An illiterate father and his educated son went on
camping. After pitching the tent, they
both went to sleep. At the break of
dawn, the father wakes up his son and asks “Look up to the sky. What do you see?”
“I see millions of stars,” the son said.
“What does that tell you?” asked the father.
“Astronomically,” the son said with pride “it tells us that
there are millions of planets.”
The father gave his son a smack and said “somebody stole our
tent!”
Why did the son miss the obvious? Can too much education blur the brain in
looking for something beyond the ordinary?
In “Thinking Between The Lines”, K,R. Ravi cited several reasons why we
miss the obvious, to wit:
- We think too much even when we do not know how to think
- We look but do not see
- Some of us are so full of ourselves that we have no time for other viewpoints, no time for even plain commonsense
- We are afraid to challenge our cherished opinions and beliefs
- We have ceased to look at the world through fresh eyes, with a sense of wonder
When confronted with an issue, do you have the proclivity to
complicate matters with your theories and concepts which you have acquired from
higher education or specialization? If
the answer is yes and you still get stuck, maybe you are missing the obvious.
Whether the concern is personal or work related, I always bring to mind what Albert Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” If I am giving instruction to a custodian I hear “simplify, simplify, simplify” echo inside my head. I make a conscious effort that if I can explain it to a kid and the kid understands me, then it is a clear instruction.
If I am proposing an idea, I use Edward De Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” to
make sure I look at the idea from different points of view. Example: What is the advantage of the
idea? What’s the downside? What information do I have? What’s the opinion of others? How can we make it better? What’s the next step?
(This blogger is grateful to K.R. Ravi for the permission to cite from the book "Thinking Between The Lines." Mr. Ravi is South Asia's first Dr. Edward De Bono certified public trainer in Lateral Thinking.)
