Never before have our minds been so ambushed from all directions, constantly. With all the emotionally-charged noise out there, social media, fake news, echo chambers, amplified fear, us Vs them mentality, and volume turned up on biases, it can be hard to stop the external environment from owning your thinking. And there’s no doubt it’s …
Here’s an efficient way to strengthen your thinking, learning, problem solving and progress in just about anything. I learned it off a poster on my boys classroom wall when he was little. But we can all use it creatively. When you’re stuck, follow these steps to get unstuck, in this order: First, consult your BRAIN. …
People tell me they struggle to know what questions to ask when meeting people, switching on curiosity, seeking to understand, helping others to think, solving problems, making buying decisions, or when simply learning something. This can get you started. Use the 7 W’s: Keep repeating those in your head. I have them at my fingertips. …
So many arguments grow because of differing definitions of words or terms. If you’re arguing, pause to ask and understand how the other person describes specific words or terms you’ve used. Then describe how you see that word. Then, pick things up from the new understanding, not the word. You might find there’s far less …
“Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems“ Peter Drucker What a shift. Solve problems, yes. But spot, sieze and exploit opportunties (ethically!) and you’re going somewhere. This applies to businesses and individuals too. You could even point it towards your family. (That’s an opportunity right there in itself.) The other vital part …
An interesting topic. It seems most people justify their own lies, but don’t like being on the receving end of others. That’s because lying tends to give the liar an advantage over the other person, in that moment. One that’s boldly taken, not given. And that’s worth thinking about. You’re purposefully misleading them. You want …
The easiest way to ride a horse is in the direction it’s already going. Then, with all resistance dropped for a while, it begins to let you turn it. And the same applies to conversations with people.
“There’s a way to do it better – find it.” Thomas Edison My favoutite quote of all time. So it gets its own post. There’s always a way to do it better. Why always? Because things change fast. And the best way has a use by date. Then there’s a new way to do it …
“Everything is the way it is because it got that way.” – D’Arcy Thompson What better way is there to summarise evolution? And to explain literally everything. Now how it got that way is worth exploring.
A helpful thought experiment: Imagine a huge audience were watching your life on a screen. And they’ve been fully briefed on what you want and don’t want to happen in your life. They know it better than you do. Not only that, they get to see every single thought you have in subtitles on the …
