Changing your approach to the process of discovery

By Andrea Hill

I hated science fairs. I hated them when I was a child, and I hated them even more as a parent. It’s not that I hate science, but science fairs…ugh! The cardboard format (literally and figuratively), the rigidity, and the schedule all conspired to make my beloved science drudgery. So when it was my son’s turn to enter the ranks of science fair participants, I tried to delegate the responsibility to my oldest child. When that failed, I resigned myself to participation…and had a blast.

What changed? It was my son’s refreshing approach to the experience. Before this, he wasn’t particularly excited about science, but he was fascinated by the notion of doing experiments. By the time he and I convened at the kitchen table, he had already made two lists—the “boring” parts and the “exciting” parts, and he had a plan to get the boring parts out of the way.

This was an immediate lesson for me in categorization. Until that moment, I had categorized my life and work in many ways but never into the categories of “boring” and “exciting.”

The Importance of Categorization

Work is inevitably both boring and exciting. When we begin something new, it’s all exciting. But as the years wear on and our jobs become routine, it’s easy to lose sight of how exciting work can be. This is a deadly trap. Failing to see the excitement in our work saps us of energy and prevents us from seeing possibility around every corner. I have learned that separating my weeks and days into “boring” and “exciting” categories reenergizes me. I challenge myself to complete the boring work quickly and effectively, and I take great pleasure in competing with myself to increase efficiency in all things boring.

The “exciting” category of tasks is made more exciting simply by labeling it so. I use the exciting tasks as a reward for completing the boring ones. I consciously observe what makes these tasks so stimulating, and by doing so, I continue to improve. For example, one of my production manager clients puts quality control in the exciting column. When I asked why it was exciting, he explained that QC is a window into everything happening in his shop. QC shows him where to make improvements, who needs additional training, and what processes to focus on next. After learning to categorize this way, he realized that during times of high work stress, he dreaded QC activities as much as he dreaded everything else. But by consciously remembering why QC is exciting to him, he brought joy back into the work, and experienced immense stress relief by immersing himself in it.

The Process of Discovery

The other big thing my son demonstrated during his first science fair was the joy of the process of discovery—not just the results, but the process. Sure, it’s exciting to discover or to invent something new. We can use the results of those discoveries to improve lives, make money, and earn fame. But what I hadn’t considered until this experience was that the process of discovery is more potent than the discovery itself. The human psyche is happiest when deeply engaged in learning, exploring, testing, and stretching. My son created a science fair schedule that allocated two days to decide what he was going to explore, three weeks to experiment to his heart’s content, and one weekend to create the science fair display materials.

As I listened to his plan, it occurred to me that the things I hated most about science fairs were deciding what to explore and creating the materials. By confining those two (“boring”) elements into short, defined cages at the beginning and end, he opened up the rest of the schedule to experimentation and learning.

The Need for Balance

In my consulting life, I encounter two types of people: entrepreneurs and managers. The entrepreneurs are wired to indulge in the process of discovery, but they forget the importance of the structural elements that help turn ideas into long-term profits. The managers focus on the structural elements, but don’t remember (or know about) the joy of the process of discovery.

Your business needs both, but from an energy perspective, it needs more exploration and discovery than management. Read that sentence again, because it’s important: From an energy perspective, your business needs more exploration and discovery than management. In other words, the management elements are extremely important, but good business management is also well-defined and—once the right tools, processes, and disciplines are in place—shouldn’t require a lot of energy. Good management practices are designed to facilitate innovation by making the time, money, and space for it.

If you don’t have the right management elements in place, true profitability and growth will always elude you. So the message entrepreneur-types need is this: “Get the management elements in place so you can make some money with all these ideas.”

But most people aren’t entrepreneurs. Most people fall into the manager category. So the message that manager-types need is this: “If you’re spending all your energy on managing your business, you will not discover the new ideas, new practices, new skills, and ‘ahas!’ that your business requires to survive.”

After my son’s first science fair, I understood that I didn’t hate science fairs; I hated my approach to science fairs. If you are not enjoying your business right now, it’s possible that it’s not your business you dislike but your approach to your business. Try categorizing your days and weeks into “boring” and “exciting,” and then reinvest in the process of discovery. It could change everything.