From Yogi Berra to Confucius, history is ripe with wisdom and advice on our quest for knowledge. One of Zinzin’s favorite wise humans is author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek. Specifically, he speaks about the quest for knowledge in our chosen disciplines. Where do we find it?

As it turns out, the answer doesn’t lie within. It actually lies with-out — outside of the familiarity of your home, office walls, industry publications and conferences.

We think Sinek nails it when he says, “There are things that you can learn outside of your discipline that can significantly contribute to the problems you’re solving at work. You only know what you know. You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Why business owners should study the arts

Here is Sinek on the importance of understanding that you don’t know what you don’t know, and the value of going out and finding it. Especially interesting is his take on why the best ideas don’t happen during brainstorming sessions (0:38), because they only activate the conscious mind not the subconscious mind:

Furthermore, Sinek writes,

Most of us stay in our industry to help us be better at what we do. We read our own industry’s trades, we attend our own industry’s conferences, we talk to others from our industry and we take classes offered by “experts” from the inside. Though we may learn bits and pieces this way, we can never learn to innovate and solve problems or think in new ways like this. To truly think differently, we need to look way outside our own industries. If we see and learn how others solve problems, we can adapt and apply the same lessons to our own work.

Get out there and wallow in it

In naming, Zinzin loves the practice of getting outside of ourselves, our specialty, our industry. If you want learn how to create great names, don’t just read what naming, branding and marketing “experts” have to say. Read poetry, great literature, see a film that challenges you, go to art galleries and museums.

Remember, great names are all around us. They are in the language of poetry, literature, art, science, and nature. Great names are found in conversations with kids. They are in the world of sports. And we’d also like to mention: naming should be fun!

So, get out there and wallow in life. Step outside of yourself. See and do new things. In the words of Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you will end up someplace else.”