The Art of Insight: How to Have More Aha! Moments

We think the ability to better understand the behavior of others is one of the most valuable benefits of their approach. This insight can help you resolve conflicts, at home and at work, as well as leading to new ideas.

Charles Kiefer is the founder of Innovation Associates, a consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations think differently and more effectively. Malcolm Constable is a writer and entrepreneur who was an intern at Innovation Associates while at college. He returned to work for the company and stayed for several years.

Together, the two authors have over 40 years of combined experience in management consulting. They both became fascinated with how some clients manage to achieve strategic insights time and time again while others, who were equally intelligent and informed, rarely had them at all.

They spent 15 years exploring this topic, and interviewing executives and other industry professionals. Based on these conversations and their own research, they developed the framework they present in this book.

So, keep listening to find out how relaxing can help you have insights, how silence might help your next problem, and how listening in a different way can lead to more Aha! moments.

"The Art of Insight" is a fairly short read. There are only seven chapters, and the book finishes up at 170 pages. But this is only part of what you get when you purchase the book.

There's also an online learning experience designed to supplement the book's content. There are hours of exercises and illustrations online that will help you better connect with the concepts outlined in the book. We think they're a valuable addition to the text, and definitely worth your time.

The authors ask early on that you read the book with a sense of disbelief. They want you to be skeptical about the framework and tips they offer in the book, which is a refreshing and unusual approach.

They believe there's no set formula that's going to work for everyone. So they suggest you take the tools and tips in the book and perform your own experiments on them, to find out what works and feels right for you, and what doesn't.

It's important to stay flexible as you read. The book is meant to be like a journey. The authors' advice is to stay open and in tune with your intuition as you read and explore these topics. Who knows? You might have some insights that are completely unrelated to what you're reading, and that's great.

Let's look at chapter one, which defines what an insight is, because you might be wondering why you don't have more of them.

The authors say that when we're trying to solve a problem, we interrogate our memory to come up with a solution. Many of us assume that we have the answer somewhere in our memory, if only we could access it.

And lots of our thoughts do rely on memory, like when we recall our ATM code or remember how to perform a specific task. But we also have fresh thoughts – thoughts we've never had before. A lot of times, fresh thoughts come with a positive feeling like joy, surprise, or wonder.

According to the authors, an insight is an interplay between memory thoughts and fresh thoughts. You need both of these types of thoughts to be present in order to have an insight. The more knowledge and memories you accrue, the more raw material you have for insights.

It's worth pointing out that not all fresh thoughts are insights. The difference is that an insight is a really high-quality fresh thought. Insights go beyond obvious understanding into deep awareness. They change your entire perception about the issue or problem at hand, and you see the world differently.

The authors include several inspiring stories from past clients that show the transformative power of insights, and by the time you're done with this chapter we think you'll be excited and motivated to have more insights in your life.

The authors stress that if you want more Aha! moments, one of the first things you need to do is learn how to relax. Stop and think about some of the insights you've had recently. Chances are, most if not all of them occurred when you were in a state of relaxation. You might have been sitting on the floor playing with your kids, or doodling on a piece of paper while you looked out the window of a train. But, you were relaxed.

So, try to spend more time during the day in a relaxed state. One of the best ways to do this is to learn how to slow your breathing. Take a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Before you take another breath, just relax. Don't breathe in again until your body signals that you need another breath.

One of the authors says he does this deep breathing exercise every morning before he gets out of bed. And, he gets more insights during this time than at any other time of day.

There's a lot more advice early on in the book about how to enter a particular state of mind that can lead to more insights. Relaxation is one of these states. It's also important that your thoughts are slow and measured.

When you're feeling calm, relaxed, and clearheaded, your thoughts come at a steady, easy pace. There's a sense of space in between each thought. This empty space between thoughts is another place where insights can occur.

The problem is that when we're stuck on a problem, we get uncomfortable that we can't find a solution. Our thoughts speed up as we search for an answer. We feel bothered, anxious, or over-focused. That space between thoughts gets crowded out, which makes it even less likely that we'll have the insight we need to solve the problem.

This is why it's so important to slow down your thinking when you're stuck on a problem. Instead of frantically trying to find a solution, take a deep breath and relax. Try to find silence in your mind, and don't think about the problem at all. Allowing yourself time and silence increases the chance that you'll have an insight that solves the problem you're facing.

We thought this was a great approach managers could use during brainstorming sessions or in meetings. Next time your group is really stuck on something, ask everyone to relax and keep quiet for at least five minutes. Ask them not to think about the problem at all. At best, someone will have an Aha! moment. At worst, you're giving everyone a five-minute break to relax and recharge.

You can also have more insights by listening to others. But the key to this is listening in the right way.

Stop and think about what happens when you watch a great movie for the first time. Your defenses are down, and you're not being critical of what you're watching. You're just immersed in the story being told.

Being present in what's happening is the best way to listen for insights. This might not be easy to do at first, so you need to practice.

Start when you're with a large group of people and unlikely to be noticed, like when you're in a class or theater. As you listen, don't think about what the person is talking about. Focus instead on the feeling behind the words. What state of mind is this conversation putting you in? Is it making you feel happy?

Depressed? Neutral?

Focus all your attention on each person as they're speaking, and try to stay open and interested. Don't try to analyze what they're saying to determine what's most important, and try not to get attached to any particular thoughts you have while they talk. Your goal here is to not think or react to what you're hearing.

Listening like this can be helpful for several reasons. It can give you clues about how the other person is feeling. It also helps keep you from getting too wrapped up in your own thoughts and memories. All of this makes it more likely you'll have an insight.

Here, like they do throughout the book, the authors caution that this won't work all the time. Sometimes, your mind just won't be quiet, and that's okay. Don't get discouraged. This is one tool among many you can use to get into an Insight State of Mind.

We also should point out that Insight Listening isn't appropriate all the time. Sometimes you really do need to analyze and react to what the other person is saying. But you can use Insight Listening as a way to relax your mind and thereby increase the chance of having an insight from a conversation.

There are many exercises in the chapter on listening that you can do with another person. These help you learn how to listen for insights, and how to listen to someone else without getting wrapped up in your own thoughts. We thought these exercises were well thought-out and useful, particularly for managers, mentors, and coaches.

One of the most valuable chapters in the book is chapter six, which focuses on putting the art of insight to work in teams and larger groups.

Throughout the book, the authors say it's important to stay aware of what you're thinking and feeling if you want to have more insights. And that same awareness needs to be there when you're running a meeting.

For instance, if you're in a meeting and people start spinning in circles or bad feelings surface, stop the discussion and move on to something else. If you have topics to discuss that are boring or will be a real grind, save them for the end. Schedule your most challenging problems or issues for the beginning of the meeting, when everyone is fresh.

It's smart to have an agenda, but don't set it in stone. Stay flexible and adjust the pace and topics to the needs and mood in the room.

The authors also make some important distinctions in this chapter. They talk about how the art of insight is different from problem solving, and how it's different from brainstorming. There's also some really valuable advice on how to coach a colleague so he or she can have more insights. This can be especially useful if your colleague is having a bad day or is stuck on a particular problem.

So, what's our last word on "The Art of Insight"?

The writing in this book is eloquent and approachable, and very much like a meditation at times. You can almost feel yourself taking a long, slow breath as you read.

The overall tone is one of understanding and kindness, towards the reader. The authors say again and again that learning to have more insight and wisdom depends on your ability to be flexible and listen to your own emotions. And the tone and style of the book perfectly reflects this position.

The advice and strategies in the book are practical and useful. There's also a lot of value in the online learning program that comes with the book.

Our only criticism is that we would have liked to see at least some of the research the authors based the book on. They mention at the start of the book that they did quite a bit of research, and the book's framework is drawn off this science, as well as the 15 years of interviews and client work they've been part of.

We feel the book would have had more weight if they'd included some detail about this at the beginning.

Apart from that, we think this an unusual and valuable book that anyone can learn something from.

"The Art of Insight," by Charles Keifer and Malcolm Constable, is published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights.