[Neurons] 2012 Meta Reflection #51

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections 2012  #51

Oct. 15, 2012

 

 

THE NEXT BIG THING

 

 

If there's anything that seems to be continuously on everybody's mind it is,
"The next big thing."  Now when I say "everybody," I mostly mean people in
marketing and sales, people in self-development, organizational development,
H.R., positive psychology, success, wealth creation, screenplay writing,
novel writing, etc.  Well, yes, I guess that means most of us.  And when I
say "continuously" I mean that it seems to be ever-present and that it never
stops or goes away.

 

For decades, business (and other fields also) have experienced "the next big
thing" as new products, services, and experiences have been offered as "the
big solution," the panacea, the cure-all for the problems that undermine and
interfere with success.  This has come to be known as "fad of the month"
("flavor of the month").  Yet as one thing after another didn't pan out and
prove to be the cure-all, and as more and more people worked on develop "the
next big thing," the cycles became shorter, and the sense of "oh, just
another fad" became more and more pronounced.

 

Now it is true that from time to time someone does discover or create "the
next big thing" in a given field or domain.  Yet most often that is not the
pattern.  Most often the pattern is that when the next big thing is first
discovered and created, it is not truly "the next big thing."  It is just
something new and different.  Often when something is presented and marketed
as the next big thing, the reality does not pan out.

 

The internet offers an interesting example.  In terms of its importance as a
discovery, it qualifies as one of those "next big things."  Yet when it was
created, it was not seen as the next big thing at all.  It arose and was
around for many years before it was widely discovered for the uses that we
put it to today.  Long before it became "the next big thing" in our minds,
it was around as a small thing that hardly anyone knew about.  Only later
did people began to learn how to use it so that it became the next big
thing.  The same thing could be said for Bill Gates and his associates
creating their first products in his garage.  It would eventually become
"the next big thing" although it didn't appear that way at first.

 

What drives this hunger for the next big thing?  One thing that has driven
it and continues to drive it is an assumptive frame: When someone,
somewhere, somehow comes up with "the next big thing," it will be quick and
easy and completely change our lives.  Ah yes, quick and easy.  That's what
we all want, isn't it?  We want things quick.  And we want things to be
easy.  That's why "Get Rich Quick" schemes continue to multiply and why old
worn-out schemes keep re-asserting themselves seducing people to the quick
and easy next big thing.  If human being weren't so impatient, there would
not be so many people so gullible for the message, "This will be really
quick!"  "It won't take much time."  So people still buy silly gadgets
that's going to wear off the fat of the mid-section while you sleep, while
you eat, while you watch TV.  It's quick and easy.

 

Easy is one of the seductive words when it comes to "the next big thing."
No work, no effort, you don't have to study, sweat, feel exhausted, etc.  It
is low cost, fun, quick, won't cost you much at all and you will start to
see results in three days!

 

So what am I getting at?  Recently I have been asked repeatedly by several
people, "What's the next big thing in NLP or in Neuro-Semantics?"  Maybe it
was in editing the book, Innovations in NLP with Shelle Rose Charvet.
Anyway, the truth in answering this question is: I don't know.  And to take
that a bit further, I have never pursued the next big thing.  So then I was
asked about some of the models that I've created and if when they first
appeared they were recognized as the next big thing.

 

Yet that's just the thing- I never sought any of them, I never pursued "the
next big thing" in Neuro-Semantics.  For example, when Frame Games emerged,
when the Matrix Model came to me, when the Axes of Change and the
Self-Actualization Quadrants -I had not plan for any of them.  I did not
seek after any of those models.  Nor did I spend any time "trying hard" to
find or create them.  They all emerged while I was engaged in something
important to me ... they emerged and it would be more accurate to say that
they found me rather than I found them.  When they did emerge in my mind, it
was the result of having been engaged in a study or  in a modeling project
and they came to me when I least expected them.

 

It is paradoxical, isn't it?  To chase after "the next big thing" seems to
be one of the key things that prevents us from discovering the next big
thing!  Conversely, to release the pursuit of the next big thing and to
focus on exploring something that you are fully engaged in and to do so in
depth, to model a human expertise that fascinates you, this is what enables
next big things to arise when you are ready for it.  Looking for magical
answers, lost-cost easy and quick solutions will actually misdirects you and
the use of your powers.

 

I think we could argue that many of the things that we now recognize as "the
next big thing" started off as a small thing and that it became the next big
thing by how certain people began employing it.  And if that's the case,
then what if- just what if- there are several "next big things" present in
your life and mine right now?  Suppose that the next big thing has already
emerged, already been around for awhile, and it has simply not yet been
recognized.  If that was the case- what would that call upon you and me to
do?  Would it not call upon us to refocus our search so that we begin to
look about us with eyes of appreciation? 

 

Perhaps instead of pursuing "the next big thing" we should focus on pursing
the most important meaning or solution that would make the most difference
to us.  Perhaps you should aim to be more present, more here in the
here-and-now and more appreciative of solutions and resources that are all
around you.  This is, in fact, one of our themes in Neuro-Semantics.  Be
present.  Learn to become fully engaged in this moment with what you endow
with rich meaning, access this state as your optimum "zone."  If this is
your genius state, and from within it will come your "next big thing, are
you willing and able to make this your focus?

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

                Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

                Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

                1 970-523-7877 

                Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net


     

     

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