You can call it God, the universe, karma, or whatever you like — the point is to have faith. Keep your eyes open, stay present, and look, rather than obsessing over an idea in your head. – Nik Goeke
What might a crappy first draft look like?
Inversion: (Opposite day)
- What would i have to do to make things worse? (Or, To feel worse?)
- What if the opposite was true? What if I focused on a different side of this situation? Instead of asking how to do something, ask how to not do it. (James Clear)
- envision the negative things that could happen in life. … what it would be like to lose their job and become homeless or to suffer an injury and become paralyzed or to have their reputation ruined and lose their status in society
- Can even apply to maths problems!
- What do I want VS what do I want to avoid?
- How could I be a really crap mother?
- Imagine the most important goal or project you are working on right now. Now fast forward six months and assume the project or goal has failed. Tell the story of how it happened. What went wrong? What mistakes did you make? How did it fail? In other words, think of your main goal and ask yourself, “What could cause this to go horribly wrong?”
- “We should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of.” – Marie Kondo
Lateral Thinking Perspectives
- “The chief enemy of good decisions is a lack of sufficient perspectives on a problem.” – Alain de Botton
Random comparisons
- eg how is this like an X? or, not like X?
First principles
- start with questions like, What are we absolutely sure is true? What has been proven?
- Cartesian Doubt in – “systematically doubt everything he could possibly doubt until he was left with what he saw as purely indubitable truths.”
- One of the primary obstacles to first principles thinking is our tendency to optimize form rather than function (gives ex of wheeled suitcase… ) While everyone else was focused on how to build a better bag (form), Sadow considered how to store and move things more efficiently (function).
- cf “What’s the actual problem?”
Illusion of control – what can I actually control here, and what’s way outside that? (cf What’s my leap of faith?)
I love that Mirasee added this question in, half-way through the course:What would your future, successful entrepreneur self tell you today?
For emotional clarity
“If this was the first time this had ever happened, would you be reacting this way?” … (from Vika, “broken toes” article)
20 Journal Prompts to Cultivate Mental Resilience in Times of Emotional Distress© The Wellness Society
Can-Control Mindset• What can I control in my current situation?• What can’t I control?• If I concentrated on one thing within my control, what is likely to make the most difference?• How much of my worries relate to things within my control?• What methods can I try to reduce worrying about things I have no control over?
Resource-Rich Mindset• Which resources can I use to support me?• How can I find out about new resources?• Which of my personal strengths can help me in this situation?• What else has helped me deal with challenges before?• How can I free up time to dedicate to working through this problem?
One-Focus Mindset• How can I break down what I need to do into a series of small steps?• What would be the best way to record my small steps?• How can I reward myself when I’ve completed a small step?• What steps could I eliminate?• Which other techniques can I use to stop me from feeling overwhelmed by this?
Acceptance Mindset• How do I organise my problems into the following categories: change, leave or accept?• What is my attitude towards uncertainty?• How could I better deal with uncertainty?• Which quotes/mantras can I use to help me tolerate uncertainty?• When I experience physical anxiety, do I accept it or fight against it?
