Short on Insight?

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Hi Everyone,

Have you ever noticed how fluid and agile your thought process can be when you have less on your mind? Conversely, when lots of thinking is competing for your attention or you are stuck in a loop of recycling the same thinking, doesn’t it seem hard and dense? Read on for some insight into insight.

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All of us at Insight Principles

Short on Insight?

A while ago at one of our Insight programs, a participant mentioned that he felt he was short on insight.

I nodded because I could relate to that experience. I’ve faced challenges and wanted answers but no insights came. Or, worse, it didn’t even occur to me to look for an insight. I simply soldiered on, working the problem in my head.

But are we ever really short on insight? Or is something else happening?

The human mind is designed for insight. The power to think resides in us and has the potential to bring insight to all of our endeavors. We can innocently stymie this power by letting what we think take up too much space in our heads. We unconsciously get committed to the content of our thinking as if it were absolute. We justify it, blame it on external factors, rehash it, take pride in it, enjoy it, etc. Yet, waiting patiently behind the door of all that thinking is the power to think something brand new.

I once coached a business leader whose team needed to find additional cost savings in their already lean budget. As I listened to her, I was intrigued by the way she described the situation. She seemed very confident that she and her team had a crystal clear grasp of the problem and that they had unearthed every possible idea for further cost savings. It did not occur to her or the team that their thinking was capturing and coloring the situation in a particular way and leading them down a certain set of conclusions.

Perception happens so quickly that it is easy to forget where it’s coming from. The thinking that precedes perception is invisible, but it occupies our mind, takes up space, and keeps new ideas from flowing in.

“Are you saying that we’re thinking about this in the wrong way?” the leader wanted to know.

“I’m not saying anything about what you should or shouldn’t think,” I replied. “I’m just telling you that the mind works from the inside-out to craft the experience you are having at every moment. As long as you keep thinking what you’re thinking, you’ll keep seeing things in the same way. And that thinking occupies your mind and keeps you short on insight.”

Insight can seem out of reach, but is it? Or have we just forgotten where to look?

-Sandy Krot

©Insight Principles, Inc.