From Daily Keys to Success
Think Like a Child
A semi loaded with boxes traveled along a highway going from San Jose to Los Angeles. As the driver entered the city, he was confronted with a low-arching overpass and he was worried about the clearance. The truck driver decided to go under the overpass, and his truck got stuck. He quickly tried to go in reverse after failing to move forward, but to no avail—his truck was completely wedged between the road and the overpass. He then lit some flares to deter any other vehicles from rear-ending the truck. When emergency vehicles arrived, the workers tried almost everything to dislodge the truck. They could not remove any of the tightly banded boxes from the truck to reduce its height.
Then a mother pulled to the side of the highway, allowing her seven–year-old son to run up to the workers along the side shouting, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” “Got what?” asked the chief emergency worker. The child answered, “Let the air out of the truck’s tires, move it past the overpass, and then pump up the tires again!” The workers did just that—problem solved!
Leave it to a child. Some of the most brilliant scholars (like Einstein) have long advocated this philosophy: it is productive and sometimes essential for people to think like children to achieve success as adults.
Old habits of thinking and commonly accepted patterns of behavior clog our ability to accept free-flowing ideas. Sometimes we need to view things from a fresh perspective, unfettered by age. “Children are designed by evolution to be extremely good learners—to be able to think about anything that’s interesting and important in the world around them,” says Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology and an affiliate professor at the University of California, Berkley. “When you look at their brains, they’re extremely flexible, so they can change what they think based on new evidence very quickly and easily.”
She further explains that as adults we tend to focus only on the things that are most relevant to us, making us more close-minded and unable or unwilling to consider the broadest possible range of opportunities. Gopnik suggests adopting more of the inquisitive approach to things that adults tend to lack by becoming more hesitant to ask questions.
Keeping an open mind and releasing preconceptions is key to not overthinking a problem with prejudiced answers.
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso
A semi loaded with boxes traveled along a highway going from San Jose to Los Angeles. As the driver entered the city, he was confronted with a low-arching overpass and he was worried about the clearance. The truck driver decided to go under the overpass, and his truck got stuck. He quickly tried to go in reverse after failing to move forward, but to no avail—his truck was completely wedged between the road and the overpass. He then lit some flares to deter any other vehicles from rear-ending the truck. When emergency vehicles arrived, the workers tried almost everything to dislodge the truck. They could not remove any of the tightly banded boxes from the truck to reduce its height.
Then a mother pulled to the side of the highway, allowing her seven–year-old son to run up to the workers along the side shouting, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” “Got what?” asked the chief emergency worker. The child answered, “Let the air out of the truck’s tires, move it past the overpass, and then pump up the tires again!” The workers did just that—problem solved!
Leave it to a child. Some of the most brilliant scholars (like Einstein) have long advocated this philosophy: it is productive and sometimes essential for people to think like children to achieve success as adults.
Old habits of thinking and commonly accepted patterns of behavior clog our ability to accept free-flowing ideas. Sometimes we need to view things from a fresh perspective, unfettered by age. “Children are designed by evolution to be extremely good learners—to be able to think about anything that’s interesting and important in the world around them,” says Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology and an affiliate professor at the University of California, Berkley. “When you look at their brains, they’re extremely flexible, so they can change what they think based on new evidence very quickly and easily.”
She further explains that as adults we tend to focus only on the things that are most relevant to us, making us more close-minded and unable or unwilling to consider the broadest possible range of opportunities. Gopnik suggests adopting more of the inquisitive approach to things that adults tend to lack by becoming more hesitant to ask questions.
Keeping an open mind and releasing preconceptions is key to not overthinking a problem with prejudiced answers.
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso
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