October 31, 2022

A breakthrough thought

A jet breaking through the sonic barrier

A breakthrough, a change, a solution, or an insight comes as the result of a new thought. That’s all it is… a new thought.

Thoughts arise and change all the time, so the possibility of a new thought about an old situation is natural and ever present.

But the most unlikely place to find a new thought is in a pile of old ones.

Thinking the same old thoughts in the same old way just makes us feel stuck, and helpless.

So how do you make a pile of new ones?

There are many ways to stimulate creativity and lots of new thoughts.

One way is to read a story, watch a film, or watch a programme on TV with your problem in mind. Keep looking for a link, and it is amazing how your mind will link things together for you. You may find that the way the hero saves the day (or the villain almost wins) in the story can be adapted to suit your own situation 🙂

Another is to imagine what you need to do to make your problem much worse. Strangely, when we do this, it becomes obvious what we need to stop doing to make it better.

Another is to radically change perspective. What would the problem look like if it was upside down, back to front, inside out, or much closer or much further away?

The problem exists because there are boundaries around your thinking, and the solution is outside those boundaries where the new thoughts are.

Experiment with ways to see outside the boundaries.

My best wishes, Paul

Paul Matthews

CEO and Founder of People Alchemy

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