Getting To Insight™

Insight is as close to a generative miracle in the workplace – a producible panacea – as anything I’ve discovered. By insight, I refer to the manifestation of genius in each of us: the prime synthesis of data and intuition that yields true – often simple – understanding. The Oh, I see! Aha! Eureka! moments. The satori experiences. The brilliant flash of awakening when new cognitive comprehension is confirmed by gut validation. This thrilling brilliance of insight resides in each of us! The trick is to access it at will.

Getting To Insight™ has been at the core of my consulting practice for over 45-years.* It can be achieved through a predictable path, aided by collaboration. It can be deeply thrilling and extraordinarily satisfying. I will continue writing about insight and the factors that increase its occurrence, especially the state for insight.  For now, here are the steps for Getting To Insight™:

1. Mission-Orient – Associate with your mission.
2. Clarify Intention – Identify your worthy goal. It is far easier to enter the state of insight through a worthy – core values-oriented – intention or gateway.
3. Jump into Data – Surround yourself with data associated with the worthy goal. Act athletically. Be irreverent, creative, energetic, intrusive, and impertinent.
4. Steep and Percolate – Immerse yourself in the data, allowing the data to teach you about the goal. Visit. Reside. Study. Contemplate it. Sketch it. Regard it, respect it, talk it up and talk it over. Avoid negative predispositions. Listen with great respect.
5. Investigate Illuminations – Persist along the energetic pathways where you sense “the answer” may be found. Illumined pathways feel electrically charged with potential. (Here, you may be compelled to repeat steps #3 and 4.)
6. Honor the Insight – Recognize the insight, record it, and articulate it. Be supportive and persistent. So often, insights emerge inarticulately. After achieving comprehension, despite how obvious it seems, record it. At this stage, insights are fleeting.
7. Plan and Execute Insightfully – Utilize the insight, protect it, and apply it. Take a victory lap! Enjoy it. Refine your understanding and wisdom.

Today, we need a reset for business and government. Innovation and invention are encouraged by every president and pundit, appropriately. Getting to insight is the stargate for innovating and inventing.

What are your experiences in the state for insight?

[*With gratitude to Joseph Chilton Pearce, Albert Einstein, and so many clients and colleague collaborators.]