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Beat Procrastination

Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection

How to create a productive environment

The importance of self-care in productivity

How to avoid distractions

Beat Procrastination

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Look for inspiration

A different industry in another sector could have a simple solution to your issue that you have not thought of due to function fixedness.

Explore adjacent industries for creative solutions. For example, ask a friend how they would approach your issue in their industry.

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Make a conscious effort

Studies suggest that it's possible to teach your brain to move away from functional fixedness and embrace creative thinking.

When faced with a task or problem at work, try stepping away from how it's always been done. Instead, explore the problem creatively to find alternative solut...

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Abstract the problem

A step away from functional fixedness is to break a problem into its basic components. Instead of focusing on the details, only focus on the essential elements. When the problem is stripped from unnecessary detail, you're less likely to fall back on functional fixedness.

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Remove judgment

When you approach a task in a new way, it's easy to judge unusual ideas harshly and reject them.

Be open to new perspectives instead of limiting your options. At first, you should not consider any idea as too strange.

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Expand your network

Crowdsourcing is an excellent way to get the support of external participants to find solutions.

For example, LEGO encourages fans to submit their own ideas instead of only relying on in-house designers. The most popular will be reviewed, and if approved, will be manufactured.

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Functional fixedness

Functional fixedness is a bias where we can only think of a narrow set of functions for a tool. A knife is made to cut things. A cotton swab is for cleaning your ears.

It is common to stick to what we know. We become comfortable repeating tasks in a way that fits with our p...

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Functional fixedness experiment

Functional fixedness experiment

Karl Duncker first described functional fixedness in 1945. 

In a study, participants were given a candle, a box of tacks and a book of matches. Participants were challenged to attach the candle to a wall so that it would not drip on the floor. Instead of noticing that the ...

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267 reads

CURATED FROM

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dominicheal

10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will

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Broadening the Frame

When we need to make a decision, we tend to ask "What should we do?" However, it narrows our thinking to one right decision.

If we ask the question: "What could we do?"  it broadens our decision-making frame, because we can consider multiple futures. Could ask what if, what el...

Look for signs of exploration

When someone has found a solution, they may never look further for other solutions. But by not looking for additional solutions, they may be missing out on something better.

It is better to find ways to break habits you have, for instance, watching a movie in a different language, or w...

Seek opportunities to integrate self-care

The most sustainable self-care solutions come from combining different parts of our lives.

For example, self-care time could enrich your career (a meeting while walking), support your town (tidying up the neighbourhood), or grow your relationships (streaming yoga videos wi...

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This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!

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Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.

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Don’t look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.

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Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.

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Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.

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I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!

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Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.

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Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.

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