Within a matter of seconds,
Your brain makes the unfamiliar familiar.
Enter a new cafe and your brain instantly computes where the menu is,
What the rules are for ordering,
And where you pay so you can get your coffee without making a scene.
All of this happens way below the radar of your conscious awareness.
It's normal,
In other words,
For your mind to create unconscious cognitive walls of other people,
Of situations,
Of the world around you.
These categories help you get through the day without looking like a lost maniac,
But cognitive walls can get in the way of your shaping a creative life of meaning and mastery over the long term.
The question is,
For us,
How can we occasionally break through those walls so we can innovate novel useful solutions,
Both in our lives and in our work?
Let's take a look at some cognitive tricks and cognitive skills that you can test out every day to shape more meaningful work,
Approach challenges with more creativity,
And live with more deep purpose.
Where do we start?
Well,
Let's consider the advice of media mogul Arianna Huffington.
She claims that the new metrics of success in the early 21st century should include wonder.
Wonder is the subtle astonishment of the soul that both delights and disorients us with new insight.
Wonder can help us navigate crises when our world is in flux.
For a fleeting moment,
Unlike grit,
Talent,
Or 10,
000 hours of deliberate practice,
Wonder dissolves our habitual biased perception so we can see again what is real and true,
What is beautiful and possible.
Such moments can keep us going in times of great challenge and change.
So how can we track wonder for a more creative and less reactive outlook?
Well,
First,
Catch yourself this week in a moment of surprise or disruption,
Sudden challenge,
Sudden change.
Let's say your team leader announces your project budget is cut in half,
Or new construction on your road reroutes you 15 minutes out of your way on your work commute,
Or your computer crashes on the very day you're delivering a very important online meeting.
Sound familiar?
Well,
When we're faced with sudden change or sudden surprise without awareness,
That almond-shaped part of our hindbrain called the amygdala can light up as if signaling a three-alarm fire.
Part of us then unconsciously wants to armor up or run,
Fight,
Or flight.
Our hardwired operating system wants to shut down.
But with more awareness amidst change,
You can pause,
Trip your wiring,
And open up instead of shut down.
So try this cognitive trick.
The next time you find yourself faced with unwanted or sudden surprise,
Say to yourself,
Open up,
Don't size up,
Open up,
Don't size up.
Then try this.
Take your eyes away from your device or the source of surprise and literally look around.
Expand your visual plane.
Expand your sensory awareness and observe something,
One object,
Maybe that you've not really noticed in your immediate environment today.
Maybe it's a lone tree on your commute or a paperclip on your desk,
And look at it for less than a minute.
Now,
A few studies show that just long enough,
Gazing upon such an object can calm your mind's chatter so your eyes can open up to the physical moment.
And such a sense of wonder can keep you receptive and engaged instead of reactive and enraged.
And the longer you stay open and engaged,
The more memories your brain can draw from and the more connections your brain literally can make to derive novel,
Useful solutions to pressing problems as well as to long-term projects.
Some psychologists speculate that this sense of open,
Wondrous engagement makes us uniquely adaptive not only to survive but to thrive immense change.
New research also shows that the brain is more like a muscle than we think.
It changes and gets stronger when we use it in new ways,
When you open yourself up to new ways of seeing and approaching problems.
So let wonder be your innovation faculty,
Especially immense challenge and change.
You can shape a creative life of excellence,
Meaning,
And mastery in the early 21st century because the mind is a wondrous thing.
And despite all the clever devices we've created over the millennia,
The mind is still our most powerful tool.
