Things aren’t black and white, good or bad. Life happens on a spectrum, not in a void. No one tells you this. We’re conditioned to default into polarities, born into a binary world.
This or that. Black or white. Right or wrong.
But this fatal tendency confines our ability to seek contrarian angles. It’s in those unorthodox angles that most of life’s problems can be solved.
One of the flagship characteristics of genius is divergent thinking.
Convergent thinking, which is its opposite, is based on narrowing options toward a single correct answer.
When we embrace divergent thinking, we’re able to suspend pre-held assumptions by looking for alternative pathways to a solution.
Divergent thinkers know that for most questions, there are multiple correct avenues to finding an answer.
When we change how we think by embracing an expanded lens, we’re enhancing creativity and opening up to blind spots at the same time.
Rational thought leads to logical but linear answers. This is good for straightforward puzzles where problem X requires solution Y.
Irrational thought leads to illogical, non-linear answers. This is good for multipronged puzzles where variables W, X, and Y overlap in unique ways, creating a multitude of pathways to solution Z.
Divergent thinking is the process of training yourself to think illogically.
It isn’t something that you either have or don’t; it’s a skill you can learn.
The brain optimizes for the least amount of processing power. It looks for the quickest, easiest, most obvious route to avail an acceptable answer.
This is how heuristics are born, which are mental shortcuts that people fall into.
Divergent thinkers always question the premise. They assume there’s alternate possibilities. They enact the right and left hemispheres at the same time to find the most economical, most efficient response, not just one that’s immediately obvious.
Divergent thinking is the key to creativity, the secret to mental freedom, and the hallmark of modern genius.
That’s why divergent thinking is one characteristic of genius.