Achieving The Breakthrough Perspective

Achieving The Breakthrough Perspective | Resourceful Change NLP Blog

chieving The Breakthrough Perspective

Are you looking for a breakthrough? Where are you looking for that?

The answer is probably not where you expect it, as most breakthroughs are counter-intuitive. Why? I’ll answer that in a minute, but first think about “common practice” and intuition.

There are unwritten rules in consciousness, in social groups and in businesses – processes that we rarely notice, or think to alter because “that’s how we do things around here” or it just “feels right”.

It’s good to shake things up every once in a while, though not just for the hell of it. You need to defocus your processes and awareness to see something new. It’s now widely accepted that we see what we expect to see and tend to filter out information that doesn’t fit those expectations.

We also tend to filter out additional information if we are consciously focusing on something else. That’s why most of the world’s greatest discoveries were made by accident. Here are just a few examples:

1. Gunpowder

Legend has it that gunpowder was accidentally invented by a cook who mixed together charcoal, sulphur, and saltpetre – all common kitchen items in ancient China. The mixture exploded when compressed in a bamboo tube.

2. Gelignite

Alfred Nobel discovered gelignite when he accidentally mixed collodium (gun cotton) with nitro-glycerine, forming ‘safe’ dynamite.

3. Penicillin

Alexander Fleming failed to disinfect cultures of bacteria when leaving for his vacation, only to find them contaminated with Penicillium moulds, which killed the bacteria.

4. Vaccination

English physician Edward Jenner discovered vaccination after he observed that milkmaids did not catch smallpox after exposure to (the more benign) cowpox.

5. Electromagnetism

While Hans Christian Oersted was setting up his materials for a lecture, he noticed a compass needle deflecting from magnetic north when the electric current from a nearby battery was switched on and off.

Also, x-rays, insulin, quinine and a great many other discoveries were made by accident.

The real genius was to see the unexpected and search for a meaning outside of the current model (i.e. not to “explain it away”).

“In the field of observation, chance favours only the prepared mind.” - Louis Pasteur

Breakthroughs are counter-intuitive because our expectations are based on “the way things should be” otherwise we’d see the solution right away. As you might know from experience, the solution is often hidden in plain sight and it often takes a special person or unusual circumstances to reveal that answer.

That’s why the outside perspective of a trained observer is so valuable – the ‘prepared mind’ that Pasteur was describing above. Some consultants excel at this, in my experience, except for those who just apply an off-the-peg model to everything.

So what is a breakthrough and how do you get it?

I define a breakthrough as “the discovery of radically improved choices through a shift in awareness.” One formal breakthrough process is “The Incisive Question”, which I teach on my NLP Coaching seminar.

Here is a different way of achieving a breakthrough perspective.

Being your own outside observer

1. Identify a repeating pattern in your life:

* Do the same problems keep coming up over and over again?
* Reflect on your past and notice any repetitive blocks or problem behaviours.

2.Explore inside perspective first by asking yourself:

* What would it be like if you did it differently?
* What choices are you aware of at present?
* Are they acceptable?

3. Pick a resourceful role model. Imagine them in the situation where your repeating pattern occurs.
4. Unconscious insight. Step inside the role model and experience the repeating pattern from their perspective.

* What new choices are you aware of now?
* Are they acceptable to you?
* What resources do you need to make use of these new choices?
* How can you access those resources?

5. Conscious insight. Now think about your role model from the outside.

* What would they do in that situation?
* What would they see or hear and how would they look as they do that?
* What would it be like if you saw, heard and felt as they did?
* Could you do things that way?
* How many times would you have to do things the new way before it felt comfortable and natural?

6. Integrate perspectives. Go inside and allow your mind to put together the insights from the process. What new options are you aware of now?

Insight processes similar to this can be incredibly useful if you get stuck and feel you have no good options left. The value is derived from the sense of perspective provided and the use of conscious input at the right part of the process.

Explore, search for insight and ask yourself good questions. This leads to the ‘prepared mind’, allowing you to break the unwritten rules that prevent breakthrough.

There is a certain point when a problem just dissolves…