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Personal Development

The cracks in the sidewalk…

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BY COLLEEN LINDBERG

If you walk down the street, I can guarantee you that you will see somewhere along your path a sidewalk that has cracks in it. Sometimes they are small, maybe unnoticeable cracks and other times we come across large, off-kilter cracks. These cracks remind me of the imperfections we all have as humans and our acceptance of our imperfections.

I feel that sometimes (some of us all the time, which I can definitely own) we are so critical of ourselves. It could be in the way we see our bodies, to the lack of self-discipline, to our lack of knowledge. There is always something we are judging ourselves on. So, what if you just accepted yourself as you are? Such a novel idea, but really if you think about it, there are some things about us that we will never be able to change, like if one your feet is a bit longer than the other. It’s kind of crazy to think about this, but it is so true.

I really believe that accepting and loving ourselves exactly as we are right now is one of the hardest things to do. It really is. If you think about it, we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. We live in a society where you can pretty much do anything physically to yourself now, to change the things that you dislike about yourself, but is that really the answer?

We all come here with gifts, talents, personality traits, an underlying knowledge, but sometimes we seem to forget all these amazing qualities about ourselves because we only focus on the lack, we focus on that one small thing that bugs us about ourselves, instead of owning all of it.

Over the years, there have been a few things I have done to really shift this in myself. The first one, which was the hardest, I stood in front of the mirror naked and really looked at myself. Looked at my body, the folds, the bruises, the freckles, the fat, all of it and really looked and understood how everything got there. The fat got there from the amazing food I have eaten, the relationships I have built over food and my free will. The mark on my knee was from the final game in the playoffs, while I was playing fast pitch when I was younger. We won that game and I slide home. The freckle on my cheek that a lover once deemed a beautiful masterpiece. I could go on.. but do you see how changing your perception can shift the energy on things. It can change the way you see life.

The second one was I wrote out all the things I knew about myself that were true and positive. I didn’t analyze the list, I didn’t think about it in advance, I just got really present with myself and wrote. Then after I sat down with myself and read it out loud. There were some amazing things on that list.

The last one, I made a game plan to change the things I could change about myself that I didn’t like and then just learned to accept the things I couldn’t. Really that’s all it came down to. I come to know and love the fact that we all are sidewalks with cracks, sometimes they are small and other times they are big, but they are cracks anyways. So, to you my human friend, own it.

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Personal Development

How to develop big-picture thinking

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Photo by Fernanda Latronico

BY DANIEL COLE

Big picture thinking is the ability to look at a situation in its entirety with a well-refined perspective.

Big picture thinkers are not worried or overly concerned about temporal setbacks or challenges because they usually have a long-time frame of reference when making decisions or embarking on a project.

Big picture thinkers and detail-oriented thinkers are both needed and necessary in an organization; while the former focus on the big picture, the latter focuses on details. Striking a balance between the two is pivotal for success. Big picture thinkers are mostly optimists by nature. However, they are sometimes blinded to their own optimism bias. It is important to take into account the current reality and situation of things as you look at the bigger picture.

So, what are some effective strategies for becoming a big-picture thinker?

Use the mind mapping technique: Mind mapping is a technique for visually organizing information and ideas in a hierarchical and interconnected way. To use mind mapping for developing big-picture thinking, you can:

  • Start with a central idea or topic in the centre of a page and draw branches for subtopics, supporting ideas, and details.
  • Use images, symbols, and colours to make connections and distinguish between different types of information.
  • Continuously review and expand your mind map as you gather more information and insights, connecting new ideas to existing ones and identifying patterns and relationships.
  • Think critically and creatively, asking questions, making connections and considering multiple perspectives to help you see the big picture and understand the complexities of a situation.
  • By using mind mapping to develop big-picture thinking, you can synthesize information, generate new ideas, and gain a more holistic and nuanced understanding of a topic.

Take a step back: “You can’t see the full picture when you are in the frame”, says the Motivational Guru Les Brown. But what does this mean? It means that it’s difficult to have an objective or complete perspective on a situation when you are directly involved in it. This can be because you are too close to the situation or too invested in the outcome. It’s often helpful to step back and look at things from a different angle to gain a more comprehensive understanding. In other words, it’s easier to see the whole picture when you are not directly in the picture yourself. When faced with a complex problem, it can be helpful to take a step back and look at the situation from a different perspective. This can help you see the broader context and understand how different elements are connected. Try to think about the problem in the context of your organization, industry, or society as a whole.

Surround yourself with big thinkers and positive influence: How you see life, approach problems, how big or small you think, and your frame of reference, is influenced by the people you do life with and the association your keep. Ask people to give you their unbiased perspectives or opinions on what you are trying to do. Use people as a sounding board to help you shape your perspective. Remember, “you can’t see the picture when you are in the frame.”

In conclusion, Success expert Brian Tracy rightly said, “Things are important to the extent that they have important consequences. Things are unimportant to the extent that they have no important consequences.” 

When faced with a choice, ask yourself, what would be the consequences of each option?

It is human nature to make rushed, emotional decisions based on incomplete information, and then regret those decisions later on. You can protect yourself from poor judgment by striving to attain the big picture when careful consideration is called for. Focus on the consequences of your decision before considering how you feel about it. Play with the cards you’ve been dealt, but look for opportunities in each situation and you will find them.

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Personal Development

Five proven techniques for problem-solving

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

BY DANIEL COLE

Problems are inevitable; in life and business. All organizations exist because there is a problem to solve. People are employed because they have problem-solving skills. Running away from problems is not the right mental approach; all successful people are problem solvers. However, Albert Einstein has rightly said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” There are many techniques and proven principles or approaches to problem-solving. A few of them include:

The 5 why technique: To get clarity about the nature of the problem you want to solve and proffer an efficient solution, apply the five whys technique. Making an informed decision is based on an insightful understanding of the problem and careful exploration of the root cause. The 5 Why technique is one of the most effective tools for root cause analysis in Lean management. This technique is simply applied by asking “Why” five times to get to the root of the problem. An example would be assuming the problem you are trying to solve is obesity, ask the first “why”, “Why are you obese?” Assuming the answer is because you eat unhealthy food and you don’t take time to exercise. The second why will be, why do you eat unhealthy, and why don’t you take time to exercise? Whatever your answer is, ask the third why, by the time you get to the fifth why you must have had a clearer understanding of the root cause of the problem.

The Eisenhower matrix: This technique helps prioritize tasks by dividing them into 4 categories: urgent and important, not urgent but important, urgent but not important, and not urgent or important. It helps to identify which tasks are important, and which are not, and it helps to focus on the important ones. This matrix is very effective when having challenges with choosing priorities, and it’s also a good time management technique.

SWOT analysis: This technique involves analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are associated with a problem. The SWOT analysis helps identify the internal and external factors that are important to achieving a goal or addressing a problem. By understanding these factors, it becomes easier to develop an effective solution. Once the SWOT analysis is completed, the information can be used to develop a strategy to address the problem or achieve the goal.

The design thinking method: This technique is a human-centered approach to problem-solving that emphasizes empathy, creativity and experimentation. It involves understanding the needs of the end-users, prototyping solutions and testing them with real users to see what works and what doesn’t in order to arrive at the best solution.

The six-sigma method: This method is a data-driven approach to problem-solving that is used in manufacturing and other industries to improve the overall quality and efficiency of a process. The six-sigma method is based on five key phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC). It uses statistical analysis to identify and remove the causes of defects and variability in a process. It is designed to help organizations improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their processes, and to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. This method requires dedicated resources, leadership commitment and a culture of continuous improvement to be successful.

The above techniques are just a few of the many problem-solving techniques that are available. The best approach will depend on the specific problem you’re trying to solve and the resources you have available. It’s also important to remember that problem-solving is an iterative process, and a combination of techniques may be necessary in order to achieve the best results. However, it is important to always document your winning strategy to avoid redundancy and duplicity of effort should in case similar problems occur in the future.

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Personal Development

Life at the speed of thought and innovation

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Photo Credit: Bruno Scramgnon on Pexels

BY DANIEL COLE

Have you ever wondered why the Dark Ages was called Dark? It’s because there wasn’t much scientific, cultural or human development or advancement during that era if there were any at all; man’s state of existence was primitive. In the 1500s, people ascribed all events they didn’t understand to God. Why did the crops fail? God did it. Why did we have an earthquake? God did it. What holds the planets in place? God. But as man became more enlightened, we began the search for a more scientific understanding – physics, chemistry, biology, and so forth.

Man’s ability to think, in my opinion, is the greatest gift God gave to Mankind. Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Plato, Thales, and so many great Philosophers whose works and intellectual produce are still considered relevant today, existed before Christ was born, which underpins the limit of ‘religion and spirituality’ in man’s ability to critically think, and proffer practical solutions to his daily life problems. I have always believed that spirituality is not against reasoning. Our world has advanced not only because of financial resources but also because of an intellectual resource.

One of the most relevant skills in our world today is problem-solving, which I fondly refer to as “Thinking Skill.” The ability to critically think through a problem and proffer practical, workable solutions. The next new frontiers of our world will not be people who blindly accept popular views or generally accepted ideas, but rather, those who are not intellectually lazy to put in the time and effort to find relevant facts, collect data and through that extrapolates to a logical and rational conclusion.

People who are not afraid to question the ‘Truth’, not for the sake of proofing their ingenuity, but rather because they refuse to be held back by the result of somebody else’s thinking. And this is true of Albert Einstein; the world has believed the Isaac Newton law of gravitational pull for hundreds of years before Einstein proofs him wrong. Jim Collins wrote, “The best students are those who never believe their professors.”

In fact, for almost three decades, I have always believed Charles Darwin postulated the evolution theory, well, I was wrong, Darwin popularized the theory of evolution by natural selection, but the roots of the theory came from Greek philosophy. The idea dates back to centuries before Darwin. Three natural philosophers of the ancient world worked on the idea; they are Anaximander (c. 610 BC – c. 546 BC), Empedocles (495 BC – 435 BC) and Lucretius (99 BC – 55 BC). Bruce Calvert was right, “Believing is easier than thinking. Hence so many more believers than thinkers.”

Today, with enough data to proof and scientific evidence available, we now believe the earth to be spherical. However, in the nineteenth century, during the Middle Ages, certain scholars have always believed that the earth was flat. The world is moving at the speed of thought and innovation. What informs your view about life? In a time where Google seems to have an answer to every question, we should ask ourselves, are we still thinking or we are unconsciously outsourcing it?

Take a thoughtful consideration of the things you’ve believed. Have you been indoctrinated to living life the way you’re living it? I am not suggesting taking a Nihilistic view of life, but stay curious, and stay informed. In the words of John Maxwell, “As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behaviour. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to become. Take action on your behaviour. Too many people want to feel, then take action. This never works.”

Thinking is a skill. We all need to be intentional about engaging in it. Remember, “The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” Albert Einstein

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