If we asked 100 people, how many do you think mull things over or sleep on things as part of how they routinely work? What’s your best guess?
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Is it better to specialise and focus on one thing or broaden your activities and interests? It turns out that having at least one stimulating hobby or interest outside of work, or more than one area of focus within your work, is likely to increase your career success.
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How do breakthroughs happen? It’s amazing how many times they start with a chance observation that triggers a spark which leads to a discovery.
Take the example of how the microwave oven came to be. The first one was built by a company called Raytheon in 1947, but the chance observation behind it took place two years earlier.
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How are you feeling? It turns out that your mood could be the difference between solving a problem, or not.
One evening, single parent Jerry Swartz simply wanted to occupy and entertain his three children so he brought home a laser pointer to show them. He started by shining the light onto different objects in the house and eventually started to shine the pointer onto moving objects to keep them engaged. They were simply relaxed, happy and everyone was in a good mood. Then he recounts that unexpectedly, “I knew I had it.”
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Sometimes the tried and tested responses and the ‘typical’ ways don’t work. There are times when loosening the reins on your existing habits and established ideas are essential, particularly in fast moving and changeable environments. Sticking to the 'usual' plan may be the worst thing you can do. Sometimes a new idea that crops up is exactly the right idea to follow. Getting ready to improvise is about getting ready to reinvent new combinations from what you already have or know. And sometimes it can even be a life saver.
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How do you check if your assumptions are true or not? Even the best experts in the most critical of situations can fail to check assumptions.
Take the incident at NASA, known as ‘the scariest wardrobe malfunction in NASA history.’ On July 16th, 2013, Luca Parmitano and his fellow astronaut Chris Cassady went out on their second spacewalk together. 45 minutes in, Parmitano felt water at the back of his head. He didn’t know where it was coming from. The command was given to terminate the spacewalk early.
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Are you someone who tends to jump straight in to solve a problem? Or do you step back and sense check what the problem is about first? You may well be familiar with Einstein’s famous quote,"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” But what should you actually do in those 55 minutes? Flipping the problem around may be one of the best ways to spend that time.
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Do you think in a binary fashion? Yes or no? To make sense of the world, evaluate data and interpret information, we simplify and summarise. Often that’s helpful, necessary and much needed. However, the amazing thing is the extent to which we do this. Researchers have found that we have a tendency to reduce this down, often to two alternatives. Good or bad? True or false? All or nothing? We over-simplify complex ideas and problems. Psychologists call this our ‘binary bias’.
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