Why is wearing shoes the best starting point?

I have a bad habit that I'm ready to admit. I buy more books than I have been able to read. My book buying eyes are bigger than my book consuming stomach.

I've got some amazing books sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust. One way I have compensated for this in the past is by selecting the smaller, quick reads over the meaty, dense books. That didn't feel good and once I became aware of this, I started picking monsters. The 512 page, uber dense "Ascent of Humanity" by Charles Eisenstein is the current beast.

I'm only 32 pages into this slow-going journey, and I've already found some powerful nuggets, and the groundwork is being laid out for a fundamental paradigm shift.

A beautiful quote from the book: "Seek not to cover the world in leather — just wear shoes." That of course is not the actual quote. I had to dig deeper which of course slows down the reading even further, but I'm glad I did to find the source.

"Where would there be leather enough to cover the entire world? With just the leather of my sandals, it is as if the whole world were covered. Likewise, I am unable to restrain external phenomena, but I shall restrain my own mind. What need is there to restrain anything else?" — an 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar Shantideva

Entrepreneurs see the world and the future through a different lens. They have a vision for what is possible and are able to see situations and people better and greater than they currently are. While I believe being an optimist is a competitive advantage for entrepreneurs, this quote feels like a nice counter-balance.

Start within first. If you want to change the world, change yourself first. Start with the man in the mirror.

Even if I don't ever get past page 32, I'm jazzed about this quote. In order to have the massive impact in the world that I believe is possible, I'll start by putting on my own shoes first.

How can I think differently?

It's so easy to get caught up in my own bubble. It's comfortable there. It's known and certain. And it's also very dangerous.

I was in my own bubble for most of my two years in San Francisco: the environment, the people, the conversations and information, my own schedule and routines. All of it. And even when I recognized it, I didn't really do very much to change it.

If we want to think differently, we have to get out of our own little bubbles that we've created. We have to change things up.

To change how we think, we can:

• Stop reading what everyone else is reading (Twitter, books, news, blogs)
• Stop listening to what everyone else is listening to (Music, podcasts, keynotes, thought leaders)
• Stop watching what everyone else is watching (Netflix, TV, Sports, Instagram, YouTube)
• Stop going where everyone else is going (popular coffee shops, social clubs, networking events, Napa, Tahoe, Hamptons)

I didn't say it was going to be easy and I didn't say you were going to like it. But if you want to think differently, change up your damn patterns.

Walk a different way to the office. Start listening to a totally new genre of music or podcast. Pick up a hobby that seems weird. Get lost in the woods. Make new friends way out of your age range and with very different upbringings. Read some early 19th century transcendentalism even though you despised it in high school. It all works.

If we want to think differently and unlock new levels of innovation, we have to mix it up.