“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” -Einstein

Of late, and like most of you out there I imagine, I've found myself deeply fascinated by the Jeremy Lin story. In reflecting on what makes his so universally appealing, I'm sure it's because his is just so unexpected. A schema is a cognitive tool, often based off of past experiences or preconceived notions, that helps us categorize and interpret the world. Though today, people like Lin's high school basketball coach are claiming they always knew he was capable of such a feat, I'm willing to put money on the fact that this is just a hindsight is 20/20-type situation. Until recently, "Asian-American Harvard graduate," did not readily fit my schema for an NBA star basketball player. Whether or not they'll admit it, this has got to be true for others as well. 

On several occasions during my school days, teachers would tell me or my parents that I could be President (Teachers say that to everyone, don't they? Don't answer that). Today, I realize that the statement is a sort of metaphor for "You can do anything you want to do. You can be anyone you want to be." Back then I took it quite literally. I remember the day I learned that a main eligibility requirement to be United States President is natural citizenship (US-born). I sat there thinking, Wow. My teachers are right. I could be President. That evening I went home and told my parents. Though they politely played along with my youthful dreaming, let's just say they didn't exactly take it upon themselves to groom me for presidency, as say, Bush Sr. probably did for George W. (Note: I am not blaming my parents for the fact that I will never be President of the United States). 

It makes sense. We as humans are rather risk averse. We play to win, and we take the bets that are in our favor. If there were more Indian-American female US Presidents out there, maybe I would be more optimistic about such a life goal. This mindset is necessary, albeit disappointing. Disappointing because it may be hindering our creativity as a society. Recently, Scientific American reported research findings showing for the first time that much like unconscious biases against race, gender, sexual orientation, and mental diseases, we are also unconsciously biased against creativity. Yes, in a world of augmented reality and mobile wallets, we literally fear creativity and innovation. Not only that, we actually fail to see creativity when it slaps us in the face. All this in the name of a "sure-thing." 

I can't help but wonder if there's any way out for us. Cognitive biases are pretty strong -- they're unconscious, after all. Are we as a society inhibiting our own creative progress? I believe that with creativity, as with most widespread biases, change starts with the individual. Just as people may almost "overcompensate" to prove complete acceptance of topics traditionally victim to unconscious bias, it may be time to aggressively pursue creative (and risky) goals. 

Today, in perusing my usual news sources, I came upon an admittedly questionable article claiming that predicting the future is all about trusting your feelings. In cases where we have some overall knowledge about a question at hand, going with our gut may be enough to make a (successful) prediction about the future. When it comes to ourselves, maybe we can be a bit creative with our goals and dreams, especially if we have some sort of gut feeling that success is possible. Though nerve-wrecking especially for those who are risk averse, the idea is pretty uplifting. 

To conclude, I come back to basketball, and a basketball poster that hung in my gym locker room. The quote read, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." We owe it to our creative selves, the Asian-American-Harvard-graduate-NBA-star in each of us, the first African America US President in each of us, to go with our gut, reconstruct schemas and break barriers.