© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Human Action Table of Contents
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Civilization's blood is innovation. That doesn't mean change in itself, though change is inevitable. Change can be constricting and limiting. Innovation is by definition a process of expanding and energizing.

The automobile changed human life on earth. Though early automobiles were called “horseless carriages,” in reality the mechanical precursor of the automobile was not the horse wagon but a brilliant invention called the bicycle. A few innovators created souped-up three and four wheel bicycles with various types of engines. They were later followed by scores of innovators who made small improvements, then by hundreds, thousands and millions of engineers who kept the process going. And every other machine and product around you, from the wheel to the compact disk, from bread to corn flakes, was a product of a similar combination of large and small innovations. Humans are always refining, improving, and tweaking. They are never satisfied with stasis. You can be sure that a 1935 Buick, if produced in exactly the same way today, would get you to work and back. But Buick is not about to revive that model.

The “new” challenges the existing box. Often the box is comfortable, beautiful, wonderfully appointed, hand-rubbed and luxurious. But the new insists on breaking through the walls and the box crumbles. During the late Victorian era, one hundred years ago, after a century of industrial revolution, many thinkers believed humanity had indeed reached its limits. We know that wasn't true then and it certainly isn't true now. Change is constant. Limiting categories are thrown out as soon as they are created. And human minds are thriving.

Innovation is a natural expression of the Trans-Biological Imperative. Under this view, what we call creativity is not just rearranging what was already there, but is actually creating something out of nothing. Of course, the law of conservation of matter in physics tells us that there always is the same amount of matter. We don't create new matter. But we do create new meaning.

You can create new meaning in the space of an instant. Your innovative power can grow as naturally as your hair or fingernails. The blood that courses through your human veins fills you with the power to change the world around you, whether it be your habits, your beliefs, the store of your knowledge, the way you relate to other people, the way you write, read, walk or talk, or anything else. If you come to appreciate your actions and decisions as a proving ground for innovation, you will innovate, improve your life, and create new and wider meaning for everything you do.

Exercise: The Act of Creation

Make something out of nothing to create new meaning. Concentrate on small innovations you can accomplish immediately. Write down your results, then test out your ideas. Here are just a few examples of ideas:

• Think of a way you can do a household chore more efficiently.

• Get a detailed map of your area and plan shortcuts and alternative routes for when you get stuck in traffic jams.

• Do anything creative, whether you think you have talent or not.

• Add more of a listening factor to your communications with other people.

• Do something small to add some intimacy between you and love ones.

• Redefine and expand the scope of your business or job.