2.
EXPERIMENT
When we are faced with a complex problem or situation, we don’t need to know every step we are going to take from the outset. Instead, we can develop the experimental skill set of the scientist and the mindset of the anthropologist. The scientist devises experiments that test multiple hypotheses, shares results, looks for patterns and is open to alternative explanations.
The anthropologist has a keen awareness of all that happens around them and is highly attentive. They are not a detached observer but are aware of their own biases, and the biases of others.
Below we suggest some experiments for you to try, categorized under the main four themes of Not Knowing – “empty your cup,” “close your eyes to see,” “leap in the dark” and “delight in the unknown.” If you try one of the experiments, take some time to review your experience. A journal to make notes may be helpful. In our experience, repeating an experiment that made no impact the first time may have a profound effect if tried again. Repetition can increase depth and resonance. Sometimes it is only repeated practice that leads to a new insight or mastery.
Above all, we hope you enjoy these suggestions. Play and lightness are often the best ways to learn something new. You can also devise your own experiments and adapt them to suit your circumstances.
Empty your cup
Teach first
A good way to develop “beginner’s mind” is to speak about or teach something you are good at to someone who does not know anything about it. This may be someone in your organization, an apprentice or even a friend. For the brave, offering to teach or speak in a school or youth club is a good option. Children rarely hold back with their honest feedback. This experiment will allow you to see if you tend to use jargon and will force you to speak simply. It may also enable you to revisit the familiar and see some aspects that are no longer useful.
Making space
Letting go of physical clutter can also symbolically make room for mental clarity and space. It also serves as a metaphor for how much stuff we have that is not used or useful (beliefs, assumptions) and that by removing the old we make space for the new. You could start small – choose a drawer, or a cupboard that you have not looked in for a while. As you go through things that you have not looked at in a long time and come across things that you have not used for more than 12 months and are not important – bin them! As the space becomes clear, notice how you feel mentally.
Socrates for the day
Socrates was famous for asking questions and declaring that he didn’t know. Choose a low-risk situation (e.g. not your salary review) and experiment by not answering questions put to you immediately. Allow yourself a few seconds’ pause to consider the question. Take the question in with a genuine feeling of “I don’t know” and, if appropriate, allow yourself to experiment with actually saying “I don’t know.” A useful tip is to imagine the question as a piece of food. Rather than swallowing it immediately, take the time to chew it over. Explore its effect on you, your first thoughts, what you feel compelled to reply, any emotions or feelings that arise in the body. A few seconds may feel like a lifetime, but it is only a few seconds. This practice will raise your awareness and create the space for reflection and observation. It may also help you not to jump into action straight away.
All tied up
Many of us are creatures of habit. We perform many of our day-to-day routines unconsciously, with little awareness. From brushing our teeth to driving to work, often our attention is elsewhere. This experiment involves doing something very familiar in a completely different way. For example, you may try to put on your jacket the exact opposite way of what you would normally do. If your right arm usually goes in first, then use the left one instead. Tying your shoelaces the opposite way or crossing your arms and unfolding them with the opposite hand on top are other options. If there is a tendency to give up in frustration, persist. Notice how this feels. This practice will help you become aware of old habits and give you the choice of doing something different.
Close your Eyes to See
Sound of silence
Silence is not simply the absence of noise, but a stillness that we can carry within us, to even the busiest marketplace. For one day, notice where you fill silence with noise and consciously choose to remain with the silence. For example, if you tend to turn on the radio in the morning while making breakfast, see what it feels like to do this in silence. If you normally have the TV in the background while reading or eating, turn it off. This experiment can strengthen the capacity to be with silence without reaching out to distraction, to be more aware of internal thoughts and chatter.
The world in your room
Choose a familiar place, a room in your home or a journey you routinely make (e.g. a walk to work). Imagine you are Sherlock Holmes surveying a crime scene, or an anthropologist observing the habitat of an unfamiliar community. Slowly and deliberately survey and pay attention to all that is around you. Notice the details, the textures and allow your focus to zoom in and out and really observe. Engage all your senses. The temptation is to bypass objects that are familiar, so take the attitude that everything is new to you. Notice how labels can get in the way of really paying attention to something exactly as it is without language. This experiment can sharpen the senses and develop the skills of observation.
Mind the gap
For one day in all your conversations practise listening fully and completely until the other person has finished what they are saying before making your point and responding. Notice any tendency to come in, or to evaluate and judge the content of the conversation. Practise holding attention completely on the other person. Be curious about their words, their tone, posture, facial expression. Notice the impact of the words on you, including any sensations that arise in the body. Deep listening creates a space of connection where ideas and possibilities flow easily.
Take three
We often forget to ask “Why?” and quickly go to “How?” Next time you are engaging with a complex issue, rather than jump into it, or take an approach that you’ve always taken before, see if you can ask “why?” with the curiosity of a three-year-old. If a “why” approach seems risky, you can moderate the question. For example, ask “Can you tell me more about?” This approach allows you to clarify the purpose and embark on the best course of action.
leap in the Dark
There’s an elephant in the room
Improvising your way forward means totally accepting what is being presented to you as an offer. It does not mean agreeing with it, but acknowledging and then working with it to go forward. For example, in improvisation sketches if one person says: “there’s an elephant in the room,” and the other replies
“No there isn’t,” the continuity ends. If the responder were to have accepted the offer and said “Yes, and the elephant is charging towards you!,” we now have a sketch. With this in mind, think about what people say and do as an “offer.” Take in what they have said with the “yes” of acceptance then build on their idea with your “and.” This experiment can help develop a genuine creative dialogue in which both parties feel heard and can co-create something new.
Whose story is it anyway?
Choose an issue or a situation from your familiar environment and generate as many multiple hypotheses as you can about what might be going on. For example, you may see a couple at a restaurant. How did they come to be there? Are they brother and sister? Cousins? Is it a birthday or a secret rendezvous among lovers? Alternatively, take a situation at work. If you do this exercise with others, it can allow for more options to be generated. Think of hypotheses first alone, then group with others to avoid group-think. This process allows us to see a situation from multiple perspectives, and prevents us from jumping to conclusions too early.
90-day trial
An obstacle to change is the belief that something “just won’t work.” One way to challenge the killing of an idea too quickly, before it has the potential to succeed, is to do a 90-day trial. Choose a problem you are facing where there is some uncertainty around whether it can succeed. Launch a scaled version of the idea in a test for three months, without a commitment to continue unless it is a success. This approach removes the fear of trying something new as the option to go back to business as usual is still there. 90 days is just enough time to gain momentum and to allow a fair assessment to be made as to the idea’s viability. Start to plan a low-cost, fast way to test the idea as a prototype. This experiment allows you to gain feedback fast and for bold ideas to be trialled without huge commitment or investment.
Different strokes
Think of a problem or challenge you are facing. Convene a group of people who have very different backgrounds and perspectives than you to talk about the problem together. It’s not important they agree or come to a consensus, but that the differences are surfaced and everyone is given time to be heard respectfully. An alternative way to benefit from a diversity of opinion is to consider both sides of an issue that is being debated and to particularly show interest in a view that is the opposite of yours (e.g. if you like reading a liberal newspaper, read a conservative one). This experiment widens your perspective and challenges your own bias. It also develops the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at once and see the value of the argument in each.
Delight in the unknown
Lighten up
Notice how your body is moving next time you are walking. Are your movements focused, tensed, rigid, or free and fluid? Notice if your jaw is clenched or relaxed. Allow your belly to soften. If you are at home, rather than taking a call or working sitting upright, experiment doing the same call with your feet up on a chair or the desk or lying down on the couch. When your body is relaxed it may also help your thinking become lighter. This exercise develops the capacity to increase our levity under pressure, making us more resilient. It can also give us perspective.
Secure base
Going through unknown situations can be emotionally exhausting. At times we need a secure base to which we can return, where we can be encouraged and find rest and the support to keep going. Identify who or what can provide a secure base to you. It may be a friend, a group, or a special location that has meaning for you. Practise going to this secure base (it can also be in your imagination) and notice how it supports you. How can you provide the same support for others?
Put away the sandpaper
Sometimes challenges that test our resolve can help us grow. Grit can produce character, forged under pressure. Yet in the unknown we can often face too much pressure and abrasive thoughts (“how did I get here?”, “I should know better”). This experiment is about putting away the sandpaper and being kinder and more compassionate to yourself. For one day observe each time you have a thought of self-attack. Resolve to speak to yourself with more compassion. To be your own best friend.