I acted upon an idea. I went into Walmart, picked up two large 100-count bags of wooden clothespins and took them to the express checkout line. The clerk's eyebrows shot up when she saw my purchase, and she laughed.

"Now are you going to use all those to do your laundry, or are you doing something else?"

I could not resist. "No, these are for craft items which will help me financially with expenses during an overseas trip this summer. "  she asked me to repeat that. Then she laughed again.

All she saw was an enormous quantity of wooden clothespins. An end product in a retail environment, and one of limited use or value.   She did not and could not see their potential. What I saw was something far greater.  What I saw were handy and attractive clothespin magnets, all neatly painted with custom-requested tartan sett patterns, made to order. What I saw beyond those very unique magnets included things like food purchased from Tesco and Morrison's, cooked outdoors in Scotland's wild country. Cans of fuel purchased at Tiso in Inverness, to cook those meals. A cold-press watercolour tablet, to replace the one I'll inevitably fill up while trekking through the West Highlands. And possibly a replacement bottle of Skin So Soft, to keep the voracious midges at bay.

You have to be willing to think differently, and be bold enough to act upon those ideas.  Don't think

about things as they are as though that is all they can be and nothing more.  Dare to innovate.  That is what I am doing here.  By the way, I am taking orders for these magnet clothespins in any tartan sett. I'll paint a set of eight for $20, shipped anywhere in the world.

The clerk's mockery in her laugh was unmistakable, but I really didn't mind.  After all, she only saw a pile of clothespins and thought it ridiculous that someone would purchase so many.  Where will she be in July? Very likely here, doing the same thing she was doing this day.  As for myself though, I've got my sights set at something much bigger - because I'm not just accepting things as they are as though that is all they ever will be, but instead looking forward with eager anticipation at all the great things they can be.