One of the presuppositions of NLP is that the more flexibility you have in any given situation, the better off you are.
Like if you’re building a birdhouse, you’d be better off with more tools than less tools.
If you’re boxing, you’re better off with more defensive and offensive skills than less skills.
If you’re a football team, the more your defense can adapt, and the more offensive plays you’ve got, the better.
It’s a matter of historical interest that one of the reasons (certainly not the ONLY reason) that Alexander consistently defeated Persia armies that were much bigger was that his army was made up of smaller armies that had been fighting among themselves for a long time.
This gave them a huge collection of strategies, which consistently overwhelmed the Persian armies, whose basic strategy, in terms of football, was an up the middle running game.
One type of flexibility that is essential is how you see the world.
If you can only see the world in one way, you don’t have very many options.
Of course, this is tied into your skill set. If you’ve only got a hammer, then all you’ll see is nails.
But even if all you’ve got is a hammer, you can still force yourself to see where other tools might come into play. You might notice other people using screwdrivers, saws, sanding belts and other gizmos.
This can alert you that when it comes to skills and tools, you matter what you’ve got, you’re still just barely scratching the surface.
This means that there’s so much more to learn, so much you can improve, so many more cool things and experiences out there just waiting for you to discover them.
One thing that can get in your way is something called “confirmation bias.” This is the “red car” theory, or the “pregnant lady” theory. If you just bought a red car, you’ll see plenty of red cars.
If you or your partner is pregnant, you’ll start seeing pregnant ladies everywhere.
When this is obvious, it’s interesting. But when it’s subconscious, it can be devastating.
We form our beliefs without much conscious thought. Then we only see things that confirm our beliefs.
Naturally, this can lead to an impoverished view of the world.
What happens when you force yourself to open up your vision? You force yourself to see opposing viewpoints? You force yourself to think, “How would I know if what I believed wasn’t true?”
You might see some new and interesting things.