Assumptions are mental routines. Routines are physical assumptions.
Routines are invaluable. They allow us to get things done without thinking about them. Can you imagine if we had to relearn how to drive a car or eat a bowl or cereal or set the alarm everyday?
But routines are dangerous–they keep us from a fresh perspective. I think many inventions are the byproduct of distupted routines.
We were in a routine at Giddings school eight years ago when that routine got disrupted. And we ended up at Union Station. Thank God for disrupted routines!
Historian Henry Hobson said, “The Americas were discovered as a by-product of the search for pepper.” The Turks disrupted the land trade routes in 1470 which caused pepper to be in short supply and prices skyrocketed. The discovery of America was due in part to a disrupted routine.
God, I give you permission (like you need it) to disrupt my routine. Help me see what is there but I don’t notice. Help me not to become a creature of habit. Help me make new discoveries. I know that means disrupt me!
It’s so hard for us to of things for which we have no categories. The first cars where described in terms of what they weren’t–horseless carriages.