I’ve come to a theory that most of us don’t do things THE BEST WAY. Instead, we typically do things THE WAY IT FIRST MADE SENSE. Maybe it was a good teacher, or well-written process instructions. Maybe it’s something you figured out on your own.

Whatever way you learn, that’s most likely the path you’ll continue to take until there’s an outside force to jostle you into a different way of seeing the world.

This should be a good thing, giving us some stability, something to live out, to pass on to the next generation or next workers coming behind us.

Most of the time, I think it’s a good state of the world for all involved.

Except when we are incapable of learning new, better ways to do those same things.

Except when we close ourselves off to growth, to success, to potential for better results.

Except when we consider our own finite perspectives to be the totality of truth.

Then, in those cases and more, we fail to grow. And loyalty to a set way of thinking becomes detrimental to our well-being.

This is not a rant, just an observation. I’m in the middle of this like everyone else. But I hope that there’s room in my worldview to be wrong, to recognize that, and to look for better.

People don’t want different. Not in their politics. Not on American Idol. Not in their peanut butter.

People want better. Better might be different. But it’s a better different. It’s better first, and that in itself is different.

People want better. Better will be different, because it’s better.

But we’ve got to look for better. We’ve got to be open to better. We’ve got to learn better and then do better and then share better.

So that the next generation can learn better from us, can be better workers and teachers after us, can grow and succeed after us.