Independence

In Thinking

Everyone has that moment when they realise the expert doesn't know either.

Maybe it's the highly reputed teacher not knowing something. Maybe it's watching news analysts confidently predict incorrect outcomes. Maybe it's asking a doctor about an unusual symptom and seeing uncertainty flash across their face.

The realisation hits: much of what we assume has been figured out... hasn't been.

Original thinking is difficult to teach because it requires abandoning the safety of predetermined answers. School trains you to find solutions to questions someone else already solved. Real breakthroughs require generating questions no one has asked or considered yet.

These are completely different skills.

The education system rewards convergent thinking - everyone arriving at the same correct answer. Innovation demands divergent thinking - exploring territory others haven't mapped.

So you have to cultivate independent thinking on your own.

This means learning to think from first principles rather than accepting inherited assumptions.
Generating ideas becomes creating a map rather than following one.
Finding people to exchange these ideas with becomes essential for testing and improvement.

The next step is finding easy, fast ways to test concepts in reality rather than just debating them theoretically.

"I will fail many times, and I will be really right once" - this applies to researchers publishing papers, authors developing their work, diagnosticians and lawyers ruling out several possible scenarios and anyone attempting something genuinely new.

Most people never give themselves even one real chance because they can't tolerate being wrong.
Traditional education taught them that incorrect answers mean failure, whereas innovation teaches that incorrect attempts provide essential data.

One of the most powerful lessons to learn is that you can figure out what to do in situations that seem to have no solution. The more times you do this, the more you believe it.

Each seemingly impossible problem you solve builds evidence-based confidence in your ability to handle whatever comes next.

Start where you are. Question one assumption everyone in your field accepts without examination. Test one idea others dismiss too quickly.

Established frameworks and convergent thinking are important fundamentals to be taught, but it is important we exercise the ability to generate breakthroughs every now and again.

Your mind is the one resource no one else can access, improve or replace.

Most people outsource their thinking to experts, algorithms, and popular opinion.

Those who learn to think independently have an enormous advantage in any field that values progress over precedent.

Thanks for reading