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“No problem can be solved from the same level of
consciousness that created it.”
– Albert Einstein
Have you ever had a problem that you couldn’t solve?
And someone unconnected to it helped solve it by:
• Asking the right question
• Suggesting a simple but unseen solution
• Coming at it from a completely different point of view
• Taking the emotion out of it
These are examples of someone not being at the same level of
consciousness.
Indeed, another way of saying the above quote is that you can’t solve a problem
with the same mindset or level of thinking that created it.
So the question becomes “How do you change the level of your thinking?’
Here’s some ideas:
1. Ask someone else for their input (like above)
2. Ask a better question of yourself
3. Step away from the problem completely for a period
– ‘Sleep on it’ is part of that, taking a walk, going to the gym etc.
4. Spend time imagining the desired end result,
then come back to the problem
5. Get coaching/training from someone who has already
solved problems similar to yours
6. Read – Somebody somewhere has probably written
something about your kind of problem
7. Be open to the possibility that you could be blocking
the solution (through your thinking) by
focusing on what’s wrong, and all the reasons
you can’t solve it rather than possible solutions to what
you’re seeking to create.
The most difficult piece for us is in recognising that our thinking
about the problem is perhaps the most important part.
This is one of the reasons why most innovations tend to originate from
people outside an industry e.g. the Wright brothers were bicycle mechanics
and weren’t ‘tainted’ in their thinking about the problem
So maybe catch yourself and your thinking this week
when it comes to your most pressing problems.
Shane
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