I often wonder how much better a developer/programmer/innovator I could be if I could just emulate some of the natural tendencies of my toddlers. I'm talking about habitual behaviours such as:

  1. Aptitude for languages - admittedly this is an obvious one, I'm just getting it out of the way early.
  2. Curiosity - they take total joy in the process of learning (at least when there is no pain involved) and move effortlessly from one thing to another.
  3. Willingness to make mistakes and...
  4. Ability to learn from mistakes. Toddlers are naturally free thinking because they're not bound by concerns about what is expected from them or what others think of them. Or, as we'd say in Yorkshire, they "say what they like and like what they bloody well say"!
  5. Determination - I love their tenacious approach to problem solving, the willingness to repeat and adjust their efforts until success is achieved, or at least until Ben 10 comes on the telly.
  6. Enthusiasm - an infectious sense of fun and ability to engage and involve the people around them.
  7. Keeping things simple - ability to filter out unnecessary information in a flash to reach an understanding of complex problems. The other day my Daughter was asking me why Daddies pee standing up. After an endless stream of 'why?'s and a lot of squirming from me we reached the conclusion that its because Daddies can. What struck me though was the speed at which the fact that men can also pee sitting down was shelved as unnecessary surplus data. Mummies sit down, Daddies stand up, simple.

Of course, if you spoke to my work mates they would probably tell you all about the toddler habits that they'd rather I didn't exemplify at work. The tantrums when things don't go my way, needing an afternoon nap. But that's a whole different blog post!