When was the last time you intentionally put yourself in an environment where you were completely out of your depth — and unexpectedly loved it?

That happened to me this week when I attended the World Changing Ideas Forum hosted by Johns Hopkins University and Fast Company Magazine. The themes — space, healthcare, and AI — were so far beyond my usual world that my brain was firing on all cylinders just to keep up.

For example, in one session two scientists explained how technology built to map distant galaxies is now being used to map cancer cells. The same tools that help us understand the cosmos are helping cure disease. What!

I was enthralled. I had conversations with people I’d never otherwise meet — scientists, technologists, astrophysicists. And suddenly, I was thinking about my work and client projects in completely new ways.

Here’s the irony: I often teach creative thinking, emphasizing the importance of stretching into unfamiliar spaces to spark innovation. I do take lots of different classes, go to events, travel, meet amazing people, even create art.

But apparently, I hadn’t been venturing far enough — because this felt different.
It made me wonder: how often do any of us truly go beyond our habitual environments? We attend conferences in our field, read books in our lane, talk to people who speak our language.

Yet, as I was reminded this week, the most powerful ideas often come from other universes — borrowed frameworks, cross-pollinated thinking, collisions with the unfamiliar.

So here’s my question to you (and to myself):

What’s one thing completely outside your field that you could explore — a conference that intimidates you, a discipline that fascinates you, a conversation with someone who thinks differently? You might just find the spark you didn’t know you needed, like I did!

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