Recently I have been working on a new business idea. My goal is to bring the best of me to my clients, so that I can deliver mind altering, life shattering, ground shifting ... whatever. The name of this company is "Lynear Thinking". The truth is, Lynear Thinking has been active since . . .1961. Lynear Thinking is me.
Here's how it all began.
I was born a small bald child in Regina Saskatchewan. Apparently I was breach and backwards, if that's possible. My mother says I have been a challenge all my life. My mother tells me that I was, at times, a screaming daddy's girl who generally wanted what ever I wanted. She tells me I am the one in a million child. If something is going to happen, it will be me. I have rejected the word "no" most of my life. I remember thinking "We will see about that" whenever someone would say no to me. I also remember being difficult and defiant, as all small children are.
Through my school years, I became silently compliant. I was ridiculously shy, to the point where I would pray the teacher would not talk to me or ask me a question. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to be invisible, and I was for a long time. In kindergarten I remember my teacher scolding me for working during a play time. Granted, I was creating a purple cardboard phone, but apparently that was the art project and not "fun". I still don't get it. Over my school years, I recessed into the background. Looking back, very few teachers with the exception of 3 were in any way interesting or engaging. The rest of my teachers were what I later came to understand as brown ducks.
This is not a sad story. When one is invisible, one learns to look at things as an outsider. Without realizing it, I was acquiring keen observation skills that would serve me well as an adult.
As a child who lived in my thoughts, I kept journals and wrote poems and songs late at night in bed, under cover with a flash light. I never shared my duo tangs and stories with anyone. I developed a love for writing and telling stories. My hero was John Lennon. I fact, I remember the day he died - I said to myself, I want to be a writer. I want to tell stories that will move people. I want to write songs that create memories.
I set out to be a writer, studying English at the University of Regina, and then Journalism. I remember sitting on the stage at convocation thinking, now what. Since then, I have been committed to writing whatever it is that needs to be written. I have been committed to moving people to action with words. I have been committed to recording our time together on this earth.
Enter Lynear Thinking. This is not just a name - it is a perspective. It represents my personal philosophy that "no" is not an answer. One should ask "how?". It reflects my belief that we are all the CEO of our own lives and that we have a responsibility to be creative, energetic and optimistic about everything we do.
Lynear Thinking is about creating a vision that others can see and want to reach too. Lynear Thinking is about being authentic. Creative. Effervescent. Brave. Resourceful. Flexible and adaptable.
One person described me as a "pink flamingo in a brown duck pond." And yes, I have learned how to speak the language of the linear thinking, rule based individual. I accredit this set of skills to being raised by an accountant / banker. I appreciate and understand the need for this type of approach. I have acquired the ability to package non linear concepts into linear formats that linear thinkers can understand. As a pink flamingo, I must control my effervescence from time to time, because it can be misconstrued as "flighty."
Pink Flamingos are not often appreciated for their zest and zeal because the Brown Duck is not comfortable with this. One brown duck asked me to reserve any color for the final document because it is just dressing after all. I did not bother to explain that changes in colors and fonts are designed to help bring attention to information in a purposeful way.
But as the song goes, I gotta be me. I was born kicking and screaming, upside down and backwards. I was not born to follow the path. I was born to create the path. I was born with a brain, and a creative soul. and the power of words. I was born to tell stories and help create connections. I was born not to placate but to question. I was born not to accept what is but to explore what is next.
So here I am at another threshold in my life and I continue to be who I was the day I was born. Sometimes I don't fit in. Sometimes I scare people. Sometimes I am a force of nature. That's OK.
So now I am about to launch the next version of Lynear Thinking to help businesses connect with their markets. That helps community groups tell their story and garner support to do the good things they do. Lynear Thinking is not for the faint of heart. It is for those who have a desire to do something important and significant with their time and talent. Lynear Thinking is about changing from what we are to what we can be. Lynear Thinking is about doing what's important, exploring new ground and discovering other ways of thinking.
