{"id":496,"date":"2014-03-11T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T09:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=496"},"modified":"2023-11-21T14:40:42","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T13:40:42","slug":"safe-is-risky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/safe-is-risky\/","title":{"rendered":"Safe is risky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your brain tends to work on auto-pilot. When faced with a challenge, it comes up with a solution almost immediately. It won\u2019t even consider most alternatives.<\/em><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it\u2019s quite useful. Your brain recognises certain elements and immediately \u2018sees\u2019 the connection. Based on past experience and \u2018common knowledge\u2019 you will be able to choose an approach within a fraction of a second. This is the obvious approach. Experience \u2018taught\u2019 your brain what to expect and exactly how to handle the situation. All other possibilities will be ignored. After all, many of these alternatives are \u2018crazy\u2019, improbable or even impossible. They receive no attention.<\/p>\n

Letting your decisions be guided by past experience is often quite useful. You choose the options that have proven themselves time and again. It\u2019s exactly this approach that allows us to function well in everyday society. If we would always take into account all possible alternatives, completing even the simplest tasks would take up all our time. I\u2019ll illustrate this point with an everyday example:<\/p>\n

Crossing the road<\/strong>
\nImagine you want to cross a road. You see a car approaching. Your brain instantly calculates at what speed the car travels and tells you whether it\u2019s safe to cross the road in front of the car or not. Your mind ignores all \u2018useless\u2019 information (the colour of the cars parked in the street, the temperature, the birds in the sky etc.).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most alternatives will also be ignored (what if the car will instantly start speeding, what if a helicopter will land in front of you, what if a passing tornado will blow you across the street?). If you\u2019d take every possibility into account, you\u2019d be stuck at the side of that road for days\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While using familiar patterns in your thinking is safe and generally efficient, it doesn\u2019t lead to original thoughts. When you exclude alternatives (that fall outside of your normal thinking patterns), you\u2019re limiting yourself. You\u2019ll stay on the known path you\u2019ve travelled a thousand times before. Not only is this mind-numbingly boring, it\u2019s dangerous as well. Staying in the comfort zone prevents you from gaining progress. You and your company are standing still. There is no movement forward and therefore no growth.<\/p>\n

Safe is risky<\/h3>\n

As long as everything around you stays exactly the same there is not much to worry about.\u00a0But when something changes in society or in the world\u2026 or when one of your competitors finally wakes up\u2026 you\u2019re in trouble.<\/p>\n

Doing what you always did might seem safe, but the contrary is true. Competitors, or life in general, can take control in the blink of an eye.\u00a0To anticipate changes and to always stay one step ahead, you need original thoughts. Suspend your judgement<\/a> and use a few thinking techniques<\/a> to generate ‘out of the comfort zone’ ideas. Don\u2019t be scared to question what seems to work perfectly well. Thinking about improvements or alternatives either confirms you\u2019re still on the right track or delivers you a better way to do things.<\/p>\n

Temporarily break with your fixed thinking patterns once in a while. Only then you\u2019ll come up with truly creative and valuable new ideas.<\/p>\n

Do you have any questions about breaking with fixed patterns? Please let me know in the comment box below. Your feedback helps us give you the information that\u2019s most valuable to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0If you enjoyed reading this article, feel free to share it with your network by hitting one of the\u00a0buttons below. This way other people can benefit from the article as well.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most people act based on experience and common knowledge. As long as everything around you stays exactly the same you don’t have much to worry about. However, when something changes in society or in the world\u2026 or when one of your competitors finally wakes up\u2026 you\u2019re in trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[58,61,59,1006,60],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-creativity","tag-auto-pilot","tag-brain","tag-comfort-zone","tag-safe-is-risky","tag-thinking-patterns"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSafe is risky - HatRabbits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Doing what you always did might seem safe, but the contrary is true. 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