Inversion - What If The Opposite Is True?

What if doing the opposite ended up providing the better way of going about a problem?

What if you were to flip a situation and look at it completely differently?

German mathematician Carl Jacobi liked to tackle difficult problems by applying the strategy: ‘an muss immer umkehren’ or for those of us who don’t speak German, ‘invert, always invert’

It is sometimes not enough to try to solve a difficult problems one way, it is better to address them both forwards and backwards. By doing so, it can reveal hidden beliefs about the problem, and different approaches to resolving them.

Here’s an example. Say you want to become more productive. You could spend a lot of time and money buying books and courses, or countless hours on YouTube trying to figure out how to be more productive.

Or you could look at in reverse and ask what is it right now that is stopping you from becoming more productive, which might be as a simple as a messy and unorganised desk.

OVER TO YOU... SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

What if the opposite is true?
What if doing the opposite ended up providing the better way of going about a problem?
What if you were to flip a situation and look at it completely differently?“