Chapter: 1 Why trying too hard can sometimes be part of the problem

Focus is the action by which my brain understands the piece of information and creates a data point or connects the data point which is understanding.

Active Listening: Like I am focusing on what a person is saying and what is the context of it.

Diffuse mode is the state of mind where I do things casually without thinking about the end goal.

For me: singing, mimicking, Day Dreaming, etc.

I think of it as I came with a fresh mind and understood the problem and thinking about the probable solution to solve or trying to think about a pattern.

However I am not getting the required perspective to solve, in this case, I go for a walk or do something very casual to get out of that constant iteration so that my mind gets enough breathing space,

Meanwhile, it will work without any pressure and give me the required perspective to solve the problem

It happens to me when I go for a smoke with my friends when I am trying too much to solve the problem and by the time I get back to my seat I have got a new idea to solve the problem or the solution.

1. Focus Mode → Active Thinking

2. Diffuse Mode → Lateral or Passive Thinking

The first one is when you don’t understand the problem or you don’t know the rules of the game. Which is like the basics are missing and hence you won’t be able to solve the problem or think of a solution and get stuck in that

The best way to deal is to start from the beginning

The second one is when you understood the problem and think too much about the rules. So you are basically overthinking it and not getting any solution and you are stuck

Here we need to go to the diffuse mode to solve the problem. To make this shift I generally chit-chat with my friends or have a smoke

I will try to understand the rules of the game or the theory of the problem to avoid getting stuck in the first part

If I am still stuck I will shift to diffuse mode and do a back-and-forth to solve this problem