Change your mindset and think differently

Our brain is an amazing creation.  We all know that.  We have the ability to reason, rationalise, create and innovate all at the same time.  

Yet sometimes our brains can limit us because we aren’t using it effectively.

Sometimes we look at a situation and think there is no alternative, or no other way of thinking.  We hang on to an idea desperately and just can’t or won’t change our mindset.  We become rigid, stuck and forceful.  Yet we, through our brains, can change our brains.  

To change our perspective, or the lens we are looking through, we need to consciously decide to do it.  It’s almost as though we instruct our brain that we are going to think differently.  To be really effective we need to give ourselves permission to step outside of our normal brain and adopt a new way of thinking. 

Become someone else

If you think with your current perspective, you will keep coming up with the same answer.  So try to become come one else.  Try this technique and see what comes up.

Pick a topic that you can identify with.

Perhaps it is a football manager, a pair of shoes, a country, a movie character or an animal.  Try thinking about what their behaviours and characteristics are, then try and embody those characteristics.  Once you’re there, start imagining how they might view the problem or situation?  What comes up for you?

Example

I have to go to a social event that I am dreading. It means being away from home, it will take hours on the motorway on a Friday evening, and there will be so many people there that I don’t really want to spend my Friday night with.  My current perspective makes me feel annoyed, dread, duty and negativity.  I probably won’t enjoy it because I have already have that mind set.

Now let’s flip it.  Let’s get really silly and as far removed from my current perspective.

The excited child

An excited child loves new opportunities.  They love parties.  They get to buy a new outfit and meet loads of new people.  They are going on a road trip…woohoo.  Wow this is exciting, it’s going to be an adventure.  I wonder who I might meet?  I wonder what might happen.  I can’t wait.

Ant and Dec

These cheeky chappies like to have fun.  They always like to get up to mischief and have a giggle.  They will work the room because they know they will meet some great people.   They know they are invited because they are somebody.  They totally own it and exude confidence.  They don’t take life too seriously and jump in with both feet.  What’s the worst that can happen right? 

You can be as playful with your perspectives as you like.

Just by thinking through someone else’s mindset enables us to change our perspective.  We have the power to return to our old perspective, or we can flip it.  This is where we use our own amazing Neuroplasticity to change our brains, change our thinking and perspectives.

So next time you get stuck in a rut, and can’t think any other way, try adopting a new persona.  Be playful, be bold , be courageous and be curious.