‘Reverse Thinking’ Turbo-charged My Writing: How You Can Too
Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance
My job sucked.
It’s been six months since I had that realisation. I kept imagining the day when I would walk up to my boss and say the magic words, “Open Sesame.” No, wait, that was not it.
“I quit." Yes, that’s what I meant.
The problem was that I kept waiting for a genius plan to make that a reality. And one day, while I was doom-scrolling on the good ol’ internet, I came across the term 'reverse thinking’.
The Magic of Inversion
Rather than focus on a genius plan to leave, it forced me to think about actions that would keep me miserable at work :
- Being in my comfort zone
- Finding another job but with similar work
- Dreaming about quitting without having a backup plan
- Not focusing on things that drive me
- Not exploring an alternate career path
- Not working towards my goals daily
Looking at this list suddenly shook me out of my inaction as I realised I was making it worse. I immediately decided to flip the situation and started working on the following:
- Getting out of the mindset of a salaried employee
- I stopped looking for similar jobs that would be easier to get but I would still be miserable
- Re-ignited my age-old love for writing
- I decided to become a part-time creator along with my 9-to-5 and scale that up before quitting
- I committed myself to work on the side-hustle daily
This is the process that got me on the journey to finding my own voice by writing on Medium. I realised that there are many more like me, and I have decided to share my insights to help others find theirs.
Using inversion to write
This method has also helped with my writing. When approaching a new topic or problem I am writing about, I consider the reverse thinking approach to common beliefs. This involves:
- Taking a problem
- Flipping it to make it lot worse
- Think about ways to avoid that
Let's work with an example here.
- The Problem: Procrastination and Ways to Solve It?
- Flip the common belief (inverse thinking): How to make it worse?
Have a lot of tabs, multitask, have phone near you, have YouTube on, and don’t focus on steps involved to get something done
- Avoid this behaviour
Just have one tab, do one task, put phone away, have no distraction and be clear on how you are going to complete the task
Inversion is a powerful thinking tool because it puts a spotlight on errors and roadblocks that are not obvious at first glance.
What if the opposite was true? What if I focused on a different side of this situation? Instead of asking how to do something, ask how to not do it.
As Shane Parrish, the mental model expert, said in his much-acclaimed blog, Farnam Street:
Inverting the problem won’t always solve it, but it will help you avoid trouble. You can think of it as the avoiding stupidity filter. It’s not sexy but it’s a very easy way to improve.
