Mind Management: Make the Most of your Mind by Thinking Further

Thinking further’ goes well beyond the old adage of ‘think outside the square’ and requires you to understand and perceive things differently.

Unlike trying to understand something difficult, which requires an effort, thinking further requires very little effort but does require you to perceive things differently because our perception creates our reality. Unfortunately sometimes our reality is not real because our perception has got it all wrong.

Why do some people find it so difficult to think further?

Thinking on fixed concepts causes part of the problem, such as, insisting things are impossible because you personally can’t do it.

History is strewn with examples of fixed concepts. Subrahmanyan Chandaseki was ridiculed in the 1930’s for his ideas about the existence of black holes in the galaxy. It took 50 years before he was vindicated in 1983 when he won the Nobel Prize for his black hole discoveries.

Again, in the 1980’s, Stanley Prusner was highly criticised by the scientific world for proposing the theory that infectious proteins called prions, were the source of diseases in the ‘mad cow’ families. In 1997 he too won Nobel Prize for his work.

So how was it that critics missed the vital data that might have convinced them of the possibilities of these theories? Simply because their perception was based on the lack of information available to them prior to that time and like many people in the scientific world they thought in terms of fixed concepts.

One of the major keys to thinking further is to prevent little things from interfering with the important concepts visualized in your mind to enable you to be more creative in your thinking.

Genius is simply the ability to develop your imagination and creativity and to stop focusing on the little things that hold back your creative and intuitive faculties and stifle your imagination. Give your imagination free rein through visualization of what might be and develop opportunity-thinking skills in your self and in your team and then simply observe the powerful and positive effect on your enterprise.

A new perception
Thinking further requires new perception of everything. It is scientific skill anyone can acquire through the development of new belief system of expectations, which is quite radical from the intellectual approach.

Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers because they are caught in the intelligence trap of rigid thinking. They have low future expectations of what might be and so they are likely to be left behind by the competitor who promotes new way of thinking among the team.

Terms of reference
Thinking further also requires setting your own terms of reference. Are modern athletes any better than athletes of yesteryear? No. What has happened is modern athletes have learned to overcome the ‘self-barrier’ by changing the terms of reference that support their belief system.

Roger Bannister, the first person to break the four-minute mile, was told by trainers and medical people that it was physiologically impossible to run mile in less than four minutes. He proved them wrong simply by changing his terms of reference.

Most of those who have achieved greatness adopted the thinking further concept by creating their own terms of reference.

Catch the tide
Shakespeare said: “There is tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of life is bound in shallow and miseries.” Today the corporate and business worlds are experiencing great opportunities as well as great challenges. Their tide is at the flood and they should focus on performance and people skills so that they can catch the tide.

Charles Donoghue APS, FNZIM is an Auckland-based author, performance psychology coach and business consultant. Email: [email protected], www.donoghuedynamics.com.

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