Everyday Genius

How can you attend the full-day wedding of one of your best friends when your one-year-old daughter is teething with a fever? Recently, my friend Alex had to solve this problem. The answer? Common sense and a bit of creativity.

For the outdoor ceremony, he and his wife parked their daughter’s stroller in the shade. They took her temperature every so often. Next, instead of taking a car to the wedding venue, they arrived with their camper. Brilliant! Now, they had everything they needed in walking distance—including a bed for their kid.

But the cherry on top was how they managed to both spend some unburdened time dancing at night: Instead of spending tons of money on a fancy baby monitor, they simply left one of their phones in her bed. Then, they called with another phone, put the phone in the crib on speaker and muted themselves. Finally, each of them plugged an earbud into one ear, and voilà: free baby sleep tracking.

Thankfully, their daughter slept through most of the night, but given their innovative ideas, I think Alex and his wife more than deserved it.

You don’t always need to look to science or Big Tech for great displays of innovation. Imagination and resourcefulness are just as impressive, if not more, as million-dollar research breakthroughs. The good kind of brilliance is all around us. Look for everyday genius.