“Anything that
increases the stress on a system leads to a jump to a higher level of being.
Instead of breaking down physically, you jump through a creative
Eurika!
Experience into a higher state of mind.” (Ilya
Prigogine)
In the 1950s when the
electric typewriter was first introduced to the market, a kind-hearted boss
bought one for his secretary. The new electric typewriter fascinated Bette
Nesmith Graham, who had to struggle with a mechanical model all along, as it
would save her from having sore fingers from pounding the keys.
Bette’s joy was short-lived. Being
unfamiliar with the soft-touched keys, she made mistake after mistake until her
waste-paper basket was full of incorrectly typed letters. She was unable to
finish a single letter at the end of the day.
Bette thought hard on ways to
overcome the problem but no solutions came. Finally she gave up and switched
her thoughts to the reaction of the boss. He had invested a lot on the new
typewriter and would be very disappointed if she was unable to work more
efficiently. She could even lose her job.
In the midst of her sad
thoughts, an idea suddenly flashed into her mind. She remembered that in her
art training she had learned to paint over mistakes with a special paint called
Gesso. Eureka! That’s it!
Bette rushed home to find a
tin of white paint and used her small paintbrush to paint over her mistakes. Thus
the corrector fluid, Liquid Paper was
born. In 1972, she sold the company to the Gillette Corporation for US$50
million!
Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)
Quote from Dr. Yew Kam Keong’s
You Are Creative: Let Your Creativity
Bloom! 3rd Edition (Petaling Jaya: Advance Quest Sdn. Bhd.,
2007) pg. 18
