Beware the logic box

A cardboard box is great for storing things isn’t it? Does it help you think? NO. It’s a square storage box for you to put stuff in. In the same manner that the box is used for storage so do we store things in mental boxes. When it comes to ideas you can create the form they take by building logical structures that you think represent reality. Take for example your concept of work? What is it?

Do you think you work to get money or you get money because you work? That is a logic box. The truth is you are being paid because you have something of value to offer someone else. If you conceptualise work in a box you will say: ‘Well I have to do it.’ No you don’t! You must begin to break out of the logic box you have built and make new ideas work for you. Starting thinking of yourself as adding value because that’s why you were hired. I think of the logic box as a set of ideas that you use to define something in a rigid, non-flexible logical way. Consider the following examples:

Well that is just the way it is…

Why do we accept things the way things are… well that’s just the way it is? No that’s a box. Things are the way they are because we made them that way and continue to agree that’s an acceptable way of doing things. Take poverty for example. A problem that is worldwide. Is there enough wealth in the world to fix this problem? I would argue there is more than enough yet the problem is still there. Why is it still there? Corruption? Bad politics? Greed? There is no one answer that makes complete sense.

It’s been this way for years… it’s better the devil you know than the devil you don’t…

This is a logic box that is really saying… I don’t have the courage to make the changes and I would prefer to live with the devil I have rather than the devil I don’t. I would prefer for the devil to be gone. Why live with the devil? It takes just the same amount of fear to fail as it does to succeed. Why not take a step out there into the big beyond and try it? Things could get better as they could get worse. If they do get better then you will have gained something and if you make a terrible mistake you will also have gained something. See my previous post on learning from your past mistakes. Don’t settle for what the population in general settle for mediocrity… do what you know to do. Break that sucker!

Things are never going to change…

Really never? They will change if you begin to make steps towards making them change. You don’t build a great building overnight. It starts with a vision and you then build it step by step until the thing is complete. We have this terrible idea that things we have are simply never going to change. If you think it will never change… it will never change. If you begin to think change is possible… then it will become possible. This not some mysterious notion. Consider this, when you are looking for a new house to live in what do you notice in the television shows you see… things you like in a house. In like manner if you set your mind on something you will begin to explore possibilities, seek new avenues of thinking and eventually make small steps towards change.

That’s just what I believe…

People somehow have gotten this idea that what we believe is static. It’s almost as though changing our perspective is so hard that we would rather live with a worse explanation of what we believe that using a better one. Why do we do this? There are many reasons why but I think a major factor is that we simply grow comfortable in the ways in which we create things in our mind. We get so comfortable that we would rather hurt ourselves by believing something that’s just there rather than changing perspectives to a better more healthier belief.

This is just the way I am…

The picture you carry around of yourself is what you will think, speak and act to whoever is listening at any given time. This inbuilt image will be with you for the rest of your life and if you don’t do something to fix it… you will find it dominating you until you die. If for example, you belief you are destined to fail, then the chances are you will make decisions that will make this a reality. If on the other hand you believe you will do well, you will make decisions in accordance with this belief. This doesn’t mean you will do well because you believe BUT that belief will reside in you and when opportunities come along you will know how to recognise them.

These are all versions of the logic box… ways of thinking that are put into little boxes for us to interpret. Another common one I have come across is found in the media. I call this a false dichotomy. Say you are debating a divisive issue like euthanasia. Immediately you think of the two moral high grounds for the issue… pro or con. In reality this is a false dichotomy because there may be other solutions rather than yes or no. By taking an extreme stance you automatically exclude the possibility of new and innovative solutions. There is nothing wrong with taking a stand for things you believe in… but there is something VERY wrong in creating ideas to believe in and then not changing them when the situation demands it. The tendency towards logical solutions in our thinking hinders our creativity because it forces us to make boxes. When we do this we naturally exclude alternatives which in any field is a dangerous practice.

There are a few ways I have found that break the logic box and I will discuss these in another post later in the week. In the meantime consider this: what things in your life have you boxed in? Family? Friends? Work? In any case you will not be able to see the problem until you begin questioning it, turning it over in your mind and looking at it from different angles. Start today!

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