The Art of Wearing Something to Death

A Reflection from the
March 2026 Salon

At our March Conscious Wealth Salon, Andrew Averso offered a simple question that stayed with the room long after the evening ended:

What comes so naturally to you that you have stopped recognizing it as an advantage?

It is a disarming question.

Most people move quickly to what they need to improve. Very few pause to consider what is already working, what is already present, what has become so embedded that it feels ordinary.

That shift, from deficiency to awareness, changed the tone of the room immediately.

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Creativity, Reframed

Andrew guided the conversation toward creativity as a way of seeing.

Creativity showed up in how people approached problems, how they listened, how they connected ideas across different experiences. It was not limited to art or design. It was present in conversation, in leadership, in decision making.

Every perspective in the room carried its own creative lens, shaped by lived experience.

One example stood out.

The concept behind the Sphere in Las Vegas was not born from a traditional creative role. It came from someone in the room who had experienced something different and chose to share it. That moment shifted the direction of the entire idea.

Another example reached further back.

Frederick Olmsted did not inherit the field of landscape architecture. He created it by seeing something others had not yet named.

Creativity often enters quietly. It comes through exposure, through attention, through the willingness to bring something forward.

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How Creativity Grows

The conversation moved toward something practical. If creativity is available to all of us, how do we cultivate it?

Three ideas emerged.

Curiosity
It begins with exposure. New inputs, new conversations, small deviations from routine. A different podcast. A different route. A new environment. The scale does not matter. The intention does.

Confidence
Experience alone is not enough. There has to be a belief that what you have seen or felt has value. Your perspective is not incidental. It contributes to the whole.

Courage
At some point, it has to be shared. Often outside of your defined role. Often without certainty. The willingness to speak is what allows an idea to move.

These are behaviors that can be practiced.

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A Different Kind of Advantage

The conversation circled back to the original question.

What comes so naturally to you that you have stopped recognizing it as an advantage?

Not because it is rare, but because it is consistent.

Not because it is loud, but because it is present.

At Conscious Wealth, we spend a lot of time answering questions. Retirement, liquidity, structure, planning. Those answers matter.

But mornings like this remind us that some of the most important work happens in a different kind of question.

The kind that invites awareness. The kind that cannot be answered alone.

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If you find yourself sitting with this question, noticing what comes naturally to you, and reconsidering how it shapes your work, your relationships, or your decisions, we would welcome the conversation.

These are questions that unfold over time, often through dialogue with others. If this reflection sparked something for you, we would value the opportunity to continue it together.