Rather than hitting on good learning experiences randomly, we begin to select and copy specific actions.

The journey has begun! The next step is to discard the randomness. ĭiscarding infrequent or meaningless experiences and retaining frequent or meaningful ones puts experiential learning into gear. Our actions may lead us to something that we will think about and explore further, or they may lead nowhere. “The value of mindless action depends on chance. Then you act.įrom Brain to Mind: Using Neuroscience to Guide Change in Education - James Zull explains why action is the key to learning: Once you have the first workable option you identify its weaknesses and avoid them, making it stronger.

The recognition-primed model explains a lot of real world decision making and a bias toward action: You recognize a situation, iterate through courses of action (without formal analysis) until you hit the first workable option (this means you often don’t have to iterate through a lot of options), since you’re evaluating options one at a time for workability - you don’t compare and contrast the advantages or disadvantages of the alternatives. We now call this strategy recognition-primed decision making.” Their experience let them identify a reasonable reaction as the first one they considered, so they did not bother thinking of others. Sources of Power - Gary Klein explains the recognition-primed decision model: “The commanders’ secret was that their experience let them see a situation, even a non-routine one, as an example of a prototype, so they knew the typical course of action right away. One of the keys to integrative thinking is the mindset that conflicting ideas, styles, and approaches are desired not feared. They keep the entire problem firmly in mind while working on its individual parts.” Integrative thinkers don’t break a problem into independent pieces and work on each piece separately. “The ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each. The Opposable Mind - Roger Martin talks about the value of integrative thinking and keeping the entire problem in your mind. That is all a trap (and a load of crap).”

From books pushing “happiness” to advertisements convincing you that consumption leads to adoration, these messages tempt you to focus inward. Yet external forces keep pulling you toward self-centered pursuits. The faster you are able to get over yourself, the more you can do for the people who matter most. It’s Not About You: A Brief Guide - “Life is not about you.

The Cry of the Street by Mabel Farnum