Intuition and common sense sometimes prevent us from adopting effective strategies. We present two that can be useful for solving problems.
Last update: July 04, 2022
counterintuitive strategies are methods that clash with what intuition tells us, but still effective. The belief that intuition is always right deceives us.
Solving a problem involves some reasonable steps ranging from identifying the difficulty, through the approach of possible solutions, to the weighing process and choosing the most appropriate.
However, sometimes that doesn't work. As long as we follow the sequence, we are unable to come up with a sound plan. That's when the Counterintuitive strategies can be of great help to get out of the impasse and solve the problem.
Strategy counterintuitive
When faced with problems, especially if they affect us emotionally, we tend to adopt defensive strategies, centered on shortcomings, absences or difficulties.
Such an approach starts from the idea that if you think about it, you will find a viable solution. This, however, usually only ensures a feeling of distress.
Anxiety, we know, is not the best counselor. Not finding reasonable solutions to the problem will most likely increase distress and so-called mental fog will appear: the brain becomes saturated. Sometimes the lack of solutions leads to new problems.
On many occasions, the brain he needs patience to devise strategies he never used. A new situation can make existing roads unusable. At that point it may be a good idea to bet on counterintuitive strategies.
1. Blur instead of sharpening
The opposite of focusing all one's attention on the problem. We should focus on it, until we fully understand it and find a way out. However, a useful counter-intuitive strategy is to overshadow the difficulty to find a more viable solution.
In many cases, it is recommended to look for blur. Instead of trying to structure a solution, the idea is to disperse it. This is achieved, in the first place, by moving away from the problem as such.
Secondly, we need to broaden the perspectives. To do this, we can ask other people who may have faced a similar difficulty. Knowing of someone who has successfully adopted a new strategy will provide us with an extra dose of security, which is sometimes necessary.
On the other hand, sometimes someone proposes an absurd and inapplicable solution, but ends up lighting the flame necessary to get out of the impasse.
On more than one occasion, getting away from the problem helps reduce anxiety. A calm mind is much more capable of seeing and finding workable ways to overcome mental obstacles.
2. To exaggerate to the maximum
The second of the counterintuitive strategies is to use hyperbole, or exaggeration, constructively. The idea is to overstate the problem. This means assuming that its effects and consequences are severe to the highest degree. The aim, also in this case, is to adopt a new perspective.
Exaggerate a problem it is a mental exercise that helps to analyze the situation in more detail and, thus, to find aspects that had not been seen before. It therefore allows us to better understand the situation and identify key points with greater precision.
Likewise, it is one of the counterintuitive strategies that, in one way or another, increase the pressure. However, in this case, it can help us. In fact, it allows you to concentrate better without generating anxiety.
3. Counterintuitive Strategies: Making the Situation Worse
When we face a problem, we immediately think about improving the solution. But what if we made things worse? Although it is counterintuitive, using this strategy can help us resolve the conflict we are in.
In his book Pocket Strategic Problem Solving, Giorgio Nardone argues that to facilitate the analysis of possible solutions, it is not enough to observe those that have not produced positive results, but rather it is important also study those that could be put into practice in the future e to fail.
We have to ask ourselves: “If I wanted to make the situation worse instead of improving it, how would I do it?”, Then we will list all the possible ways. Each must be described in such a way that it is clear how the problem could be aggravated rather than solved.
How is it that making the problem worse can be effective? According to Nardone (2012), when we stimulate the mind to look for options to make a situation worse, we stop looking for positive solutions and block creative thinking.
"In this way the mind will be able to discover alternatives by freeing itself from the paradoxical trap of voluntary effort, which prevents spontaneous discovery."
4. Exacerbate the problem
When we have a problem, the most intuitive thing is to head towards the goal we want to achieve. If we want to be counterintuitive, however, we have to reverse the situation: start at the end and return to the starting point.
In Pocket Strategic Problem Solving, Nardone suggests that to define an efficient strategy, it is pertinent to start from the goal to be achieved and imagine the immediately preceding phase, then the previous one and so on up to the starting point. This path is divided into a series of stages.
The above invites us to divide the final objective into a series of micro-objectives that start from the point of arrival to return to the first step to follow. "This counterintuitive mental strategy allows you to easily reconstruct the sequence of actions to be taken to solve a problem, starting from the smallest and most concrete change possible" (Nardone, 2012).
Conclusions
They strategy counterintuitive they are particularly useful when dealing with problemsi that leave us perplexed. Similarly, when after much reflection no solutions are found.
