An exercise in “blinkered” thinking
… the importance of differentiated thinking
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“Most people can’t solve this simple puzzle
YOU … can’t solve this simple puzzle”
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“Why?
… because you are blinkered by expertise”
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Welcome to lesson ONE
INSTRUCTIONS:
Use 3 separate lines (straight or curved) to join the boxes labeled with letters; a single line for each to join “A” to “A”, “B” to “B”, and “C” to “C”.
The lines cannot touch or cross each other.
They must stay inside the diagram, and cannot touch the sides.
They cannot touch or go through other boxes.
There’s no trick involved.
Having trouble?
An additional clue appears just below, but try to solve the puzzle without looking at the clue first LOL
“Our “expertise” can sometimes work against us. It often limits our ability to derive new alternatives or generate original thinking”
CLUE:
You probably couldn’t solve the puzzle because of your expertise in two things:
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“A” comes before “B” and “C; and
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The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
In your mind, you likely first drew a straight line between the two “A” boxes.
At that point, you thought “it’s impossible”, or “there’s some sort of trick to this”. Your education and experiences were working against you.
Before you look at the solution, try joining the boxes “B” and “C” first.
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The solution appears below
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Michael Muxworthy – Lateral Thinking Author of Fiction
THE SOLUTION:
The solution is really quite simple.
Lesson Summary:
Your education and life experiences are often an obstruction to finding truths, solutions, or superior alternatives. Disruptive lateral thinking and creative strategies will help you break the shackles of your blinkered thinking.
CONGRATULATIONS, you’ve successfully completed the first lesson.
In the 2nd lesson, we learn to use our first tool of DISRUPTIVE CREATIVITY … Random Starting Points
CREATING NEURAL PATHWAYS
Always share and discuss what you have learned.
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Are you ready to learn your first “disruptive” creative technique?
Go to Lesson Two:
Random ways to generate original thinking
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Some useful lateral thinking pages for your journey:
EXAMPLES of lateral thinking from Edward de Bono
EVERYDAY EXAMPLES from Michael Muxworthy
EXAMPLES IN BUSINESS from Michael Muxworthy
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Sometimes you need to freshen your thinking. Try these:
Puzzles
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Everything you need for your creative journey is here. This is the page you need to BOOKMARK:
LATERAL THINKING TOOLKIT
Remember.
The purpose of everything … is to evolve.
It is the human capacity for creativity … that makes our own evolution so exceptional.
Michael Muxworty
Lateral Thinking Author and Alien Conspiracy Protagonist
Hi I tried this exercise on family and work colleagues, young and old. No one was able to get the puzzle out, except for my son’s 13 year old friend. At only 13 he’s obviously had fewer years of conditioning, and this was impressively obvious as he proceeded to solve the puzzle in literally 30 seconds.
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Some of us are less “blinkered” than others. And sometimes you just get lucky
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Michael I am going to have a go at this. Roger
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Good for you, Roger. Remember, one lesson per day, and comment after each lesson. If you want your comments to be private, just say so in the comment. Good luck.
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