See it from another angle: 3 ways to unstick your thinking

Wednesday 21st April 2010 | 6 comments

Whether we realise it or not, we all see the world through filters - formed by our temperament, our personal history, education, culture, sex and life circumstances. We may think we know the world 'as it really is', but of course this is only our personal reality and there are many many more ways to look at life than we believe, or have even encountered. 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'

These filters help us order our world, make sense of new information and make decisions in accordance with our beliefs. However, they can be a real hindrance to creative thinking, because we shut off so many possible avenues of thought - often without even realising they exist.

Try this:

  1. If you have a problem and you can't see a way through it, put yourself in the place of someone else, and ask: How would that person solve this problem? For example, how would a man (or woman, or ten year old child) solve this? What would His Holiness the Dalai Lama do? How would an alien see this? Your favourite animal? We all have access to many more paradigms than we may believe we do, but tend to fall back onto our default setting. This technique helps access that part of you that can see the world like Mother Teresa or Attila the Hun - it will give you access to ideas and ways of thinking you may never have been aware of before.
  2. If you have friends or colleagues who see the world differently to you, seek them out, ask their views and actively collaborate, One of the great powers in teams is that the combined windows onto a situation can shed far more light than any one individual could hope to.
  3. If you reach a dead end, ask yourself if you are limiting your options by your mindset. This may sound difficult, but with practice we can become aware of our 'blind spots' and be alert to the possibility that we are just not seeing a particular angle. Maybe you don't see the woods for the trees (or vice versa), maybe you tend to downplay emotional aspects of a situation, or maybe you just can't believe that an older person could have a deep insight into your life?

What are your filters?

Tags: creativity, tips, assumptions

Comments

  1. I love this post Joanna. So often I get stuck in my own way of thinking and forget that there are other perspectives to consider. Becoming aware of those blind spots and the filters we view the world through is so important.

    This was a well timed reminder for me. Thank you for another great post.

    Posted by Kate James | Wednesday 21st April 2010 @ 7:54pm

  2. Thanks Kate, glad it was helpful. (It was a well-timed reminder for me too, to be honest!)

    Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Thursday 22nd April 2010 @ 7:26am

  3. I'm with Kate! Nice one, Joanna.

    It never fails to stun me when I say, 'Hand me that blue tea towel, Fonnie' and Fonnie goes, 'Do you mean this green one?' :|

    Posted by Paul Hasing | Thursday 22nd April 2010 @ 2:39pm

  4. I'm still looking for a man who will accept ANY tea towel from me...or a woman...or a child. I even tried to train the dog to dry up but it ended in tears (mostly mine). Thanks Paul.

    Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Thursday 22nd April 2010 @ 2:52pm

  5. Oh dear! Maybe you should change Work in Colour to Work in Kitchen! :(

    Posted by Paul Hassing | Thursday 22nd April 2010 @ 4:57pm

  6. or Work in Bathroom, or Work in Garden or Work in....
    He's a very funny man, that Paul :)

    Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Friday 23rd April 2010 @ 9:42am

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