If we want to change something around us, it is good to first understand reality, as it is. Accepting reality does not mean that we agree, that we like it; it means that we do the x-ray of reality and then we ask ourselves the question: what else can we do? To change something, we start to make various possible scenarios, then choose from them.

But there is a danger: the scenarios we make are influenced by our way of seeing the world, our filters, our beliefs, our education, our experiences. Our mental patterns influence the shades in which we see reality. These mental models will limit our access to certain scenarios. We will accept, consequently, in our thinking, those scenarios that enter our pattern of seeing things. Our mental models are Procust 2.0’s Bed, depending on which we accept or reject something. (Procust was the mythological character who adjusted people to the size of his bed).

Understanding that we risk being somewhat limited by our own thinking, accepting this fact, what can we do?

But first of all, why do anything? Here are some reasons:

  • Because what has brought us to this point in life does not guarantee our success and future well-being.
  • Because the world is changing a lot, if we don’t keep up, we quickly become obsolete. If you do not believe, remember, those of you over 40, that you have gone through the age of the landline, the letters, you have learned to use the mobile phone and the computer, that they have become an extension of your hand. Maybe we all did driving school on a car with a manual gearbox, we probably drive an automatic car and now we are talking about cars without a driver.

The environment is very uncertain, volatile. We can change something about ourselves to adapt.

Here are some suggestions for possible actions:

  • Let’s not isolate ourselves, let’s keep in touch with others! It seems to me a great danger, especially now, when we have the feeling that we are alone, when we stay at home, when we lack human closeness.
  • Let’s talk to people from other companies, who have other interests, who give us other perspectives, not to become combative, to understand their perspective. We all hear and yet so many listen only for the purpose of giving the reply! What if the goal is just to understand what the other person wants to say, how he thinks, how he feels? There will be no progress in interpersonal relationships without listening with the intention of truly understanding the other.
  • Let’s read from various fields, listen to podcasts with people smarter than us. Let’s virtually surround ourselves with ideas from other cultures, examine them, question them, make the effort to understand other perspectives.
  • Let’s be around children: they have a surprising way of seeing the world! Children do not have limitations yet, they dare, they are uninhibited, casual, creative, children feel what is good and what is not good much faster and with greater accuracy than adults. I have noticed several times that a child immediately feels a man with bad intentions, rejects him as quickly as he accepts good people around them. I say pay attention to them, they may have a better intuition than us. They, the children, can also re-teach us to see reality, if we accept to look through their sincere eyes, which see the world for the first time.
  • Let’s go to a Mindset Change or Design Thinking course – those who take such courses always come with other perspectives, they shake us, they surprise us.
  • Without becoming more empathetic, frequently questioning our way of thinking, we will not change anything around us.

We risk being like stagnant water, like those lakes that caught the frog’s silk, smelled bad. The same can happen to the mind if it chews only on what it thinks and does not accept other opinions.