6 Habits For Thinking Differently

Truth Consulting's case for radical doubt

In a world operating at pace, and now embracing AI at full speed, our time is increasingly pressured. Doing ‘stuff’ too often takes precedence over thinking. Indeed, we are increasingly outsourcing our thinking to AI and other ‘support platforms’. In all of this we run the risk that our human thinking becomes flat, predictable and lacking the imagination and creativity that really makes a difference. Such a trajectory is unlikely to end well, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We can think differently and better. It’s easier than we think.

Dr Mark Thorpe, FMRS shares his six tips for helping anyone and everyone think differently.

1. Don’t believe everything you think

It’s easy to ‘go with the flow’ in terms of our thinking and just let our brains run the show. The problem with this is that brains have a habit of not telling us the truth or at least relying on quite a narrow lens and information resource to make judgements about the world. Breaking this passive relationship is one of the keys to thinking differently. Question what you think and why you think it, and new possibilities open up. Start with three words: ‘is this true?’.

2. Embrace ‘radical doubt’

Radical doubt is about questioning all the certainties that drive our thinking.  Questioning their validity, accuracy, origins and impact.  Again, the questions we ask ourselves matter. What is it that shapes the way we think and show up?  How useful is this for the topic? What are the biases that are driving current thinking?  Is my privileged upbringing shaping a different ‘reality’? Embracing a radical doubt mindset helps us see much more, and much more accurately. It also helps us to recognise our own abnormality. We all see the world through tainted lenses.

3. Become reflexive

Reflexivity has been the cornerstone of research practice in the Social Sciences for decades. It involves consciously exploring our own perceptions, biases, assumptions and limitations at all stages of social enquiry. This kind of reflexivity aids thinking differently. It helps us strip out some of the blocks that narrow our thinking and opens up new opportunities. You can be reflexive as an individual or in groups – try it, you won’t be disappointed. 

4. Flip the truth

Truth is such a great thing, until it isn’t. There are many ‘truths’ that are simply imposters – time changes, different truths emerge, new learnings reveal the weaknesses in some old truths. Regardless of the veracity of the truths at hand, try flipping them – ask the question ‘what if this wasn’t true’?  It’s fun as well as rewarding. You may be (pleasantly) shocked by where this mindset takes you.

5. Deconstruct the rules of the game

Every situation is underpinned by a labyrinth of ‘rules’ – from language to culture, from category to brand.  Each is a ‘game’ – a system of rules that people follow and/or break.  Making these rules explicit helps uncover some of the important structures at play.  It’s not difficult.  Simple questions can start us off. What game is being played?  What rules shape it? What do the rules of the game permit and prohibit?  Where am I in this game?  What game are we (re-)creating?

6. Allow rebels to live in your head

We often try to do too much on our own. There are many great thinkers, past and present, who can help us to think differently.  By simply asking the question ‘what would XXX think, say and do?’ we can take our thinking to a very different place. Why not make friends with a few rebel thinkers and let them live in your head. It’s not a rent-free gig though, they pay their way by giving you new angles, alternative ways of thinking and better, more creative outcomes.

None of these six tips need a budget, a platform, or a two-day offsite. They need a question, asked at the right moment. Thinking differently is a habit, and habits are built one small act at a time – which means anyone can start this afternoon.

The commercial case is also simple. AI is very good at handing us the average of everything that has already been thought – fast, cheap and available to everyone, including our competitors. What it can't do is find the angle nobody has taken yet. That still comes from people who have made a discipline of doubting their own certainties.