Recently, I rekindled my interest in world history to prepare for a new book project. If you reflect on history, things have unfolded much like the events in the children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.”
Just in case you missed the mouse-getting-a-cookie book, here is a brief summary of the plot: A kid gives a mouse a cookie, the cookie creates the desire for a glass of milk, then a straw, then a napkin, then a mirror, then scissors, then a broom and so on and so forth. Basically, the cookie launches an ongoing series of perceived needs for something else.
As for history, the universe was formed about 13.75 billion years ago. Then about 4.5 billion years ago, some of the gases produced during the formation of the universe cooled down enough to coalesce into Earth. And then a lot of other stuff happened over the next 4.49 million years.
Okay, that brings us up to about 10,000 years ago. That’s when a mouse-getting-a-cookie-like event occurred with humans. About 10,000 years ago, humans invented agriculture – and it was like giving a mouse a cookie. Before that, humans primarily hunted and gathered. They typically kept hunting and gathering until they depleted their local ecosystem; then they picked up and moved on to new territories.
For many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it was getting harder to find a new place to hunt and gather, some innovative-minded humans decided to look for a new gig to replace hunting and gathering. So they domesticated crops and animals and added farming to their bag of survival tricks. That was a cookie-getting event in history. Not only did humans survive, they prospered.
Due to this prosperity, the number of humans inhabiting Earth started growing exponentially (farming could easily support more people than hunting and gathering). Farmers could hang out in one place and get their job done, so villages began growing. Then villages needed some form of government to coordinate things among the growing population of humans who did not always agree on everything. Then people and villages began accumulating wealth. Then villages grew into empires. Some empires began attacking others to plunder their wealth. Empires needed military organizations to protect their wealth (or to attack others). I could go on and on about how one thing leads to another, but you get the point.
OK, what can we learn from this that can help us in our businesses? Pay close attention to cookie-like events that might trigger new needs and desires. For example, read the daily news with a mouse-getting-a-cookie mentality. Scan the news every day and think: How are the events unfolding in the business community going to create business opportunities for me? Or, how might events cause a decrease in demand for some of my products and services?
That’s enough for now. I think I need a cookie.
Article by Chris Crouch from Memphis Daily News.
Smart Stuff 4 Work is written by Chris Crouch. Chris has spent years researching and studying both the mental and physical aspects of being productive and is the author of several books on the topic including Getting More Done
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