Extraordinary thinking has always been considered a rarity. In most cases, people tend to think in very stereotyped ways and do not want to go beyond generally accepted norms. They are driven by fear of change, judgment of others, and reluctance to work on the situation as a whole. This behavior is understandable and understandable, but at the same time it is incredibly depressing. People who have a different view on ordinary things are often subject to all sorts of accusations and misunderstandings. A person with extraordinary thinking is bound to face criticism, irony and ridicule from those around him.
He sometimes has to make considerable efforts in order to prove something, to carry out his plans. Let's take a closer look at the pros and cons of this type of thinking. After all, it can both contribute to the development of personality and lead to a certain isolation from the bulk of people.
Advantages
With unusual thinking, you can create a lot of new things, predict the outcome of certain events, and influence the overall result. If a person has an individual view of the world, then he clearly realizes his own value. It becomes much easier for him to find his place in life and to reveal certain abilities. To create a unique picture of perception means to have your own judgment about everything. It is quite difficult to manipulate such a person, because she strives for complete independence and wants to make her own decisions.
Imagination game
The second and very important characteristic of creative people is the ability to play with imagination. Psychologists say that games, when a person imagines something, are themselves a creative action, because in the process we create something out of nothing - just like artists, writers, and musicians do. That is why observing children while they play is an excellent opportunity to see with your own eyes how the creative process occurs.
Unfortunately, as we grow older, imaginative play either disappears from our lives completely or takes up an unacceptably small share of it. As playwright George Bernard Shaw observed, “We don’t stop acting because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” Meanwhile, a study conducted at the University of Illinois found that playfulness allows us to think outside the box and better cope with the stress in our lives. It gives us creativity, energy and an overall higher level of life satisfaction. You can introduce play and fun into your life in almost any way - riding on a swing, dancing until you drop (if that's what you enjoy), discovering new places, being silly. Even if you think that “adults” will look at you disapprovingly, remember that the benefit you will get from such behavior will be much greater than the embarrassment you may experience.
Creativity
Creativity in itself is an incredibly valuable asset. It does not copy reality, but transforms it. In fact, everyone has creative abilities in a certain sense. This is expressed in violent imagination, in the manifestation of interest in the outside world. But the fact is that not every individual agrees to voluntarily reveal them to others. In this case, extraordinary thinking will help you express yourself and rely on some personal characteristics.
Creating something is always interesting and enjoyable. As a result, self-esteem increases and a sense of self-worth is formed. A person usually gradually reveals his talent if he sees that he is good at doing certain things. In order to create something original and truly valuable, it is not superfluous to have individual thinking, which sometimes differs from the opinion of the majority. It must be admitted that few people dare to express their thoughts as openly as possible. Many people are afraid of judgment and misunderstanding from others.
Why is it difficult to think outside the box?
We all studied according to the same programs, we were taught to think in a certain way . We have similar stereotypes and often think in stereotypes. Well, how can it be different if that’s what is needed? If so is it correct? Start from the beginning, on the left (or right in Semitic cultures). Take a shortcut, look for connections that lie on the surface. And we follow the beaten path without even trying to change anything. The ability to think creatively and find innovative solutions is not often instilled in teachers.
This kind of thinking helps the brain save energy and guide us along the same path where thousands have already walked. And the brain, considering energy a valuable resource, is accustomed to saving it, and does it with pleasure, unless it is forced to work hard, of course. He himself will prefer instant solutions, quick decisions, beaten paths. Therefore, the ability to think outside the box is not given immediately if you start to develop it.
And most of us prefer the comfort of familiar procedures. The ability to think outside the box can mean challenging our long-held beliefs and societal stereotypes. We don’t want to make mistakes about ourselves, our understanding of the world and people. And we don’t want to upset society and ourselves. For many it is easier to pretend to be a fool or a fool than to fight with society or with the boss. Read more about this in the article why smart people do stupid things.
Companies often avoid risks that could have a negative impact on their profits , even though there are many success stories illustrating that some risks pay off many times over. Steve Jobs was fired by the board of directors of the company he founded. But later, after Apple bought the NeXT operating system created by his team, Jobs became Apple's CEO and its shares rose 9,000 percent under his leadership. But how many followed their example and began to take more risks? Perhaps only a few well-known companies have done this. Others limit people from being creative and trying to think outside the box.
Self-development
Man is designed in such a way that if he does not move forward, he invariably moves backward. We must definitely strive for self-development, try ourselves in different directions. If you didn’t manage to demonstrate your knowledge in one thing, then you will probably be able to do it in another. An extraordinary mind always craves something new.
It is impossible to stay in one place and still feel comfortable. Self-development involves working effectively on yourself and overcoming various obstacles. If something seems incredibly difficult to you today, it is only because the corresponding skill has not yet been acquired.
Passion
The 19th-century American writer Henry David Thoreau, best known for his book Walden, or Life in the Woods, in which he described his two-year experience of seclusion in a lakeside cabin, has an excellent saying about happiness: “Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you catch it, the more it slips away. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit quietly on your shoulder.” Creativity is like a butterfly, ready to land on our shoulder as soon as we stop chasing. Creativity happens to us when we do something that our heart is in - what is called passion in English, and in Russian - “enthusiasm”, “excitement”, “thirst for creativity”. Passion is the first characteristic of creative people.
Sincere passion for something, be it archery, collecting stamps, making complex cocktails at home, awakens in us the desire to achieve the pinnacle of excellence in the chosen field, but it is worth remembering that passion, as Canadian researchers have found, comes in two types : harmonious and obsessive.
Harmonious passion is an internal urge to create or act, a desire to grow above oneself in a certain direction. This creative path is characterized by positive emotions, joy and energy. Of course, on this path there are stops, setbacks, falls and even burnout, but on the whole it is direct and positive.
Obsessive passion is a compulsion to create. We are not talking about some external force, it is a matter of expecting external rewards in the form of recognition from others and a feeling of one’s own exclusivity. In such cases, the fear of losing, of being worse than someone else, poisons the creative process. What to do if you have an obsessive hobby? Find a new hobby. And if you don’t have it in mind, then, Kaufman advises, don’t forget to take breaks more often - rest will allow you to return to work with sincere enthusiasm, and also work a little on your thought patterns. If you say instead of the usual “I must” and “I need” expressions in the spirit of “I would like”, “I strive”, a person begins to rebuild. It sounds weird, but it works. At least there is research that suggests it helps make passion more harmonious.
What if you have no idea how to find your passion? Most people whom we are accustomed to consider creative discovered the subject of their passion in childhood or adolescence. But the desire to let a new hobby into your life can come at any moment in life. The main thing is not to be a snob and allow yourself to get carried away by any things that can stir you up. This will bring new knowledge, new acquaintances, and new opportunities. The other day I came across a story from a virtual friend about how a few years ago a friend took her to the Izmailovo flea market in order to find her a hobby that would add joy to her life. And while he was trying to interest her in this and that, her gaze fell on the porcelain board for serving cheese - and she found a new hobby in her life. Today her collection includes more than 100 pieces, including pre-revolutionary ones.
Self-expression
Every individual needs to feel socially significant and useful. Without this, it is absolutely impossible to exist calmly in the outside world. Thinking outside the box comes with a lot of responsibility. You must have a high desire to achieve something, purposefully move towards the desired result.
Self-expression is a significant need for any individual. Only when we are willing to put in some effort do interesting transformations begin. The opportunity to qualitatively express your essence can present itself at any moment. This is why it is so important to constantly keep yourself in good shape.
Flaws
Having thought about what extraordinary thinking is, whether it is good or bad, it is necessary to consider the concept from different angles. If a person excessively opposes himself to others, this is also psychologically very traumatic for himself. This means that he will be in a state of forced confrontation with those who may be interested in him. When one individual thinks differently than the whole group, it becomes difficult for him to feel like he belongs, to fit into a certain framework. So, what are the pronounced disadvantages of thinking outside the box?
Daydreaming
The third characteristic of creative people is what in Russian is called “having their head in the clouds,” “building castles in the air,” and simply “imagining.” This process allows us to connect the past and the future and make long-term plans. The way our mind persistently “floats away” indicates that, from the point of view of the subconscious, this thought process is now the most important. It is a pity that our subconscious does not always objectively assess the situation.
And the American psychologist Jerome Singer wrote that dreams trigger in us the so-called incubation period of creative solutions. It is when we are immersed in ourselves, rather than in the problem to be solved, that the most inspired solutions come to us - and this, again, is true both for a writer struggling to describe an important scene and for a manager looking for a new one. approach to employees.
How to enter this state? According to some studies (but not very serious ones), people often come up with new ideas while they are taking a shower, and some people specifically use the shower to generate new thoughts and meanings. There is practically nothing in the shower that could distract us; the water seems to separate us from the rest of the world - and all this creates the right atmosphere.
Another solution available to everyone is walking, preferably, of course, in nature. It was on walks that many ideas came to the minds of Nikola Tesla, Immanuel Kant, and Charles Darwin. Virginia Woolf, Henry David Thoreau, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Freud, Hemingway, Dickens, Beethoven and many others visited a lot. And the benefits of walking have already been confirmed by studies that have shown that creative problems can indeed be solved while walking, especially in nature. This is possible due to physiological changes occurring in the brain that increase the level of meditative thoughts and improve mood.
Conflicts
It is likely that those around you will not understand you. This is not surprising, because people are accustomed to thinking in established stereotypes. In most cases, those who promote new ideas are treated more than warily. On this basis, open conflicts may arise, leading to criticism. If an individual has already formed the habit of looking at the world more broadly, then, most likely, he will have to face misunderstandings from relatives, colleagues, friends and just acquaintances. People who do not live according to a script written by someone are usually laughed at, made fun of, considered more than strange and incomprehensible.
Six creative approaches
Often, a brainstorming technique is used to complete a specific task, during which a group of people propose and reject certain ideas. However, this method is often insufficiently effective due to the rapid rejection of proposals. Brainstorming participants simply do not have time to analyze this or that strategy, since their consciousness evaluates the significance of the proposed solution method by selecting familiar stereotypes. As an alternative, psychologists suggest using the six stages or principles of lateral intelligence.
Six stages:
- Collect specific information about the problem at hand, including specified conditions. It is necessary to determine what information is missing to find a strategy.
- Using emotional resources. You should ignore logic and trust your intuition. Abstract images and associations are used.
- Creative search is the main stage during which it is necessary to offer the least clichéd possible strategies for solving a problem.
- Criticism. Constructive criticism of each proposed strategy is necessary. It is important to use arguments.
- Optimistic view. You need to find the pros of each proposed strategy.
- Organizational stage. A scrupulous integration of the proposed methods for completing the task is carried out.
The listed principles can be applied when searching for solutions independently and in groups.
High probability of risk
An unusual way of thinking suggests that an individual refuses many models of behavior imposed by society. He is ready to act according to his own convictions and often finds himself at risk.
Many people engage in risky business, investing money in companies that are not worth getting involved with. A high probability of risk is always present among those who go against the requirements of society and strive to live according to their own laws.
Study history and concept
British psychologist Edward de Bono made a great contribution to the study of mental processes. In 1967, the scientist published a large article on types of thinking. According to the concept of Edward de Bono, a person has vertical and lateral thinking.
The vertical form of thought involves the use of already existing ideas, that is, cognitive activity of this type is associated with the use of certain patterns. People accumulate patterns and implement complex forms of vertical thinking throughout their lives, but the principle remains unchanged.
In contrast, lateral thinking aims to create new strategies that ignore existing patterns. The main goal of such a process is to consider the problem from all possible sides.
The scientist believed that to improve creativity, two incentives are needed - “escape” and “provocation.” The essence of the first stimulus is the deliberate ignoring of already existing models for solving the problem. Typically, people are not inclined to take this approach, and those who still avoid standard solutions are asked not to reinvent the wheel. However, escaping patterns helps you find more options for completing a given task. The second principle, called provocation, is the suspension of judgment. With a creative approach, it is necessary to refrain from premature conclusions that complicate the further search for solutions. De Bono also emphasized the importance of positive emotions in creativity.
Type of thinking test
Some find it difficult to believe that someone can think about familiar things completely differently than they do. For this reason, dissidents often find themselves alone. Refusal of stereotypes is usually characteristic of people who are seeking, those who are not afraid to seem strange and misunderstood, but want to live exclusively by their own rules. The type of thinking test described below will help determine how much you can think outside the box and show individuality under normal conditions. The authors are E. P. Torrance and J. Guilford. The test task itself consists of ten pictures, which depict a rather abstract drawing.
It can be understood in different ways. The task is to try to figure out what exactly is in front of you: some object, animal or person. If you found more than three or four answer options for each picture, then we can say that you have a rather unconventional way of perceiving reality. Of course, everyone will see something different in these pictures. You can take the test at any age. The task lifts your spirits and helps you feel like a much more developed and self-sufficient person.
Is creativity good or bad?
Thought processes have a variety of applications in everyday life. This is the satisfaction of natural needs, interaction with people, performance of professional duties and adaptation to the changing conditions of the surrounding world. In each case, a person may require a certain type of thinking to achieve better results. The predominance of one type of intellectual activity has its pros and cons.
Having a distinctly non-standard approach is best suited for representatives of creative professions. Creative search requires getting rid of persistent stereotypes. A person needs a rich imagination, free from obsessive images and conclusions. At the same time, such a personality trait may be less useful in the exact and technical sciences, when the mind is required to obey clear principles. It is important to understand that complete dominance of one type of intellectual activity over others is rare.
How to develop
Unconventional thinking tasks will help you develop a new perspective on everyday reality. You need to know how to act correctly so as not to create significant obstacles to self-realization.
Very often people do not understand what they want to achieve as a result, and do not know where to direct their efforts. Let's take a closer look at how to develop extraordinary thinking. It is likely that the steps listed will help someone show their true self.
Mindfulness
We come to the seventh characteristic - awareness. According to Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, mindfulness is paying attention to what is happening. Through her pioneering research in the 1970s, she became one of the first to show that mindfulness training leads to measurable improvements in human cognitive function. Creativity in itself is a practice of mindfulness because it forces us to notice new things in a topic that interests us.
If you put together the findings of all the research conducted on the topic of mindfulness over the past 50 years, the list of cognitive and psychological benefits associated with it is very long. It will include improved attention and the ability to concentrate on a task, empathy and compassion, the ability for self-analysis, self-regulation, improved memory and learning ability, emotional well-being, relief from stress, anxiety, depression and sleep problems. In other words, everyone needs mindfulness, and if out of the seven characteristics listed above, if you had to choose only one for yourself, it would undoubtedly be an excellent choice.
There are lots of ways to develop it, but personally I like to practice mindfulness when I'm walking alone. I turn on music and walk around the city, trying to notice everything - how people look and behave, what clouds are in the sky, amazing objects in the windows, views from different places.
