The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change

by Adam Braun

Many of us spend our entire lives in the same bubble—we surround ourselves with people who share our opinions, speak the way we speak, and look the way we look. We fear leaving those familiar surroundings, which is natural, but through exploration of the unfamiliar we stop focusing on the labels that define what we are and discover who we are.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

While seeing more landscapes is important, it is the interpretation of how one sees the world that matters more. Ideally it should be positive feedback system, more landscapes one sees more eyes one should grow or more the eyes should mutate.

Many presentations follow a traditional hero’s journey, with the presenter portraying himself or herself as the hero to win over the audience. But the best presentations—the ones that inspire action—are those where the same journey is portrayed, except the audience is the focus. It’s not about the presenter; it’s about the chance that the audience has to become the hero by completing a well-defined task.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It’s the presence of others who are smarter, kinder, wiser, and different from you that enables you to evolve.