All of us understand that the brain is primarily divided into 2 hemispheres, the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. Some of us may even know that these 2 hemispheres function distinctly and differently from each other. All the logical, sequential, rational, analytical, and objective thinking that we have originates from the left hemisphere. All the random, intuitive, subjective, creative, and big-picture thinking emerges from the right hemisphere. I have generally observed that very few of us really ponder over which side of the brain really takes us forward, which side really influences us at crucial moments of decision making... thereby creating our destiny.
Since I believe my right brain is a bit more active than its left twin, I have mulled over this subject over the years, read stuff about it and want to share some of my observations via this post.
All of us seem to incline either towards the right or the left, at different occasions. Given the same problem, at the same time, different people may see the issue in different ways leaning heavily on the right or left hemispheres... irrespective of ethnicity, gender, age or any other variable. The interesting thing is that there is no definite right or wrong thought process. Some of the most logical issues have been resolved by out-of-the-box creative thinking while some very complex problems are resolved by systematic and meticulous logic and statistics.
The question is, what is YOUR typical style of thinking? And moreover... has your distinct thought process worked for you or against you? Just ponder over the last 8 to 10 instances where you had to take some important personal and professional decisions and you will get your answer. If your thinking style has always worked for you, either you are lying or you are a genius! If you've experienced mixed results you are normal like me and most others. Again, with experience you would know that certain issues are best resolved with logic and some are best resolved with some creative imagination. What you do for a living also generally has a heavy influence on your thought process which you would carry into your personal life as well. So just living with awareness itself can be quiet revealing.
Here is another thought provoking perspective. As you grow higher in your career, especially if you are more of a manager than an individual contributor... how much you know is overshadowed by how well you handle situations. How much you know is a distinct feature of the left brain, while how well you resolve issues is determined by your right brain. Notice how anything that is logical and predictable can be coded into a software program, thus can be easily outsourced to a machine (reducing manual intervention) or to a cheaper, more cost-effective country. You yourself have most probably put more efficient and systematic procedures at your workplace to make your and your team's job simpler, quicker and more error free. The point is that while logic and systematic thinking leads to fool-proof systems, to be able to create such fool-proof systems takes a good amount of creative, out-of-the-box thinking.
To conclude, it might be fair to say that while a minimum threshold of logic, rational and systematic thinking is at the core of any job that is well done... creative and imaginative thinking helpes us push our own limits and generate even better solutions, irrespective of your profession. i.e. how far you go can be almost directly co-related to how you think. What do you think?
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