Use This 1-Minute Mental ‘Hack’ From a Chess Player to Solve Problems Faster
You can do it every day, everywhere.
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I’ve been staring at the chessboard for a solid 30 minutes now. My eyes are feeling strained and dehydration is setting in. I’ve spent so much time calculating lines, yet I’m still stuck in a loop and I’m not getting anywhere. The position is stale and breaking into my opponent’s territory feels impossible.
As I glance to my left, I see the clocks ticking away, and my fellow players are deep in thought. Black is defending a hopeless endgame but I cannot grasp the full complexity of it. That’s when I catch myself — I’m thinking too much.
Like a chess player, I’m evaluating my options:
a) Continue focusing on the board and persist in finding a solution.
b) Explore alternative lines of play.
c) Stand up and walk.
Option C
I stand up and walk away.
Initially, I feel a twinge of embarrassment. How could I leave the deep focus mode and abandon the lines I was calculating? What if I forget or need more time?
But I persist with the walk.
Gradually, the questions dissipate, leaving me with a better sense of clarity. I stop thinking about the world I was in. My eyes are coming back to life. I’m still lost in transit, but my mental bubble is getting smaller.
I walk a bit more.
I realize I’ve left the mental fog with its tree and branches behind. My head is clear and I need to force myself to be able to access a chess thought. I feel more at peace and I am ready.
I come back to my board.
I sit down and take a new look at it.
It feels like I’m seeing something completely new to me.
After a couple of minutes, the realization hits me — I’ve been fixated on my King’s side, oblivious to the possibility of advancing the pawn on my Queen’s side. After this, my opponent could get into a small trouble. I can’t believe I’d be wasting so much time and energy on the wrong lines.
I refer to this phenomenon as “commitment bias”. It’s the tendency to stay in the same area of the board, tirelessly investigating the same lines with the hope of finding the right path. It’s hard to let go once you’ve committed to calculating certain lines for 30 minutes, so you get stuck in the same loop.
Walking let me outside of the loop and when I came back I saw all the 64 squares.
Walk like a chess player and you will be surprised to find out that the solution comes right away.
