The Power of Negative Thinking
Sometimes I feel stuck. Trying to figure out where a particular problem may stem from, come up with creative solutions or calm the endless should haves/would haves in my head. This can be anything, team issues, stalling progress, missed deadlines, you name it. I’m not referring to retrospectives, lessons learned; group meetings where we so often end up playing the blame game of us vs. them. The after-the-fact analysis of what went wrong and why. I’m talking about reacting in the moment when you’re stuck in the trenches, knee deep!
Here’s a novel idea to try:
Ask yourself: how can I make things terrible right now?
And go do the opposite.
This comes from one of the more inspiring presentations at the ’14 SCRUM Alliance, where the speaker (Tim Wise from LeadingAgile.com) suggested a Negation Exercise - starting with the “bad” to get to the “good”. During the session he led us through simulated situations, for example how can you make your paired programming partner miserable? People shouted charming answers: don’t brush your teeth, don’t take a shower! His intent was to apply the result for creating successful working agreements. The idea of actually using negative thinking to my advantage really got wedged in my brain. Piggybacking on the concept that we can only change ourselves and our own thoughts I decided to try this exercise on myself. Of course, as with any new habit I forgot to do it first eight times out of ten, especially when I was emotionally invested in yet another blast of fire [issue] of the day. Eventually though, in more peaceful moments when I could pay attention to my own thoughts I would ask myself:
When in a conference meeting: What could I say right now that would prolong this meeting?
Do the opposite.
When discussing project status: What can I say right now to ensure no one understands what I’m trying to communicate?
Do the opposite.
When with a client: How can I behave to make the client uncomfortable and lacking trust?
Do the opposite….you get the point.
I know what you might be thinking. Why not just do the right thing from the start? Most people can differentiate between right and wrong. Yes, that is true, but there is something magical in this negation process. It creates a clear boundary helping you color between the lines. Stating the obvious, most obnoxious reaction (as ridiculous as it may sound in your head) really helps to act from the purest, most beneficial for all intent. Doing “good” is not as good as doing the opposite of the worst action you can think of. Of course, please try to keep it realistic and civil. I don’t think there’s a need for stating horrifying, hurtful and primitive actions. If that’s all that comes to your mind….oh boy!
I still only do this occasionally, when I catch myself, but I have to say that negative thinking concept sure turned out to be a pretty neat addition to my toolkit.
Good luck and happy experimenting!
Tim Wise is an Enterprise Agile Coach at Leading Agile.
Blog: agiledude.blogspot.
Twitter: @timswise