Why is it important to be conformist?

Consistency and conformity are the characteristics of many people's thinking, but also the dregs of traditional Chinese culture in the conceptual form of a major manifestation. Studying China's historical development, we can see that in the natural economic conditions, thousands of years of agriculture presents a simple cycle of style, spring planting, summer management, autumn harvest, winter storage, year after year, week after week, basically a simple reproduction. In this way, the cycle of production activities for generations inevitably leads to a simple repetition and cycle of life style, and thus people's ideological understanding is also colored by the old ways of doing things and sticking to the old rules. The theories and experiences of the previous generation, like the production and life of the previous generation, were copied and used by the next generation without any modification or change. Confucius made it very clear that this traditional ideology, which emphasizes conformity rather than transformation, and old-fashionedness rather than innovation, is very important. He said, "Yin is due to the Xia ritual, and the loss and gain can be known; Zhou is due to the Yin ritual, and the loss and gain can be known; its or the successor to Zhou, although a hundred generations can be known." In his opinion, future generations should not implement fundamental changes to the ritual system of the previous generation, but only add or subtract, gain or lose a little under the general premise of "due to", i.e., inheritance and succession. Therefore, he was mostly hostile to the Spring and Autumn politicians to change the "system of the Duke of Zhou", not in favor of the abolition of the old and renewed, but only advocated the implementation of the old system of some of the branches of the repair.

The traditional concept of sticking to the old ways is contrary to the development of modern society. The most valuable asset of a nation and a country is the spirit of innovation, which is far more important than material wealth. If the spirit of innovation is lost through old-fashioned and conformist practices, even the richest material resources will be impoverished and depleted, and society will stagnate. This is true of society as a whole, and personal enrichment is no exception. Many people do not lack of diligence, not lack of knowledge, but it is nothing, nothing, the reason lies in the lack of innovative spirit, stick to the old ways, stick to the old rules.

There is such a joke: a factory from abroad introduced a prototype. In the imitation production, a technician found that the base of the prototype machine has a screw, just screwed in the base, and other parts do not have any connection. So, what is the role of such a screw? The factory from the leadership to the technicians can not understand. Finally, the leadership board said: "Since there is such a screw on the prototype, it must have its reason for existence, we follow the gourd on the line." So, the factory workers in the originally intact base to drill a hole, and then screwed a screw. Soon after the prototype of the manufacturer to send a technician to make a return visit, he found that the factory's production of machines on the base of a screw, can not help but let out a loud laugh. It turned out that the prototype of the screw, because the production workers accidentally drilled a hole, in order to cover up this error, only a screw, which thought that the factory will be so unthinking to follow the gourd!

In fact, it's not that the factory people do not use their brains, in fact, they have conducted many studies on this issue, only because they have a fixed idea in their minds, that is, "other people's things are completely correct, we just follow the do on the line". The result is a natural joke.

An adult who doesn't know how to ride a bicycle sees a small child riding it, and enviously says to the child, "It's the small child who can ride a bicycle because he's fast." He didn't realize that the child said to him, "You don't have to be fast to ride a bike." So the child began to teach the adult how to ride a bicycle, and the adult quickly learned. When the adult happily said goodbye to this child and went home, he habitually pushed his bike and walked home - he didn't think outside the box of habitual thinking.

Paul Macready, the brilliant American inventor, once told this story:

It was an incident some years ago when I told my son, who was ten years old at the time, that the surface tension of water could make a needle float. I then posed a question asking him to drop a very large needle on the surface of the water, but not to sink it. I had done this experiment myself when I was younger, so I prompted him to utilize some method, such as a small hook or magnet. But he said without thinking, "First freeze the water into ice, put the needle on the ice, and then slowly melt the ice, right?"

This answer is a cracker! Whether it works or not is irrelevant; the key point is this: even if I racked my brain and meditated on it for days, I wouldn't come up with it. Experience limits the ego, and thinking is rigid. This chap is not out of the box.

I designed the Light Albatross, the first human-powered flight across the English Channel, for which I won the $214,000 Henry Kramer Prize. But before the needle drop, I didn't really understand how my team could win the 18-year competition. Mind you, the other groups were far stronger than us, both financially and in terms of technical prowess; but in the end, they made very little progress, and we came out on top.

The whole needle-throwing thing was a rude awakening for me: despite the high technical level of each of my opponents, their designs were conventional. My secret weapon was that, although I lacked experience in designing wing structures, I was familiar with hang gliding and the small, compact model airplanes. My Light Albatross weighed only 70 pounds, but had a huge 90-foot-wide wing, with high-quality ropes for tensioning. Our rivals, of course, knew hang gliding, and they failed because they knew too much of the standard techniques.

This story reminds us once again that it's often not what we don't know but what we do know that holds us back.

The ability to be unencumbered by rigid concepts is what generates new ideas and creates new businesses. Everyone knows this, but not many actually do it. That's why most people in this world don't do anything and only a few excel.

Several years ago, trucks were used to move the assembled parts of pre-cast houses, and when they arrived at the construction site, the drivers either stayed there and did nothing or drove back with an empty truck and sent a crane truck to the construction site to do the work. Almost everyone was so used to this that they did not think of changing this very unreasonable situation. However, Mr. Shirai, the president of Nippon Industrial Transportation Development Corporation (NITDC), thought that this method of operation was a waste of time and labor. He thought, "Trucks don't exist just to move things; trucks are meant to participate directly in operations." He then concentrated his efforts on research, and finally created an extra-long-bodied lifting truck that is dual-purpose as a truck and a crane. This kind of vehicle can carry goods and lift extra heavy things at the same time, all in one, saving drivers and workers a lot of time.

There is a foreign story about a king who had no children but loved food and talent. He made the promise that he would pass on his succession to the throne to whomever could create the most delicious food that was both hot and cold at the same time. The vast majority of people were stumped by this apparent paradox, and one man who was willing to use his brain eventually prevailed and not only gained the appreciation of the fussy king, but also the throne. The food he created was the hot cream chocolate ice cream that many of us now love. Only those who dare to break the rules and possess rich creativity and imagination can win this throne. This story proves once again that as long as you can not be constrained by conventional ideas, use your brain more, and then pay full attention, there will be unexpected gains.