Dear friends, today we are talking about a book that struck me a lot because it is capable of tackling the issue of problem solving in a very original way: “Thinking like a magician”.
The title is “Thinking like a magician”, written by the good Matteo Rampin. In reality, before even thinking about how to solve them, the author invites us to understand how to create them, the problems. Because? Because this, after all, is the best way to then understand how to solve them.
Building a problem is in fact what allows us to understand its most intimate mechanism.
But let's go in order and let's see three of the things that are left to me from reading these 200 and broken pages.
1. Overcome your limiting beliefs
A first reflection that struck me is that relating to the difference between what is impossible to do and what is impossible to think of doing. The impossible, according to the author of the book "Thinking like a magician", is a part of our reality.
That is, we cannot do everything we want but, if it is true that there is no remedy for what is impossible to do, it is also true that what is impossible to think of doing deserves more attention on our part. Where does this distinction lead us? The fact that problems, and therefore their resolution, depend on how we face the problems.
That is, many times we think something impossible to do for the simple fact that we can't think how to do it. The result is that, since I believe that I will never be able to realize that thing, then I don't even try.
In short, this in other words is the very delicate and fundamental theme of limiting beliefs that we often carry with us, in our daily life, so much so that when we are faced with a problem we end up throwing in the towel because we think we are not able to solve it.
For this reason, we should all focus on ours first preconceptions compared to reality. That is, we should focus on what are the premises of thought through which we look - as if they were lenses - what happens to us.
To the extent that we manage to act on these lenses, then we may also be able to do things that we previously thought unthinkable.
The concept is very important, let's take a closer look at it in the next point.
2. Take a cue from the problem solving strategies of unconventional contexts
Some say that making the statue of liberty disappear is impossible; yet David Copperfield succeeded. Why? For the simple fact that the wizards they think differently from ordinary people, so they can get different results. Here, "Thinking like a magician" is made up half of paradoxes and the other half of anecdotes that might seem irreverent with respect to what is usually said around the theme of problem solving.
Still, it's amazing how much we can learn about change by borrowing insights from the world, for example, of magic, detective novels, military strategy, and many other unconventional contexts. For example, in the world of scam we see that the criminal, in order to cheat, must learn to solve even complex puzzles, apparently solvable problems. To do this he must learn a think differently from the common man.
A pickpocket who has to solve the problem of being able to steal someone's wallet without them noticing, has to overcome various obstacles, has to solve different problems: approach the victim and enter his vital space, in his narrowest space, without being discovered. .
In this regard, he knows he must not go to the victim's jacket pocket and take her wallet out secretly; rather he has to pinch the wallet and then make the victim take the jacket out of the wallet, to walk away while the pickpocket stands still with the wallet in hand. In this way the tactile sensation that is produced inside the victim's body will not be that of a danger, of an alarm that goes off. Consequently this element of novelty will not reach his awareness.
All this to say what? That inside the book you will find many examples like this, illustrative of modalities counterintuitive to think about problem solving and change, which are often used in the world of illusionism. These alternative ways of thinking can help us not so much to steal our wallets, but to solve the problems of our personal and even work life.
3. Apply the paradoxical thought of "Thinking like a magician"
A final point that I want to tell you and share in this article is an indication on how to exploit the dynamics of the paradoxical thinking.
Let's stay with the criminal metaphor I mentioned in the previous point and imagine we want to hide jewels, precious goods for us in our house, so that thieves cannot find them.
Here, the conventional way of thinking would most likely lead us to fail in this venture. For example, we could decide to hide the jewels under the pavé boards, inside fake books or in a well hidden drawer on top of the sideboard; but the reality is that thieves systematically - and even profitably - check all of these classic hiding places.
However, if we decide to tap into the arsenal of paradoxical thinking, then other decidedly stronger possibilities open up for us. One, absolutely paradoxical, is to expose our jewels to view: you could mix them with the children's jewelery, you could hang them on the pendants of the chandeliers in the room, or - even more paradoxically - you mess up the house so that, when the thief arrives, you automatically think: “No, some of my colleagues have already passed here, let's go”. At this point, of course, the jewels could be put anywhere since the thief will leave immediately.
Although these examples are perhaps more curious than useful in reality, within this book you will find a way to apply them to your daily life as well. If you happen to read it let me know in the comments below how you found it.
I remind you as always that you can subscribe to the Facebook group "Books for the mind" where there are other fans like me of psychological reading and personal growth.
Goodbye see you soon.
- To buy "Thinking like a magician" here at the link: https://amzn.to/3rH2jc2
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Article Thinking Like a Wizard: Solving Problems Counter-intuitively - Books for the Mind seems to be the first of Milan psychologist.
