5 Tips to Keep an Open Mind
In the wake of an economic recession, being open minded can feel like a luxury. Our natural response is to tighten the belt and wait for the worst to pass. It’s in these times that our ability to remain receptive to new ideas, perspectives and solutions is not only important, but crucial.
The world is never riper for innovation than in times of uncertainty. As an added bonus, those who choose to see the world as an abundance of opportunity see benefits beyond the economical.
In a 2017 study, researchers found that people who are open-minded report increased and prolonged levels of happiness. They also found that those people are more “flexible, curious, creative, and open to exploring the world.” The best part? Openness is not an inherent trait, but a learned one. Just as you learned to ride a bike or balance a budget, you can learn to let go of preconceived notions and approach the world with a childlike openness. Start with these tips.
1. Introduce variety.
Sure, switching up your Friday date night dinner spot could count, but think bigger. If you’re a beach-dweller every year on vacation, take a trip to the mountains and—with a guide—challenge your physical and mental capacity. If you haven’t met new people outside of the office in the past six months, sign up for a local cooking class or volunteer to teach art at a nursing home. This openness to new experiences increases your integrative complexity, which is how the brain makes new connections and patterns between seemingly unrelated pieces of information.
2. Quiet your mind regularly.
The act of meditating can be an open-minded one for many. If it’s your first time attempting meditation, you probably feel pretty uncomfortable, maybe even silly. Lean into that feeling and accept that anything new comes with a tint of fear and uncertainty. Research has found that mindful meditation—focusing on the breath—changes the activity in our brains. Breathwork calms our bodies and quiets our mind, and allows us to take in other perspectives without judgment, fear, or preconceived notions—the enemies of open -mindedness.
3. Promote thoughtful disagreement.
No, keyboard warriors, this isn’t permission to troll your newsfeeds for political soapboxes to knock over. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey writes that “you seek first to understand and then to be understood.” Imagine if you walked into every new conversation with the priority of understanding the perspective of the person speaking before inserting your opinion. It’s harder than it sounds.
4. Remove your blinders.
Routine is good and can have a plethora of benefits for efficiency, productivity and decision fatigue. But routine for the sake of routine can feel like we’re wearing blinders. We go into auto-pilot while the world fades into the background. What important details are we missing in that background? If you work in a solo environment, spend one day per week working from a coffee shop. Schedule a weekly brainstorm session that promotes out-of-the-box thinking. Meet with peers, mentors or industry colleagues on a regular basis to learn about different methods, perspectives, and even feedback that could be critical to your growth.
5. Daydream.
A challenge for the go-getter types that we write about in this magazine, daydreaming is anything but idleness or laziness. Research on daydreaming is a burgeoning field, but those who study it have shown that participants reported increases in creative thinking, compassion, self-awareness, and future-planning—in other words, the tenets of great leadership. Schedule time to let your mind wander. Keep that time as sacred as a board meeting or potential client presentation. Keep a journal of the thoughts that arise during these times and let your unconscious mind work through problems and come up with creative solutions.
We spoke to three entrepreneurs who have learned through the good and the bad how powerful an open mind can be. Here’s what they had to say.
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