Ah, the last month of the year is upon us. A time of reflection, evaluation, jubilation, maybe some regret, but I hope there is a ton of optimism. Where will you apply the most brainpower, energy and creativity going forward?

I tend to focus on the optimism, then pair that with some planning. What is The Next Big Thing? That thought crossed my mind when I found a sketchbook on my shelf. Not so ironically, it’s titled The Next Big Thing. Lots of blank pages, peppered with quotes that we can be inspired by in the coming year.

When you stop innovating, you are cursed with atrophy. Who needs that? Note that we’re not talking average thinking here—The Next Big Thing will take a little extra effort.

What goals will we be bold enough to put on our plate of things to devour in 2022? What are the bites we’ll have to take in order to make a meal of a goal? Hey, I’m a Pepper, we have to talk in culinary terms!

The first thing is to apply oneself. Get started. Be still and let the ideas flow. Ralph Ford exclaimed, “Thousands of perceptions, hunches, ideas and intuitions race through our brains every day. Some are pure genius. Give them the red light for at least long enough to write them down.”

Kobi Yamada challenged everyone, “Where do you draw the line between possible and impossible?” I say you don’t! I think that was his point, as well.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer proclaimed, “Everything is always impossible before it works.”

Kobi Yamada is also famous for sharing, “We all know our ideas can be crazy, but are they crazy enough?”

You get the idea. Nothing’s out of bounds! If skepticism creates paralysis, you’ll never know if you could have changed the world.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season. Here’s to an innovative 2022!

Tim Padgett
tim@peppergroup.com

“There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.”
—Robert Byrne

“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.”
—Frank Tibolt