Assessing Your Progress
As we began our exploration for methods to increase insight and wisdom—what we have come to call The Art of Insight (TAOI)—one of our early challenges was that none of our clients had any sense of how often they currently had insights; they only knew that insights didn’t come as frequently as they would like. We wanted to teach our clients some of the ideas we were discovering, but in the absence of a baseline, how could we clearly discern whether someone’s “insight meter” had actually changed? At best, our results would be subjective. Our solution was to ask them to make a list of issues, problems, and other situations they wanted insight into, including an assessment of how important each insight was and how long they had struggled with that particular problem. We also asked them to consider what evidence might persuade them that their capacity for insight had increased. Our premise was as follows: if, after a few weeks, our clients either had significant insights on their chosen topics or noticed evidence of an increased capacity for insights, then TAOI would, at least on some level, be proved effective.
If you want to test what you discover about insight, a valuable way to start is by identifying numerous and diverse topics about which you want insights or improved thought. Look for situations, issues, or problems where you currently experience difficulty, opportunities where you want fresh thinking or a new perspective, or simply things you are curious about. Here are some areas to trigger your thinking, along with some examples:
Work: Your relationship with a colleague, boss, or subordinate. A business issue that’s remained unsolved for too long. The dynamics of a team of which you are a member.
Family and friends: A difficult relationship. A spot for a vacation everyone would find thrilling. Meeting new friends after a geographical move.
Church/community: Getting the town government to solve a long-standing problem.
Personal: A regular exercise program or other health issue. Finding a new hobby.
A list of between six and ten is good with more than one issue for each heading, but you can have more if you wish. However, don’t be concerned if you don’t have any issues in a given area, and don’t limit yourself to these thought starters. Find what interests you. Don’t create another to-do list, attempt to identify all the problems in your life, or adopt an action-oriented mind-set. Every issue doesn’t need to be serious or consequential. Just develop as broad a range of topics as possible where insights would be helpful to you. For each item, indicate the following:
• How long (days, months, years) has this been an issue?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, how important is it to solve this problem or gain insight into this issue? (1 = a little, 5 = a lot)
A completed item might look like this:
Why does every conversation I have with Jeff seem to meander and never converge? 2+ years, bothers me quite a bit (4).
Return to your list in three or four weeks to finish your experiment. Reflect on each topic and ask yourself, “Have I made any progress on this issue?” Progress might take the form of a partial or complete solution or a drop in the level of importance or bother. Then take an overall look at the list, asking,
• Are all the issues still active?
• Have some issues gone away?
• What happened to the issues that disappeared?
• For those issues still hanging around, have I had any realizations about them? What kind of progress have I made with them?