|
The Newsletter | Edition 029
|
|
In our Off-White Papers, we provide practical guidance on how to respond to our rapidly-changing world. This weekly newsletter explores those topics in real-time, with information and action steps on how to make progress now.
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...THE INTUITIVE DISCONNECT.
Intuition is something we don't often think about, because we don’t have to – though most of us have relied on it at one point or another when finding ourselves in tricky situations. But in a distributed workplace that, at its essence isolates us from our colleagues between Zoom calls, has our lack of communal presence rusted our sense of intuition?
- Go to your natural place, from Ash Casper
- Gauging what others would do, from Ben Cheney
-
The art of body language, from Kennedy Whittington-Cooper
And this time, our illustrations from Katie Sadow.
|
|
UNPLUG AND TUNE IN From Ash Casper
|
|
TL;DRGetting outside has never been more critical in showing us that the world is more than just our living rooms and home offices. This 2020 campaign by the National Trust in the UK elaborated on this insight through beautiful simplicity, illuminating how maintaining a connection to nature enriches our lives.
WHY IT MATTERSWhen working and living spaces become one in the same, our brains can switch into overdrive as we process the many facets of our lives happening in the same place, at the same time. The resulting mental fatigue can mean that unconscious parts of the brain, like our sense of intuition, seem more difficult to tap into. Getting outside can remedy this cognitive overload, allowing us to tune out the background noise and truly connect with our internal thoughts. When in a natural space, we can more easily access the mental place where intuition lives and inspiration sparks, leading to more productive and compelling work.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Set aside time every day to get outside, turn off your screen(s), and make sure to respect other’s efforts to do the same.
FOOD FOR THOUGHTTrusting intuition and generating creative ideas are closely related. The creative process has been broken out into four phases by Graham Wallace, an English social psychologist from the mid-20th century, and the author of The Art of Thought. These phases are preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. Nature especially plays a role in the two first phases of this creative process; the preparation phase, where we direct our attention to a specific topic, and the incubation phase, where inspiration or idea generation occurs. Distraction-free environments, like nature, help us recharge our directed-attention, which is needed when analyzing and further developing ideas. So when you’re looking to access that intuitive hunch that guides your problem solving, turn to the outdoors to recharge and tune in.
|
|
THE FLIPSIDE OF INTUITION From Ben Cheney
|
|
TL;DRIntuition is at once exceptionally universal and immeasurably personal; not dissimilar to a fingerprint. In a culture where echo-chambers abound and one’s opinion seems to reign over fact, considering someone else’s perspective can radically impact your own.
WHY IT MATTERSIntuition not only is a culmination of who we are and where we’ve been, it’s also our most innate guide for who we will become and where we will go. The result of both nurture and nature, my intuition may tell me to go left, while yours tells you to go right, while George’s over there tells him to duck. Intuition tells us to listen to our intuition (it would say that), but what if our intuition is wrong? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant argues that, at times, especially in debate, trusting your intuition to argue the polar opposite of their position is actually a detrimental approach. What if, instead of trying to always listen to our own intuition, we considered the intuition of others in our decision-making? What if—forgive the terrible joke that I know isn’t quite landing, but we’re gonna go with it anyway—we honed our outuition, too?
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Get in the habit of asking yourself, "What would x do?”
THOUGHTSThere is inherent danger here. Stereotyping, knowledge gaps, and mischaracterizations can poison the well. Intimacy helps us hone our understanding of someone else’s intuition, but when we try to project how someone we don’t know that well would act or react, or why they would act in a certain way, we’re dealing with a considerable amount of unknowns. Be wary, educate yourself so as to close knowledge gaps, and maintain an openness to being wrong in your pursuit of perspective.
|
|
UNCONSCIOUS EMPATHY From Kennedy Whittington-Cooper
|
|
TL;DRIn the absence of interpersonal interaction, we’re at risk of losing our intuitive compass of empathy, and with it, our internal social guide of survival.
WHY IT MATTERSWe must find new ways to fulfill our social needs so that an intuitive sense of empathy doesn't wither away. By utilizing our physical space to help communicate non-verbal messages, we can use body language to help us feel connected to others. Regaining focus on our expressive movements may enhance social connectedness and help us tap back into intuitive empathy.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Use your body language as a tool for projecting empathy, and nurturing it in others.
TIPS FROM HEALTHCAREHealth Care workers rely on positive non-verbal communication to show care for their patients: close physical proximity, touch, head nodding, smiling, open body language, and a focused eye gaze. We can take a few tips from this approach by emphasizing awareness around body language as a way to enhance communication.
|
|
|
|
