How Children View Success & What We Can Learn From Them

There are some great companies who have incorporated play areas for their innovation teams. The idea behind this is to move an adult out of their regimented, structured way of thinking and put them in a child’s environment where there are no limits on what he or she can think or do. The adult might get in touch with their ‘inner child’ and gain a different perspective that may be the potential catalyst for new innovations. To understand the method behind the ‘madness‘ of corporate play rooms to stimulate creative thinking, consider how children think and how boundless their minds are.

Google, Facebook and almost all the companies in the world that are known for innovation encourage their employees to take some time to play, take naps or even have recess in an area equipped with appropriate toys.

Judging by what these companies have been able to do and how they have grown, this is a strategy that works.

So how do children view success? And what can we learn from them.

Read on to find out.

What Everyone Can Learn From A Child’s View on Success

What’s wrong with the way adults view the world

Adults behave the way they do because they have to please society and perpetuate certain beliefs in order to be deemed worthy of being of the status they might occupy in their workplace, community and family.

A child’s wide view has no judgments of good or bad. Labels are put on by society and imprints of trauma are created when children seek to make sense of things that happen to them.

What is it that we lose when we grow up?

Certain behaviors should be unlearned as we age. Some of these behaviours should be done away with anyway like bed wetting; however, there are certain traits that we should keep with age like limitless imagination and spontaneity. It doesn’t take much for a child to be happy and it is not that far-fetched to assume that it’s possible to be anything you wish when you grow up.

A child’s brain is very flexible, they can change their minds easily. They are curious and will want to explore the boundaries that adults create for them. However, as children grow up they get to a point where they have to define who they are and will hone in on things that they feel are relevant. When this happens, no one is aware that the great number of possibilities that exists is decreased, by choice.

To be a successful person you need to be able to zone in on the things that are relevant to you and exploit them, but there is always a limit which requires you to have an explorative mind as well that allows you to stop and step out of what the accepted definition of who you want to be and the goals you have really is.

As some motivational speakers like to say, “you are the author of your own life”, and this process starts with your childhood dreams and the journey you had to take to transition. Your mind may not be able to turn back time but you can definitely change your attitude and outlook on life to get an ending that is more to your liking.

 “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

Getting a fresh perspective and daring to go outside convention

Companies who have adopted creative play rooms rely on innovative thinking but adults always have rules that they want to follow, they don’t colour outside the lines. Children might be presented with a drawing of an elephant and told to paint the elephant, very few, if any, will paint the elephant in the exact way a real elephant looks, some may even paint the elephant pink, or green because of a fixation with everything they paint is pink, sometimes there are spots on tigers and stripes sometimes on an elephant even when we all know that it can never happen.

To encourage and boost a child’s confidence, and help him or her to grow up being sure of how worthy they are, children need a fresh perspective. A fresh pair of eyes stretches the horizon and suddenly, you will find yourself thinking thoughts asking the question “what if?”.

What else can we learn from the way children view the world

If you were a product, a good analogy of the difference between the younger version of yourself and who you are as an adult now is to consider your childhood as the research and development phase. A lot can go wrong, most of the time the problems are introduced by the parents and the system where this product is being developed. We all know that at the end of the day, we are products of our childhood circumstances (good or bad), some of us come out better than others but we all have the ability to improve ourselves if we can look back and figure out what elements we missed out on.

It is never to late to reclaim the positive elements and add the naïve childishness with the wisdom and experience of age.