In the business world, there is more and more pressure for creative problem solving for developing new products, streamlining delivery systems, optimizing managerial structure, and dealing with personnel and clients. Constant innovation is the game. But what do we do when we’re faced with a problem that we don’t know how to solve? In fact, what we know may actually get in the way of a new solution: Our brain’s electrical activity may inhibit other circuits, and other ideas. We tend to think of creativity in terms of art and music. We recognize that artists and musicians are creative people, but what about the rest of us? Does that mean we’re not at all creative or that creativity is not useful in our lives?
Key Takeaway
Insight is the sudden solution to a long-vexing problem, a sudden recognition of a new idea, or a sudden understanding of a complex situation, an Aha! moment. Solutions found through insight are often more accurate than those found through step-by-step analysis. In the several seconds before people have an insight, or an Aha! moment, brain activity slows down, attention becomes more diffuse and less focused on the problem. To encourage insight, this means that we need to step back and let our minds wander or sleep on the problem. Insight cannot happen when our minds are constantly engaged.
One form of creativity is insight. It’s the sudden solution to a long-vexing problem, a sudden recognition of a new idea, or a sudden understanding of a complex situation, an Aha! moment. Einstein once described how he achieved his insights by making “a great speculative leap” to a conclusion and then tracing back the connections to verify the idea.
Insight may also be an important agent of change for helping people change their habits and way of thinking because of the enhanced and perhaps distinctive way in which people remember ideas achieved through insight. And we can all get closer to that magical spark of insight thanks to what we’ve learned from the neuroscience of insight.
Some people are "insight machines"
Enter John Kounios and Mark Beeman, two researchers who have studied the neuroscience of insight extensively. They have found that, in the several seconds before people have an insight, or an Aha! moment, their brain activity slows down! Their attention becomes more diffuse, less focused on the problem. At the moment of insight, their brain activity spikes. Mark Beeman has seen this so often, that he can tell by people’s brain activity who will solve the problem analytically, in a step by step fashion, and who will solve the problem using insight: He calls such people “insight machines”.
Solutions found through insight are often more accurate than solutions using analytical thinking. But, not all solutions reached through insight are accurate. So after you have a moment of insight, it's important to evaluate your solution.
Solutions found through insight are often more accurate than solutions using analytical thinking. That’s because insight is an all-or-nothing phenomenon while analytic solving is incremental. Incremental, step-by-step analytic solving produces partial information on which you can base a guess, and guessing increases the likelihood of being wrong. Insightful, all-or-none solving does not yield intermediate results and people will not offer a solution unless they “know” it is right. Nevertheless, not all solutions reached through insight are accurate. So after you have a moment of insight, it’s important to evaluate your solution.
Insight can't be forced. To increase your insight potential, cultivate a quiet mind, daydream, or sleep on the problem. Insight cannot happen with a cluttered mind.
What can you do to increase your insight potential? Insight can’t be forced, but there are things you can do to foster it. Engage in activities that encourage an open mind. Gather a wide base of knowledge, ask how you could do this differently, engage in a new hobby that uses completely different skills, or just generally relax and let your mind wander. Sleeping on the problem, meditating, or stepping away from it and concentrating on something else may help your unconscious mind to cultivate a creative solution. Insight cannot happen with a cluttered mind. This is why insight, or Aha! moments, can happen in the shower or when you’re daydreaming, when your mind isn’t focused on anything in particular.
Thank you Irena,
I am not sure why I am responding and hoping I will understand by the time I finish.
I think it may be that I have discovered who I am rather that what I do, as I identify with this model closely.
In some ways I have felt pressure from the world to get on this sequential train with a definite end position. Rather than an Insightful approach which I feel is more of a parrallel thought mechanism, that can take you anywhere and everywhere.
I am often criticised because I think slow and talk slow, but I am frustrated because people don’t see far and don’t look at possibilities. I now know I am not slow, just thinking about a whole lot more.
I feel that this insightful way of looking at things (parallel thinking) is my right-hand and the analytical process (sequential thinking) is my left-hand. I am a capable analytical thinker but but clumsy and very deliberate.
When I gain insight and analyse the solution, I tend to make it complex and the task of moving ahead becomes huge. I am beginning to learn to start the solution phase and work out the details as I go, so long as others are not involved.
However, when I look at the world I see people who I call solution fitters, these are people, who have gained insight and are trying to fit the problem to the insight.
I think it is like many things, there is a process that must followed, insight is good, but we need to go back to first principal thinking, what is it that we want to create, a solution or art and what is true.
Art in my view is simply an open communication that inspires others to think about something from a fresh point of view or through a new medium. (Purist may well put me straight on this point). So there is giving insight and receiving insight and the pleasure is always in the giving.
Solving a problem with insight and creativity is self satisfy and may benefit us in many ways, but I think the real satisfaction comes from being useful to others, even if we are paid for it.
So why did I respond to this article;
– Above all we should value peoples strengths and not be afraid of the opposites (Analytical thinkers and insightful thinkers) and know they have a place in The Process.
– This article and my responce has provided clarity for myself and I feel happy with who I am.
– I question if we can be good at both ways of thinking, it is a bit like being lefthanded and righthanded, it is possible to be good with both but it is rare.
– I am greatful that you took the time to write this article, it has given me insight how I think and may move forward in the future.
– Many other thoughts beyond this article have sprung up from writing this response, so I shall finish and hope that my input may trigger others and provide them with similar insight and clarity about themselves.
Good Luck and happy thinking
David
Thank you David for you thoughtful comment. I agree that we all prefer one way of thinking over the other. But, both kinds of thinking are valuable. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t explore ways of thinking that don’t come easily to us. Insightful thinkers must analyze their insights because they’re not always the best solution. And analytical thinkers would benefit from expanding their world. Like you, I’m an analytical thinker and quite slow too, and it’s because we analyze everything. Insight happens in an instant, which is one reason why insightful thinkers tend to be faster.
Even if our preferred way of thinking is analytical, we can still benefit from insight. Haven’t you slept on a problem overnight and woken up to a solution? That’s insight! This happens to me all the time as I’m writing or preparing a Masterclass: When I get stuck, I know to let it go and when I come back to it later in the day or the next morning, I have a way to move forward! We just need to let our minds wander.
Happy thinking to you too David.
Great insight… Excuse the pun! Thanks Irena
You’re welcome, Alan.