17: Provoke

Provoking is about challenging the status quo, putting the authority into question, looking behind the curtain. At the very least, provocation is about expressing curiosity and asking why.

Provoke daily. Remember what kids are doing. They’re testing what is possible. So provoking is also seeing how far you can come. You can provoke yourself, although notions like “going to the limit” may be more appealing.

Provoking doesn’t mean to harm someone. It means to evoke a reaction, to force a reaction.

And if people don’t react to your provocation? You can continue until they do, or you can pause and find a better moment.

The take-away from today: Provoking is curiosity in action. Just being curious and not doing something about is passive and won’t bring you further. If you’re truly curious about a topic you ask those nasty questions, you ask more than 3 times why and you make sure you get your curiosity satisfied. Provoke, but don’t harm.

This was episode 17 of the #weekdaykickoff. Every Monday-Friday morning. Colombian time. Until episode 5 I also audio-recorded on Anchor, you can find me there as “Alexander Kluge”.

Did you like this post? Tell me on Twitter what you got out of it or what you were missing.