Innovators and wishers

Something occurred to me as I was admiring Dale Chihuly’s beautiful glass artwork this week in Seattle and seeing the process by which he envisioned his creations. The difference between a wisher and an innovator became startlingly clear: wishers have dreams of what they wish things would be like.

Innovators have the same dreams as wishers, but their dreams come with instruction manuals.

When Chihuly sees a piece of art in his mind, it comes with the knowledge of how he’ll create it, and how he’ll give instructions to his apprentices to help him create it. His dreams are not idle wishes – they’re blueprints that only require effort and labor to bring into the world.