August 2016.
It has been 3 months since LinkedIn had launched its video feature.
And I had been waiting for it to be activated on my profile.

A thread...

I have been blogging since 2005.
Almost daily.
Started with my experiences as an MBA student at @ISBedu, then a consulting job.
Until then it was like a public diary.

But it took a very mature turn when I turned an entrepreneur in 2009.

I was experiencing so much, on a daily basis.
Making mistakes left, right and center.
Course correcting.
My biases were being challenged.

And I was learning so, so much!

The blog began to reflect that.
And people began to read it.
A lot more people than used to.

But by 2015-16, people had stopped reading.
Reading wasn't what most people did anymore.
They had moved to watching videos.

Jio had just launched.
And video consumption was picking up.

So I thought - why don't I write my blog, but also convert that into a video?

But by then Youtube had already become big and I was late to the game.
So when LinkedIn announced their video feature, I thought that could be an interesting platform to explore.

I had begun to see some early success, pasting my blog posts onto LinkedIn.

I was at 40K followers!

The video feature was launched, but even after 3 months, I didn't have access.
And everyday I saw videos from American entrepreneurs, business leaders and I was like, "Does this come to India at all?"

So one day, in August 2016, which happened to be a Wednesday, I wrote a post.

"Hey @jeffweiner - what does one have to do to activate the video feature on their profile?"
And I posted this on LinkedIn
(PS: Jeff was the CEO of LinkedIn back then)

In an hour, a product manager from LinkedIn reached out and said, "we have activated the feature for you!"

Seriously!?
That's what it took?
A post - asking for it?

It was a Wednesday.
And I recorded my first video on LinkedIn
"warikooWednesdays: If you don't ask, the answer is always no!"

Since then, I have posted over 600 hours of video content on LinkedIn, have amassed 860,000+ followers and warikoo Wednesdays became a property that people know me from.

But the point of this thread wasn't this humblebrag.
It was about what sets humans apart from animals!

Our ability to imagine.

Humans can imagine.
We can imagine stories.
We can imagine the future.
We can imagine things that don't exist. That haven't happened.

And this imagination has helped us tremendously.

We could imagine solutions to our problems.
We could imagine a better way of doing things.
We could imagine a better world.

And we did.
The world is far far better than it used to.
And continues to be, over long term.

But
This imagination also fails us. Every day.

Because when we want to do something, we begin to imagine.
We begin to imagine what would happen once we do that thing?
And our mind, imagines the worst.
Because its designed to protect us!

You want to ask a question?
People will laugh at you, when you do.
Mock you.
Tell you that you are stupid.

And as you imagine this, your brain tells you, why bother.
Don't ask.
Protect yourself from this potential harm.

So we hesitate!

Hesitate to ask
Hesitate to do something we want to do
Hesitate to explore what we wish to explore

We hesitate.
Our imagination, that has gotten us so far, also prevents most of us to move ahead.

And in my experience, it is a habit that we can develop.
The habit to not imagine the worst, as if it were to happen.
But to be aware of the worst, as if to prepare for it.

That day in August, I could have imagined no one to ever reply.
People to laugh at me at that post.

But instead, I imagined them to reply.
I imagined someone in the team to say, let's do it. It will make us look good.
I imagined the world being still the same, even if I didn't get the feature.

And I see that as a recurring thing in my life.

The habit to use this gift of imagination, to drive me, to propel me towards action, to pursue what I wish to pursue.

And its staggering how many people do not realize how their imagination hinders all of the above. I have seen it with the best of mind.

My biggest life lesson?
If you do not ask, the answer is always no

The biggest thing that has enabled this?
My imagination

The biggest thing that could have hindered this?
My imagination

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.
- Albert Einstein

Worry is a waste of imagination
- Walt Disney