In any situation, thinking involves two basic processes:

escaping from your current view of the situation, and

searching for a much better view of the situation.

•

ESCAPE + SEARCH = THINK

The Current View of the Situation (cvs)
can never be equal to
the Better View of the Situation (bvs)

(cvs≠bvs)

Escape from your cvs
and search for a bvs!

(cvs2bvs)

You can search for a bvs that is
ten times better than your cvs.

(cvs X10 = bvs)

•

ESCAPE

If we can escape from our current viewpoints, thinking patterns, righteousness and established ways of doing things–our CVS–we can then take a quantum leap ahead of our own experience and jump to ‘a much better way’–a BVS.

Kangaroo Thinking
Sometimes I call this Kangaroo Thinking because we can experiment and we can innovate in leaps and bounds.

SEARCH

Search for alternatives, options and possibilities because there is ALWAYS a BVS!

There are always many, many different ways of looking at any particular situation. Whatever it is that we are currently doing, someone else, somewhere, is already doing it a “much better way”. Once we escape from the CVS–the current way–we can search for the BVS–the much better way.

THINK

Thinking is a skill. To become proficient in escaping from your CVS and searching for a BVS (the much better way) always involves practice and repetition–at least ten times–if we are to build new cognitive patterns and acquire skill and virtuosity.

“I used cvs2bvs quickly today when faced with a process problem. I was reviewing data recently transferred into an updated Risk Management Database which will be several days work. Instead of ploughing into it I used the cvs2bvs technique to generate a number of alternative ways of tackling the issue. I will admit I didn’t come up with 10 alternatives but I had several options to review. I estimate the small amount of time taken to plan the approach will save me at least a days work.”
–@cgd.vic.gov.au

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