The power of questions

“Asking questions is the first way to begin change.” Kubra Sait

It’s not about my learning journey

Straight Circles was born from the idea that systems change is needed, and that we need to look at the challenges to get there from different perspectives. Something I still believe, and something I continue to work towards. And on this journey, there is one key insight I’ve come to realize:

It’s not about my learning journey.

To achieve the change I, and many with me, believe is necessary, it’s not about me going out there telling people what’s needed, based on what I have learned or discovered. Not even when adding the why.

It’s about me creating a space for people to follow their own learning paths. And in my experience, posing the right questions is the most powerful tool for that.

Focusing thoughts

A training programme that opens up with a question on the topic to be discussed has achieved two things:

The participants’ minds have been directed to think about the topic at hand.
If the question is good, it has achieved an interest and willingness to learn – not just directing the thoughts towards the topic, but opening up the minds to actually learn.

Another reason for using questions, is that people get to answer from the stage at which they are. This is often the case in coaching programmes: participants share about themselves, and based on questions taking the conversation further, the picture becomes clearer, often bringing in clarity in the process.

This links to a topic closely related to questions: active listening.

The art of listening

There may not be any stupid questions, but some are certainly better than others. The good ones are based on what the person speaking has just been sharing. They build on that flow, on that content, on whatever is going on. They are the product of active listening with an aim to understand the other person.

It’s not what we learn at school though, at least not in the countries I know well. Rather than asking the right questions, we are taught to produce answers.

Can questions pave the way for positive change?

This is a question (😉) I’ve been considering a lot lately. My current answer to it would be yes, I think so. But not yes, I know so, because I still need to do some testing to verify this assumption.

Here’s my line of thinking:

I work with intelligent people, who all work towards making this world a better place. Emphasizing whichever aspects of such improvement they find to be the most important ones, and working from whichever toolbox they have. Could I really present something new (based on my priorities) that fits their toolbox? Or is the chance of them finding a way to fit in that aspect that I find so important greater if I ask questions that will lead their thinking towards creating space for it themselves?

Another reason why questions may prove more useful than facts: We all have our own beliefs and know what we know. That’s our starting point. ”It is difficult to learn, if you already know”, as I last heard Amy C Edmondson say in a video on the Inner Development Goals website. Questions may lead to us questioning the facts that we have taken for granted. And open up new space to fill with new insights.

Finally, talking or writing are active skills, whereas listening and reading are passive. To use active skills, in this case to answer a question, thinking is required. And in the end, all change starts from an idea. Thought of by someone.

The power of positivity

“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” Colin Powell

Positively serious

Positivity is a strange thing if you think about it. To many, it seems to have a certain shallowness. Feedback often focuses on the negative while leaving the positive as something that need not be mentioned. Setting up interventions likewise: what’s missing, what should be there but isn’t? Often forgetting to ask the very important question: what’s already working and how can we build on that?

A couple of weeks ago I came across an article about research that had shown we need negative feedback in order to grow and improve. A case for “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Now, I have done no academic research in this field, but I will tell you from my life experience that this is utter nonsense! Thankfully there’s enough research to also back up this theory.

Positivity can be a strong force and the good thing is, applying a positive approach is often a choice we can make. With the added bonus that work and life in general is so much more fun if we focus on the good!

Work doesn’t have to be hard

How many of you think work needs to feel a least a bit like hardship in order to be serious? Starting my career I used to think so. That challenging yourself meant demanding focus for a task that you secretly found utterly boring, or stepping up to a challenge which was so much out of your comfort zone that it perhaps had been better left there for someone else to do.

Sure, challenging yourself in different ways is good. But going with your natural flow also means making use of your best natural talents. This is not me making something up, this is based on a proven theory that those tasks and things that come naturally to us are the ones we’re simply good at. Which is why we like doing them, because it doesn’t feel like work, it’s just fun! Or, to put it differently, it’s OK for work to be fun, it means you’ve found your thing!

With a bit of luck (by which I actually mean conscious choices), you can steer you work into a direction where the tasks you like doing become most of your work, while those less attractive to you become a less big chunk of your work. (To get rid of them completely will quite likely not work – at least not if, like me, you have no natural talent for administration).

Showing the problem vs. showing what works

Most people are aware of the fact that our current economic system is not working and that if we continue like this, we humans will end up one of the species made extinct by human activities. The problem has been shown and continues to be drawn attention to by activists out there protesting against the current system, demanding change.

I admire that, and their role has been and continues to be important in achieving change.

But there’s another side to it too, one that I only recently have realized is equally important, and one that fits my personality better.

There are so many positive developments out there paving the way for systems change and exploring business models that do work. Innovation and traditional ways that have become replaced but are being rediscovered.

With people increasingly aware of the problem, the next step naturally becomes to look for solutions that work. That’s where these positive and innovative initiatives have a crucial role to play, and where people like me who prefer to highlight what works become increasingly important in the transition.

In the end, for change to happen we do not (only) need to know what the problem is, but in which direction to go from where we are.

Building on the good by listening

Taking it one step further, and going back to my initial observation that interventions are often designed without properly and thoroughly taking into account what already works, is to build from what we have, from the positive.

This requires an often underused skill: listening.

The beauty of this is that you can apply it in many situations. As a parent, encouraging your kid to do well at school. Or as a project manager, setting up a project in a new context. The trick though, is to really listen. And to make use of what you learn. And to build from the positive, without falling into the pitfall of wanting to repeat what you’ve done in previous situations. This is easier said than done, as our brains always look for the familiar paths.

An example: Our children are often told to plan ahead, stick to their planning and come prepared to school. Good advice, but if repeated at a time when things go wrong, you may fail to recognize the real problem. Perhaps the task ahead is so daunting that the child freezes at the very thought of going through with it. Advice on planning will do little more to the struggling student than confirm the low self-confidence is justified and as such will have the opposite effect of helping.

Another example, closer to my work: The positive initiatives paving the way for systems change are everywhere. Development interventions are still very one-sidedly designed by donor organizations and based on the reality in that part of the world (often the Global North). Actively listening and recognizing the positive developments everywhere will give a new starting point. One that builds on what’s already happening and as such requires no (or at least less) convincing, but rather riding the waves of change already emerging.

Stronger through positivity

OK, so what I just described are examples of how you could do things in a positive way, but it still doesn’t say anything about the result. Does it really work better?

In my experience: yes.

I have not come across many cases where people putting themselves and their initiatives out there benefited from negative feedback. Quite the opposite. I see a lot of good ideas, talented people, great minds, whose biggest obstacle is their low confidence and insecurity. Not that they’re insecure at the core, but putting yourself, your ideas, your company out there for others to judge is the scariest thing you can do.

What I’ve found is that people who feel encouraged and enter a positive flow start performing better than they knew they could. Some years ago I was teaching English to staff at a University. Many had never used English after school and now needed to communicate with foreign students and lecturers. My approach was to encourage them to just talk, without constantly correcting mistakes. A safe environment. And it worked! The very realization that speaking English could be comfortable led to a fantastic atmosphere in the groups, resulting in even more talking!

The same can be observed in coaching entrepreneurs or training trainers. Sure, part of it is practical tips and guidance. But the real change often comes from taking away doubts and encouraging people to believe in themselves, challenging them to prove me right in believing in their capability to make the right decisions for them. That’s when the positive flow kicks in!

Positivity is not all happiness

A final word on positivity. It does not equal eternal happiness with no obstacles encountered. In the end, that’s not how life works. It also doesn’t mean ignoring the obstacles by looking only to the good.

What it means is taking a positive approach to the tasks ahead, seeing and acknowledging what’s good, building a positive flow by letting others know and see this, and then finding a positive way to address challenges.

And that, in itself, is a happy way of working!

Balance the key to thrive?

“Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create ” Jana Kingsford

Time to reflect

When do you feel good? Happy, content, energized, just, you know, life is good 😊

With schools starting again in Europe after the summer break, and many of us returning back to work after a break, this question pops up in many minds and social media posts. Not surprising, as we’ve had time to reflect and think about what we like about our lives and perhaps what we want to do differently now that everyday routines return.

Very few of us will say we’ll work harder and put in longer hours. The ambition starting up after a break tends to be more in line with making more time to exercise, being outside in nature or simply to have more me time – time to relax and do nothing for other purposes than yourself.

There’s one word that keeps popping up in my head when I listen to these ambitions and reflections: balance.

The beauty of balance

Ever since I was a student, I’ve been fascinated by the concept of balance. Back then (and still), I observed how doing everything, being everywhere and taking part in everything I could, did not necessarily make me happy. (I am generation “you can do anything you want”. I quickly found out it didn’t mean “everything”). Doing enough but not too much worked much better!

Looking to us humans and our lives, most will agree that a good balance of everything is the best recipe for wellbeing: work, rest, friendships, nature, exercise, food, creativity, brain challenges, and so on. The exact portions of each will vary per person, but the general idea is there: a bit of everything is better than too much of one of the ingredients of a happy life.

The beauty of balance is that you can apply the same principle to basically anything around you! Give it a try:

Seasoning your food: find a good balance between all flavours
Looking for adventure: not too scary but a bit of adrenaline is welcome!
Having a drink with friends: always fun but every day would be too much to even feel like fun
Sports: feels good until you do too much and need a break from it – or too little and you need to pick it up again
…and so on…

I think this is something many will recognize. Which is why I’d now like to take this thinking one step further: from us humans into systems. And actually, it’s not really “from..to”: our bodies are systems and we live in systems. But my point is: what happens if we apply the principle of balance to systems?

Thriving stocks

In systems thinking, stocks and flows refers to quantities of something, say fish in the ocean, and changes to it, say fishing (=taking out) and reproduction (=adding to the stock). For a balance, we need to take out no more than what is added.

So far so good: it makes sense that we shouldn’t catch more fish than fish can reproduce.

This is the same thinking as work-life balance: to feel happy you need more than work but you also do need work.

But systems are more complex than just two things to bear in mind. As such, “work-life balance” is not really a good indicator for happiness and wellbeing, or at least it’s oversimplified. Work is part of life, and in order to create balance in your life, you will need to pay attention to a bit more than “work and the rest”, where “the rest” will need to contribute with much more than just sleep and perhaps family time. It will also need to consist of creativity, exercise, intellectual challenges, friends and everything else that makes life fun!

Back to our fish stocks. They too will be influenced by more than how much we catch of a particular species. While the basic thinking of fishing and reproduction applies, the rate at which these can take place will depend on several other factors – just like our “work and the rest” balance in life. Think of climate change, habitat loss, pollution and diseases- these are all factors (systems!) that also play a role when it comes to healthy fish stocks. And if these factors are causing imbalances, it will affect systems around them.

Balance the new goal to set?

In economics, the focus has been on growth for decades. National economies are expected to grow and companies traditionally should aim for growth.

Within sustainable development and new economic thinking such as Kate Raworth’s doughnut economics or a wellbeing economy, you often hear the word “thrive” instead of growth. The aim for a thriving world where people flourish in harmony with nature. By definition, balance will be key in achieving this, as too much of one thing (growth) will be at the cost of something else (decline) which will cause imbalances that prevents the whole system from thriving.

If our ultimate goal is to thrive, perhaps aiming for balance can be a way to get there? Think about it, on a personal level, creating balance sounds a bit more concrete than aiming to thrive, doesn’t it? And in systems thinking, identifying all parts of a system in order to create balances to me sounds like a more workable definition than creating systems that thrive.

I will bring in this idea in projects I currently work on and see if it works. I’ll keep you posted and in the meantime you are always welcome to reach out with your thoughts and observations!

Tipping point

“The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” Malcolm Gladwell

To change or not to change

How many people does it take to achieve real change our societies, in our system? This is a question that has been popping up in my mind recently. Not from a negative sentiment, quite the opposite in fact. The reason why I’ve been thinking about this is that I see things change around me, faster than ever and in a positive way. Could we really be reaching that tipping point where we move towards a society where profit at the cost of everything becomes history? Where happiness is ranked higher than financial wealth?

Back to my questions how many people it takes to reach this change. Someone once told me it takes a few people to change the course of an organization. One person can’t achieve it, two is also too little, but if you have say four people, you can start achieving change. They become islands, or hubs, spreading the word in the organization.

This actually makes sense from what I see around me. These people can sow seeds, and some will take off an grow big. While others won’t. Why?

In my quest to understand, I have had the privilege to talk to different people working with change, and one of the most illustrative ways of looking at it was shared by the inspiring Catherine Sheehy in a networking session organized by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This is what I learned:

Just like the people actively working to change an organization or a system have their role and characteristics, so too do the recipients. There are those already convinced the change would be for the better. These people need no convincing, they are already on board. Then there’s the group who are utterly against the change, or perhaps any change. This group is not going to be worthwhile, as convincing them will cost lots of time and energy while the outcome is uncertain to say the least. This leaves us with the group in between: the people not yet convinced, but with an openness to listen and learn. The “maybe” group. This is where impact can be achieved, where the seeds can turn into something big and where change can happen. With the maybe group on board, the overall shift moves towards change and if enough people are moving in this direction, the tipping point is indeed getting closer!

To me, approaching the changes I find necessary bearing this in mind, has been hugely helpful. It means avoiding confrontations with negativity is not a cowardly act, but rather a way to choose to increase the positive – a much more rewarding way of working!

Reaching milestones

Legislation is perhaps the most effective way of achieving change in the European society where I live. When a ban on free plastic bags, often handed out as part of the service when you purchased something, was introduced in 2016, the impact was huge: a decrease of 70% plastic bags leading to a decrease of 40% plastic bags ending up as litter.

Getting to a point where such legislation is supported, passed and enters into force, however, does not happen without a general shift in mindsets. But when that point is reached, we can certainly talk about a tipping point for the issue covered in the legislation, in this example plastic bags.

For the broader picture, let’s say transitioning from an unsustainable economic system to a sustainable one, it may not be a tipping point yet, but certainly a milestone!

So how many milestones do we need to reach a tipping point?

Well, that’s the thing, I think we are getting closer to having enough milestones to start seeing true signals of a change in systems. Since the introduction of supply chain due diligence requirements, and the launch of the European Green Deal which brilliantly brings together and gives a name to ongoing developments and provides direction for new ones, I think what we are seeing may well be described as a shift. Getting closer to a tipping point.

Don’t worry, this is not based on my social media bubble which admittedly paints a much more circular and sustainable picture than the average visit to a shopping street will. This is based on what I’ve signalled in my work in the past year. Work with (inter)national trade facilitators, with businesses on both the demand and the supply side of the value chains, and with colleagues from outside the sustainability bubble.

But not just that. It’s broader. I’ve also signalled a change in attitude from friends, family and people around me. The people who were not the first ones to advocate for systems change, but who were also never against it. The “maybe” group.

The complexity of systems is still…complex

Now all this said, reaching a tipping point for a single issue like plastic bags is easier identified than reaching a tipping point for a whole system. Perhaps it won’t be so much of a point as a slope, with change picking up speed and finally causing a landslide…

Interestingly, the acceptance that everything is part of a larger system, and that systems are indeed complex, is another change I’ve started noticing around me. It seems we are increasingly ready to accept systems thinking and open to learn, observe, and try out what works and what does not in a broader perspective than we used to. All this opens up to realizing no single person, company, country or even continent can achieve global systems change alone.

Admittedly there are still some steps (or even giant leaps) needed in this aspect – I am not saying we’re quite there yet. But with the overall shift I see, I think there may be hope and I look forward to being part of it!

Shifting mindsets

When we talk about the transition towards a circular economy, we quite often hear the term mindset. We need to shift our mindsets, away from monetary and materialistic growth and towards material and product loops where there are no waste and emissions.

There is another mindset shift much needed, but not often mentioned: the shift from thinking in terms of “us” and “them”. On the one hand, we have the GDP rich countries, and on the other hand you have the GDP poorer countries. As money means power in today’s way of measuring wealth, it also means that the GDP rich have more say in the world – an imbalance that has frequently been pointed out, yet an imbalance that keeps growing.

If we are to succeed in building up a global circular economy, it will require getting rid of these imbalances. As the brilliant Donella H. Meadows (systems thinking and known for “The Limits to Growth” in 1972) pointed out, many of our global problems, such as poverty is a system problem. One we can only overcome, according to Meadows, when we start seeing the system as the source of the problems. Our current (linear) system seems to make the undesirable imbalance bigger over time.

If a new (circular) system is to be successful, balance between continents, countries and people should be considered at an early stage. Say now.

Balance beyond GDP

To do this, we need to shift our mindsets from the superiority of the GDP rich and use a larger basket of indicators than GDP, one where we all contribute with the diverse richness that exists. There’s plenty of work being done in this field, from happiness indexes to doughnut economics – the Wellbeing Economy Alliance has put together a nice overview of all the different initiatives, summarizing the common features: “Aspects like health, education, household work, volunteering, social relationships, climate change, air quality, crime and biodiversity are nearly always included in Beyond-GDP alternatives.”

Looking at these indicators from the perspective of performance across the globe, it becomes clear that many countries scoring relatively poor in terms of GDP, will have a strong performance when it comes to indicators such as biodiversity, social relationships and climate change. If these aspects, and there are more to think of, such as natural resources (while often explored by others), are taken fully into account while paying less attention to the very limited measurement GDP, we will get a much more balanced view of the world.

Learning from each other

Taking it one step further, we need to shift our mindsets enough to not only recognize “them” as equal partners in the equation, but to actually open up to the idea of “us” learning from “them” (and here the “us” refers explicitly to GDP rich countries). Think about it, initiatives such as a sharing economy or keeping products in use longer are much more prevalent in GDP countries where communities play a stronger role than in GDP rich countries. While transferring one community in terms of how it works as a system from one part of the world to another part of the world will not be possible, there are undoubtedly many aspects within existing communities that we can learn from when setting up circular business models.

All we need to do is recognize that these examples are out there and keep an open mind. And start looking at and treating all people as equals. Different, but equal.

In SCUPER, the Straight Circles Universal PERspectives learning from what’s out there is called “mimicry”: learning from nature (biomimicry) or as described in this text, from other cultures.

Time to think about time

Time…you either have too much of it or too little. Or, as social media posts will tell you, it’s not that you don’t have time, it’s about your priorities. Much as I have thoughts about these aspects too, and absolutely find we tend to glorify being busy and work above the rest of our lives to ridiculous proportions, what I want to share here is the value of time as a variable in an equation.

Only time will tell…

Our world consists of interconnected systems. Some are systems in nature, eco-systems, with plants relying on the sun and rain to do their thing and feed both the soil and animals around, who in turn also feed others and everyone and everything at the end of their existence still contribute to the system by adding whatever nutrients are left. Something like that.

Some systems are made by humans, and many are interactions between nature and human activity. Whatever changes are brought to a system – be that by adding something or taking something out – will have an initial effect by the actual change. “Adding pesticides” will have the effect of protecting the intended crops from harmful insects for instance. But the real change at a system level can only be seen after a longer period of time. And this is the tricky, and also scary, part. Perhaps the pesticides did not only kill off the intended insects, but also the pollinators who consequently could not do their job, leading to plants not being able to reproduce, which in turn lead to a decrease in whichever species was next in line to profit from the plants…

To sum up: Interfering with a system is a huge thing, visible only after a longer period of time, and must therefore be done carefully (if at all).

Time perspectives in our daily lives

In our daily lives, we are surrounded by things which will not perform well if we add a time perspective to them by thinking about the following questions:

How long did it take for the material(s) to be created?
How long will the product be in use?
How long will any potential left-over remain as waste?

For most foodstuff, these questions will be okay to answer (at least if we exclude the impact on the systems affected). You grow a crop, eat it and then whatever is left can be composted. Back to nature.

For many other products, the factor of some sort of plastic will enter the picture. Because plastic can be found in more products that we would like. In clothes (actually in more fabrics than not). In electric appliances. In toys. In kitchenware. In…well, just look around you, in so many of our daily products. And plastic will never score well when put into a time perspective.

Most plastic is made from fossil fuels, and as we know fossil fuels took millions of years to form.
The use will vary from handed down from one generation to another, in the best of cases maybe two or three generations, to emptying a plastic bottle of water in a few minutes only.
The plastic will remain waste for some 500 years.

Time itself a priority?

Returning to the social media wisdom shared in the introduction: it’s not that you don’t have time, it’s about priorities. Perhaps it’s time to make time itself a priority?

SCUPER, the Straight Circles Universal PERspectives, introducers time as one of the perspectives to consider.

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What do we really need?

What do we really need?

Did you ever think about how part of the solutions we come up with to our daily (or more serious) problems are based on what we already know? Say we need light to read, we automatically head for a shop to buy a light bulb. Or say we need for people to get smoothly from A to B, there is a tendency to add asphalt to the infrastructure. Encouraging cars which we then buy.

But what do we really need? In order to find the most appropriate solutions, rather than building on the existing ones, we first need to get the question right. We need light, not light bulbs (they will do the job of course, but there may be other ways that work as well). And we need for people to be able to connect from A to B, not by default to be able to go by car. As a matter of fact, cars stay parked 95% of the time. And building more roads, adding asphalt to the landscape, has not proven to be the solution to traffic jams, rather an encouragement to use more cars, adding to the already busy roads which then once again become insufficient.

The interesting part in focusing on the actual needs, on “getting the question right” as I tend to think of it, is that the answer you come up with may be totally unexpected. In the best case, you may even find that the answer you are looking for excludes the most obvious solution altogether.

Some inspiring examples:

In the case of lighting, Philips is a well-known example when it comes to offering not the product (light bulbs), but the service (light). A business model referred to as Product as a Service (PaaS). Needless to say the emphasis then no longer lies on selling as many products as possible, but rather the opposite: achieving the same level of light with as little input as possible. Also over time, meaning products are made to last rather than to be replaced, as Philips remains the owner. PaaS is increasingly gaining in popularity, by the way, so while writing about Philips here, you can look up several other examples.

When it comes to transport and cars there are several initiatives popping up, from sharing to renting. You can pay per use if you live in a city with a subscription service and cars parked in specific places, or you can rent from private people increasing their car’s hours on the road by renting it out.

The favourite: No product!

These examples show an interesting and important development as we do need to change our consumption patterns, we all know that. But to me, the most interesting solutions in “getting the question right” and identifying the real need, is that of skipping the product altogether.

If we add this to the question of connecting people from A to B, transport may be left out of the equation if we instead have them connect online (I know, it’s not the same, but just think about all the online work we’ve done in the past year. A lot is possible). And many cities provide bikes as options for getting around – no car at all but still does the job! And great to combine with public transport.

And returning to the question of light, perhaps this can be taken further than PaaS? Indeed, during day light, what if we could make the most use of the natural light already available? This is what sun tunnels do, they literally let daylight inside by channeling it through a tube, enhancing it through reflection and bringing it to any dark corner of the house you choose. Talk about letting the sunshine in 😉

In a next step, perhaps we can manage to save the sun’s light for darker hours. After all, the sun produces more than enough energy for everyone on our planet: enough for a whole year every hour! Just up to us to figure out how to best make use of it…

And one more example where a product is no longer needed. You know those fresh herbs you can buy in a pot in supermarkets? Last time I picked one up, I thought something had gone wrong in the production process as the pot was missing. Only it was not a mistake: the pot had been taken out of the equation. And it worked, so one more example of how we can do without a product that has always been there out of habit, rather than out of necessity.

Who’s up for the challenge to come up with more products we can get rid of?

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Our brilliant brain and its user manual

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Our brain is brilliant. Looking around, there are traces of human brilliance everywhere. We travel in space, cure illnesses, develop ever further-reaching artificial intelligence, create more complex and impressive constructions…the list could easily go on.

There is no doubt that for us humans, our brain is our greatest asset. And there is no doubt that our brain is, indeed, brilliant. But as with all working things, there are certain aspects which are good to know when relying on them for certain tasks.

Our brain doesn’t come with a user manual, but perhaps it should. Or we should all at least get to know how it works, it should be considered general knowledge really, before we rely on it for instance to solve problems. Or for it to come up with new things, innovations. Or simply to do what we do most with our brain: think.

The peculiarities of the human brain

First of all, the human brain is lazy. Yes, indeed, lazy. Always looking for the easiest way out, the path with the least resistance. To play it safe. “Safe” in this case being what we know.

How does it work? Well, basically, our brain is like an advanced computer (don’t worry, this will not lead to a discussion on artificial intelligence beating us at our own game), in that it recognizes a situation based on a cluster memory of similar, previous experiences. This can be useful of course, think about identifying danger for instance. However, categorizing everything we experience based on past experiences, also means we automatically take the road the most travelled, and the chance to take the road less travelled by becomes an option that requires an active approach (this was also true in Robert Frost’s famous poem, I think).

Why does this matter? The most important reason here, is that our brain actually holds us back. Whenever we want to try something new, go for our dreams, live life to the max or at least according to our own wishes, anything new becomes something our brains will push back with resistance. The kind of resistance that finds excuses not to do something new. Not to dare to live your dreams. Not to try something exiting you’ve wanted to do but…well, never gotten passed the resistance to actually do. This can have a huge impact on how we live our lives, which is why it is important to at least know our brains will try to do this to our wildest ideas. At least then we can push back and take action!

The second important consequence of our brains choosing the easy way, is based on the fact that our brains get stuck in their own paths. You know, the road the most travelled by. And this road may not be the one needed for the situation at hand. It may have worked well in the past, in fact, it may not even have worked all the well in the past, but simply based on the fact that it is a path we know, we will still consider it a safe choice. According to our brilliant but less than perfect brains.

Yes, but…

Have you ever been in a brainstorm situation and contributed with a wild, totally out-of-the box idea, only to be met by a comment starting with the words “Yes, but…”? I bet however the sentence was completed, it somehow bore proof of past experience, current definitions or beliefs, showing your wild idea was never going to work. Dismissed before it ever saw the light of day.

Not getting stuck in the old ways is massively important when it comes to moving away from the current economic system we have created. Humans are leaving a footprint larger than the planet behind, but the only living memories in our brain, are the ones of paths that were used when creating the problem we must now get out of.

Time to open up our minds

Time to actively start open up our minds! To break out of the pathways our minds would love to stick to if left to their own efficiency, and to create new pathways and open up to new thinking. Take a step back to see the whole picture, look at things from new and perhaps unexpected angles, learn from nature, learn from each other, turn the sequence in the process around…in brief, take our brilliant brain to a new level of brilliance!

In our work, this is what we aim to do with SCUPER, the Straight Circles Universal PERspectives. And with our mind openers on Instagram. You are welcome to learn more and also to contribute if you like – get in touch!