Move Your Butt…Change Your Thinking

Lots of people are in a rut. And in lots of people I include executives and managers…and their leaders. Their brains are plugged up and new ideas flow slowly, if at all. They are uncomfortable with change and are stuck in a mode of looking for information that agrees with and validates their thinking while ignoring and discarding anything that suggests they might be wrong.

Their minds are constipated.

The current economic circumstances seem to be strengthening this situation for many. Too many have become ever more fearful of what is to come and so their thinking has constricted even more. The risk of the future is unbearable.

But, or perhaps I should say butt, there is a way to free up your thinking and that of those around you. Move. Get out of your seat…your actual seat. And make those around you rearrange their seating patterns too.

You probably have noticed how people generally sit in the same places all the time. If they go to lunch during a meeting and come back to find someone where they were sitting, they get aggravated. The place they sit is their comfort zone, the place they know and love. It’s that favorite stuffed animal dragged around by all small kids. And it’s the place that keeps them from noticing that they’re stuck.

Luckily the solution is easy…sit someplace else. Sit on the other side of the table. Move the entire meeting to a different room with a totally different seating configuration. Each time you come back from a break, sit in a new seat next to different people. If the meeting gets boring or bogged down…get everyone to walk around for a minute and then find a new seat.

You’ll be amazed how this will re-energize your thinking. There will be some discomfort and probably some odd looks. You might even discover someone who gets angry and crazed about this, which should tell you something about their ability to help guide you into the future.

If you really want to break people out of their rut, move the meeting to a different building, a different city, a different state, a different country. The more you get people noticing different things and observing in new ways, the more likely you are to find new ways to solve your problems and new ideas to guide you forward. 

Cure your mental constipation…give your mind a new perspective.