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Key Takeaways Imagination didn’t disappear in adulthood — fear replaced it, and growth stalled as a result.
Without imagination, leaders maintain the past; with it, they create the future.
Most adults did not lose their imagination. They handed it over willingly.
Somewhere between the first mortgage payment and the first time someone said, “that’s not realistic,” imagination got labeled as irresponsible. Immature. Optional.
That label is dead wrong. Imagination built every company you admire. Every neighborhood you want to live in. Every product that solved a problem you did not know you had.
Then adulthood came along and said, “Be practical.” Here’s the problem. Practical without imagination is just maintenance. Maintenance never changes the world.
When imagination quietly leaves the room
Kids imagine without permission.
They turn a cardboard box into a spaceship. A driveway into a racetrack. A backyard into a kingdom. No one tells them to brainstorm. They just do it. Adults wait for approval.
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