Deliberate doubt: the art of questioning our assumptions

Socrates, Galileo, Marie Curie, Einstein… What did these great thinkers have in common? They all practiced deliberate doubt and used it as a tool to improve their thinking and generate creative ideas. Deliberate doubt is the practice of actively questioning our beliefs and assumptions. It is about suspending our certainty and letting go of our … Read More

Negative capability: how to embrace intellectual uncertainty

Certainty is reassuring; what we know can be better understood, managed, and controlled. But intellectual certainty can limit our creativity. Where lies a certain path, many alternative doors leading to innovative ideas are ignored. We follow a fixed roadmap, without giving ourselves the opportunity to explore, make mistakes, and learn. In contrast, negative capability is … Read More

Why do we need to be right?

One of the most prevalent phenomena in our collective psyche is the need to be right. Pundits debate their views of climate change and political conflicts on television, we have arguments with friends as to who said what, and we often triumphantly proclaim: “I told you so!” This phenomenon starts early. From a very young … Read More

From closed mind to open mind

Do you consider yourself an open-minded person? Most people would say yes. Which, paradoxically, shows a form of closed-mindedness by failing to consider your own shortcomings.  Closed-mindedness in the inability or difficulty to consider different ideas or opinions. While it is easy to spot in others, we are all guilty of closed-mindedness depending on the … Read More