Thinking Differently: Daring That Brings Great Benefits
Thinking differently is not just a challenge for ourselves. It is a mark of daring. Come up with new ideas. Have alternative opinions. Or see the world with more nuances and colors than gray lights. All of this is a sign of recklessness in a context where everyone thinks the same. Nothing is more important for our personal development than to experience this mental renewal.
Steve Jobs said that thinking differently means daring to reverse failure. However, nothing is more difficult than to break out of this mold, than to impose ourselves in the face of error, criticism and those daily failures that we usually experience and which block us. We don’t trust our skills, we don’t dare see ourselves any other way. We keep sending the same thoughts and repeating the same behaviors that continually take us to the same territories.
John Mighton, educator, mathematician and writer, explains that from the age of five, children begin to evaluate themselves by comparing themselves to others. This is when they see themselves as smart or not. They gradually understand the importance of imitating behaviors, expressions and opinions to feel better integrated and not to be worth “less” than others.
This need to be like the others is what takes away all the brilliance and all the beauty of our identity, in an extremely early way. So we could say, in a way, that there always comes a time when we are forced to take a step back to forget what we have learned and rephrase it. Because thinking differently requires breaking models to be able to generate new habits of thought. These will allow us to transform our reality.
Thinking differently, beyond lateral thinking
When we talk about someone accustomed to thinking differently, we almost immediately visualize a person seasoned at the lateral thinking level. This mental capacity or point of view cited by Edward Bono in 1967 does not define those profiles capable of emitting alternative or non-aligned responses and behaviors. In fact, thinking differently transcends all of this.
Lateral thinking defines this type of thinking oriented towards finding solutions that go beyond logic and rely on creativity. However, the person who thinks differently develops many more capacities. The famous journalist and sociologist Malcolm Gladwell tells us that to take this step, we need three things:
- Learn to think better
- Knowing what we are investing our intellectual and emotional energy in
- Dare to change, transform ourselves, transcend our current circumstances to improve ourselves and continue to move forward on a daily basis
As we see, it is not just a question of limiting oneself to coming up with innovative or creative ideas, answers and solutions. We must also be able to “innovate” deep within ourselves. Those who think differently dare to live differently, breaking down obstacles and acting like that fish that once in a while jumps over water only to find that the world is far bigger than the expanse of water he knows.
How to learn to think differently?
Thinking differently, as we have pointed out, involves developing a different kind of ability. Since it is not an easy thing, we cannot do it in two days or six months. Thinking differently takes discipline, willpower, and a healthy dose of daring. We need to put aside our fear of “what will be said” to transform ourselves into the person we really want to be. Now let’s see some keys to make it happen.
Know our mental habits
We all have a vision of the world and what surrounds us. We sometimes become “dependent” on the same point of view, completely limiting our alternatives. To be able to develop multiple mental perspectives, we must be able to place ourselves in situations that challenge these rusty enclaves.
Challenge your categories, labels and patterns
In the corners of our brain, beyond our mental habits, we also find our labels, those categories that we have created with our experiences and which often turn into immutable points of view. We must also destroy them because, whether we believe it or not, these patterns have been forced upon us. Nothing is more dangerous for our freedom of thought than the use of social categories and labels.
Think in diagnostic mode
Before saying that an idea is true, let’s analyze it. Before giving any value to a rumor, let’s take a look at it in detail. We must doubt things and not stop at the first option that appears. Let’s be able to go beyond appearances. Let’s diagnose our reality to draw our own conclusions.
Rebel mentality, the emotion that drives constant change
Whoever dares to think differently is not only able to express alternative opinions, to decide things that other people do not understand or approve of. An immanent emotional component pushes him / her to be this voice that diverges, this presence that challenges others while accepting them, this figure who is not afraid to take new paths, all alone.
Thinking differently means daring to live in an alternative way. It means having the key to constant renovation. Everyone needs to free themselves from what limits them, from what extinguishes their motivation, their desires to improve and innovate. So, let’s be able to generate this impulse, even if it is a difficult thing, even if we have to put aside the facilities and the satisfactions. The result will always be worth it.
Our thoughts It seems that between past and future, we end up forgetting the most important: the here and the now. It is good for our mind.
