It's that time of month again, when I review my five year goals, which for me is to develop a publishing company that sets the standard for excellence here in the States, if not the world. Dream big or go home, right? So, here's how it's going: Very well. With each book I write and each manuscript I review I get a better hold on what's good and what isn't. And in that process I'm starting to ask some questions, like why are things done the way they are? Is there a reason for it, or is it just the way it's always been? Because we do stuff like that all the time; cling onto things that make no sense at all.
The reason?
One word: habit.
When I was in a research class in nursing school, one of the things the professors taught us is to always look at the original research, and if it isn't there, do your own. For example, at that time, heat wasn't being used as a pain control measure for cancer patients. It was general knowledge that heat spread cancer, so it was avoided. Come to find out, the original research that produced that line of thinking was one experiment done at the turn of the century (the last one), where a small percentage of monkeys had an increase in the spread of their cancer after heat was applied to their skin. That one experiment changed the entire practice of physical therapy for almost a century, and in doing so, eliminated a very effective means of pain control for cancer patients. My point? Question everything. And if it doesn't makes sense, get some new research.
