A Habit of Hunching
Welcome to the Hunch Room, a What’s Next Health space where futurists, leaders, thinkers, and friends ponder the intriguing notions they’ve come across on ShareYourHunch.org. New hunches are posted at Share Your Hunch continually, so be sure to stop in and stroll through. And please, leave a hunch of your own!
Today, the Hunch Room is serving up reflections by Lori Melichar, avid huncher and senior director of the Pioneering Ideas for an Equitable Future team at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). New to hunching? Check out this video:
By Lori Melichar
Not long ago, I was waiting in line to pay for groceries. Of course, I pulled out my phone.
But instead of clicking the “urgent” news alert, I headed over to the Share Your Hunch site and started flipping through hunches that people all over the country had submitted. I highly recommend it as an inspirational antidote to doom scrolling.
When I see the things folks are noticing, or that they’re curious about, their inklings — my own thoughts start popping. Sometimes these reactions are immediate…others have a delayed release formula, popping up later during a dinner or a run. They make for awesome cocktail chatter!
Hunches often influence my work. Some of the things people wonder could evolve into Pioneering Ideas that support building a culture of health. Recently, one huncher wondered if the stigma with hearing aids was related to a fear of aging. “People don’t have the same stigma for wearing glasses…but both are just a slight loss of one of our senses.” Futurist Amy Webb tells us to pay attention to contradictions so I want to think more about what this means for physical and mental health...and what else we may, as a society, be putting off because of stigma.
I was also intrigued by the question one huncher asked if people would be less “hesitant to take community or political action” when they find out how many others are hesitant? Can hesitancy be a recruiting tool for action? Some of the most fascinating hunches are those that play on counterintuitive ideas.
Both of these hunches are connected to what others in our communities think, and how those perceptions can be hurdles — or assets.
Other folks at Share Your Hunch have been musing related to current events.
One noticed, for instance, that homeschooling has increased since the start of the pandemic. What are the implications when so many people shift what’s been primarily a community responsibility to their own household? Another wondered if the recent Dobbs decision would lead to a jump in vasectomies. Having that hunch in my head led me to an article that reported that, indeed, google searches for “vasectomy near me” surged and wondered if a male contraceptive pill may be finally a possibility.
I especially love when my mental gears are turned by things I haven’t been paying attention to — but maybe should.
A few hunchers claimed memes are their favorite form of communication. Emojis have become our expanded alphabet. What role are memes playing in our discourse? What do they make easier to say — or harder to understand? How might we leverage GIFs, emojis, and TikTok in community, with authenticity, to advance health equity?
As I put my phone away to watch the cashier count my oranges, my mind was racing –thinking about my work in new ways. Making plans to dig deeper to learn more from new people with new perspectives. As I collected my bags, I felt inspired and overwhelmed with possibility. Then I set my bags down so I could quickly submit my own hunch to the site before I forgot it.
Next time you have the itch to mindlessly scroll through news or your social media feed, try out hunching instead. Who knows what you could come up with! After you’re done Wordle-ing and waffle-ing, make a habit of hunching. Check out Share Your Hunch and you might just be inspired to drop in some of your own hunches. What are you noticing? What are you wondering? What do you suspect is going to change? And what first, second, or third order impact might that have on health equity?
Please share! I’m eager to spend some time with your hunches.
Lori Melichar, a labor economist, is senior director for the Pioneering Ideas for an Equitable Future team at RWJF where she focuses on discovering, exploring, and learning from cutting-edge ideas with the potential to help create a Culture of Health.
The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Now it’s your turn! Have a hunch that’s on your mind? Come set it free at ShareYourHunch.org and remember to stop back into the Hunch Room to see what kind of gear-turning hunches can inspire! Share Your Hunch is a project of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and its Pioneering Ideas for an Equitable Future team.
