You have to go beyond your status. How to think outside the box in real-life situations. How to get out of a capsize

Speaking on the topic of patterns created by society, there is often a need to overcome existing frameworks, but how to get rid of stereotypes and complexes if their role in modern world becomes burdensome?

A stereotype is...

Most people established boundaries prevent you from living a happy, fulfilling life. We can say with confidence that stereotypical thinking is a harmful deterrent to the manifestation of individuality.

The perception of absolutely any information and the corresponding behavior are a consequence of conscious mental processes.

You can try to understand what a stereotype is by identifying this concept an established pattern of behavior in certain cases. Experience in similar situations or the pattern of behavior of another person with a certain authority often serves as an example for automatic application in similar circumstances. It turns out that when thinking in stereotypes, a person is deprived of almost everything: new opportunities, sensations, impressions, interests and prospects. He freezes in a non-stop cyclical cycle of answers and reactions.

It is not surprising that thinking patterns do not allow you to go through the next stage of self-improvement. To defeat the enemy represented by multiple stereotypes, it is necessary to accurately detect it and determine which category this particular one belongs to. Psychologists have combined most human complexes caused by patterned thinking into several main groups.

Types of Thought Process Patterns

In the first group, identify people for whom all life and events in it are colored only by white and black. Those with polar thinking see either only good or only bad in front of them. Everything that exists, happens and develops exists in itself, regardless of the labels and stereotypes that have been placed on it. The world is full of bright colors. Such a very meager set for assessing what is happening is fraught with not the most pleasant consequences. People who set such strict limits for themselves are not able to objectively perceive information and the course of events. Often you cannot expect an adequate reaction from them, so they tend to make erroneous decisions and lower their own self-esteem.

For example, if such a person failed once, the next time in a similar situation he will only be inclined towards a negative result. By constantly resorting to excessive generalization, it becomes part of the worldview of the individual himself.
Thus, having closed all the doors in front of himself, a person begins to lose self-control and self-respect.

Depression is a fairly common result of inflexible thinking.

The second category includes this type of perception when a person prefers to concentrate attention only on those things, actions, situations that have a high degree of importance for him, and this gradation is chosen individually.

With selective thinking, other aspects that are inferior in the level of significance in his perception will be discarded. Thus, the most categorical stereotypes are formed, the owners of which are simply not able to perceive outside opinions that are even slightly different from their own. At the same time, one’s own worldview acquires the features of a kind of fanaticism. A person devoted to his dogma is completely devoted to it alone and has no desire to conquer other goals.

The next, third type of template can be called “invented expectations.” All people expect something from current events, from the people around them and from society as a whole. Having subjectively assessed something, sometimes a person begins to attach excessive importance to it. Having first generated hope in yourself, because of this type of thinking you often end up disappointed.

The emergence of unfounded grievances and frustrations often serve as obstacles in the process of building personal relationships. Having mentally drawn up a plan of action for a partner (without his participation) and expecting that he will act only this way and not otherwise, a person with such a perception will experience a lot of negative emotions from not receiving the planned result. The consequence of this is the attempts of one participant in the relationship to change the other, remaking him “for himself.” Further, in such an alliance, quarrels become regular and a breakup is quite likely.

This group of stereotypical thinking, which gives rise to many unreasonable complexes, can be divided into two subtypes. The first is based on existing experience, the second is based on imagination and confidence in luck.

Methods of dealing with complexes and biased perceptions

Technique for breaking patterns and stereotypes – the only way, using which there is a chance to get rid of your own boundaries. Several methods outlined below are universal and simple and will help anyone who really wants to cope with the problem of stereotypical thinking.

Difficulties in polar perception can be overcome using a method that involves frequent comparison. Between the emerging very difficult situation and existing, which has already taken place once and brought negative experience to life. Since people with this perception set practically unattainable goals for themselves and make excessive demands on themselves, it will not be easy to overcome this stereotype.

Trying on a child's mask and trying to feel the child's perception is not difficult, but it is an effective method that helps to cope with excessive expectations and rigid categoricalness. After all, only children are able to sincerely accept what is happening and people as they really are. You just need to become more open to people and draw conclusions about them only after communication.

To perceive someone through the prism of one’s own ideas, which are often biased, is, at a minimum, unfair to the individual. It is possible to destroy the stereotype of unreasonable expectations, but this will require effort in working on yourself.

To put the “children’s” method into practice, you need to ask yourself questions every time: “Why do I think it should be this way?”, “Am I doing everything to ensure that people understand what I expect from them?”, “ Am I preventing them from fulfilling my own expectations?

Choose your method and fight stereotypes!

Creative thinkingopens up to usunlimited possibilities.Creative thinkingallows you to go beyond artificial limitations, find non-standard solutions, new opportunities, and therefore achieve success that is simply impossible within the framework of standards and templates.

Creativity gives a clear advantage - you are a more interesting person, you are more competitive, it helps you see opportunities where there are none at first glance, find solutions in seemingly hopeless situations, turn problems into success.

What is creativity? This is the ability to think outside the box, break out from the power of patterns and rules, see the situation from a different angle, generate ideas, perceive alternative points of view. Creative thinking is constructive and constructive.

Creativity is simply making connections between things. When creative people are asked how they did it, they feel a little guilty because they didn't actually do anything but just noticed. This becomes clear to them over time. They were able to connect different pieces of their experience and synthesize something new. This happens because they have experienced and seen more than others, or because they have thought about it more. S. Jobs.

Children, not yet driven into the framework of rules and standards, are distinguished by creativity, but then this ability is gradually lost under the influence of upbringing and society, the imposed need to follow generally accepted rules. Accustomed to following the same beaten path, the mind becomes limited and clumsy, creative thinking is replaced by stereotyped thinking as unnecessary.

According to research, peak creativity is possible at any age. How to return a lost one?

Creativity is influenced by the emotional state - lighter, cheerful people who control their emotions and are not susceptible to depression and despondency are more creative. Physical condition is also important - sufficient sleep and balanced diet. Excessive seriousness does not go along with creativity. Take an example from children, their carefree games are always creative.

Flexibility and independence of thinking are also important, when a person does not suffer from faith in the inviolability of authorities, but treats any statements with healthy criticism. To develop this quality, you can train yourself to always consider alternative options.

Creativity presupposes constant self-development and self-education. How does the creative process work? First, information accumulates, and then consciousness connects some elements of the accumulated information and creates something new from it. The genius of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs consists of only 5-10% of a flash of insight, the remaining 90-95% is gigabytes of studied information. A moment of creativity is the result of a gigantic preliminary work.

Breaking patterns is another step towards creative thinking. This is not easy to do, because in the routine of everyday life, habitually repeating the same set of actions, we forget that there is something else in the world. This is where breaking away from habitual behavior can help. For example, try to take different roads when returning home, change your diet, go to new places, constantly learn and try new things. Of course, there are special techniques that allow you to develop creativity and creative thinking.

To test your creativity, you can do a small test:

Draw several rows of crosses:

Now try to create pictures from these crosses, for example like this:

You can use not only crosses, but any other icons from which you can make pictures.

Following generally accepted rules and standards will lead you to the same standard results. If you strive for more, then develop creative thinking. This also works in the world of money. Standard actions can bring only modest income; big money requires a creative approach.

Vladimir Gerasichev,
Founder of Business Relations

You might be said to be an expert at going beyond boundaries. After all, trainings are mainly about this, right?

Going beyond limits is not in itself a clear and worthy goal. This is the way. One girl told me: “I want to swim across the Bosphorus, because I don’t know how to swim and I want to learn.” I tried to carefully lower the bar - maybe set some simpler goal to start with? No, he says, I’ll swim across the Bosphorus. This was in April. The traditional annual swim took place in June or July of the following year, and she did what she had promised me and herself. Such a powerful way beyond in this case is also not an end in itself. The girl had a desire to prove that she could overcome herself, that she was capable of something: “I haven’t worked for several years, I’m sitting at home, my husband is in charge of everything, I want to prove to him.” For her it was not about the Bosphorus and swimming, but about a new self.

How ready are people really for change? To what extent do they go to them on their own, to what extent do you have to push them?

As a rule, they are not ready. They have the illusion that they can behave as usual, and the training will magically change something in their life. And the first thing we tell them is: if you want changes, then you must become aware of your habits. Even better (and this is the next step) is when new habits begin to develop. Changing habits cannot be done comfortably. Commitment is required, that is, an obligation - first of all to oneself. The first thing we try to convey is this. And at trainings, sometimes it takes a day just to get people to actually listen, or rather hear, what we say. After all, we have, one might say, education for adults, and adults listen diligently, but allow themselves to perceive only what already corresponds to their views. If it doesn’t correspond, then “you need to find another, normal, coach.” It is difficult to break this barrier.

You need to make sure that it is not your habits that control you,
but vice versa

How to determine which habit is preventing you from living? There are cases that are completely unobvious.

Firstly, habits are divided into external and internal. Internal is something that is based on personal conviction, on personal experience. When the brain confidently tells us: we need to do this. It's the hardest thing with them. People always resist when we try to touch these inner habits. Some aggressively, some silently, but everyone resists. But smoking or, for example, being addicted to social networks are external habits. It’s easier with them because it’s easier for people to look at them from the outside and analyze them. We do not work in terms of “right habit” or “bad habit”. What you have now, what you have achieved, is entirely the result of your habits. And in order to change something, you need to make sure that habits do not control you, but vice versa. If habits work to achieve your goal, use them. If they don't work, don't use them.

At the Beijing Olympics, during the 200-meter race, Michael Phelps's swimming goggles filled with water, and he swam blind, knowing how many and what movements to make to the opposite side. He broke the world record and became Olympic champion. This is what the power of habit is when used correctly.

How do you know which habits to give up? It happens that those who are considered bad habits help.

At the last training there was a woman who asked me: “But the man who was late for the Titanic, did he achieve his goal? Is it good or bad?" Well, yes, procrastination can theoretically lead to your life being saved. Does this mean that it’s not worth pursuing goals and working on habits?

This woman, as it later turned out, had one ingrained internal habit: she constantly postponed making decisions. This was determined by her childhood experiences, which were very painful. We are not psychoanalysts, but such things sometimes come up during trainings. The story about the Titanic is entirely dictated by her fear of decisive action.

All excuses about difficult conditions, about the relativity of good and bad - these are all tricks that the brain tries to use in the fight for internal habits. Part of that natural resistance I was talking about. You need to understand that it’s time to change and decide on your goals. Then everything will become clear with habits.

Fine. So, the main thing is the goal. Do you help with goal setting? Or should all this ripen in a person’s head?

We cannot tell someone what goals they should have. We can help him understand why he doesn't set goals for himself, like this woman did. Look out the window: there expensive cars, beautiful people, interesting events, distant countries. Lots of worthy goals. You need to understand what game you are playing, in what context you live. And why this context prevents you from pursuing your goals. Then the force will be on your side. You will understand the origins of your actions. This is a tool. How to use this tool is up to the person himself.

Swimming across the Bosphorus or running 250 kilometers across the Sahara, as another guy from the training did, it would never have occurred to me to advise such things. And it became important for people. It has become the way to go beyond the boundaries, which allows you to turn into a new person.

It also happens: a person considers something his goal, but cannot force himself to move towards it. Understanding his motivation, context, and prioritization allows him to understand that in reality this goal is not important to him. And then he stops suffering because she doesn’t come closer. This clears the way for other goals that are actually more important to him.

How can you begin to realize that something is wrong? And, if it is not possible to attend trainings, how can you understand what exactly is wrong? Go on a trip, something else?

The essence of the training is that it turns out to be a safe way to simulate your life. We create the right environment. You can travel for years, but not end up in such an environment. You can start by making a list of habits. So you generally think about yourself. Of these, we can highlight those that clearly do not bring benefits. These will most likely be classic external habits like smoking or watching TV at night. And try to give up one of them first. Any. Make a commitment to yourself to live without her for a month. Don't watch TV at night. Do not smoke. No one has ever died from this. Drink alcohol no more than once a week. Leave home early to avoid being late. Anything. But hold on like this for a month. After this time, or at the same time, if you feel strong, add one habit you need. Watch one English movie a week, exercise twice a week, go to bed at the same time, and so on. This will be the start to realizing and changing yourself.

With internal habits everything is more complicated. There you need to look at yourself from the outside. We strive to ensure that a person does not accept, but at least considers an alternative point of view. Judging by how strong resistance this often causes, I can say that it is very difficult to cope here alone. If not training, then a qualified outside view and a person’s willingness to consider this view are necessary things.

Change is a shock. How do you know what level of stress is acceptable? Is it possible that the stress of change negates all the benefits of it?

Of course, balance is important in everything. Change is always accompanied by discomfort, but it should not turn into stress (by which I mean a very high level of psychological or physical pressure). You won't be able to cross the Bosphorus if you're stressed. The body and psyche must be prepared so that it does not lead to stress. One of the most important things here is attitude. Without a positive attitude, change will truly become a pain. And the mood, in turn, depends on whether the right direction has been chosen. Our entire office is running around. One girl also took up running, reached the half marathon, but admitted: it’s not for me. Now he plays other sports where he doesn’t experience stress. And I don’t run either, I prefer cycling. We have two main emotions: joy and fear. The changes should contain more of the former than the latter.

You mention running often. Is this some special magic method that everyone uses?

No. But I am observing the birth of some kind of cult of personal achievements, as opposed to the cult of social achievements that existed in our country before. Running is a relatively convenient, accessible and demonstrative way to demonstrate personal achievements to yourself and others. In this sense, it is useful for going beyond, although, as I said, it is not useful for everyone, and I never recommend it as some kind of special exercise. Running should definitely not be used as a means of self-affirmation. Setting a goal of “I have to run a marathon” is going beyond for the sake of going beyond. There are no universal recipes for becoming a harmonious person. And running is worth doing only if it brings you joy, if your quality of life improves.

Do you advise people who want change in business to change something in their private life to achieve this?

The habits that people exhibit in business are related to the habits in private life. I recently flew from Yekaterinburg, and a passenger sat next to me who was talking loudly on the phone, convincing one of his employees not to be rude to another employee. Moreover, half of the words he used were swear words. And before that, he managed to quarrel with other passengers, taking the wrong seat. Here you can highlight a whole bunch of unpleasant external habits, but I would focus on one internal one: his actions constantly contradict his words. I think if this contradiction were eliminated, it would be better for him personally, for all his employees, for his poor wife, and for the business.

But I don’t risk mixing advice about business and private life. I don’t like “life advice” at all. At corporate trainings I am asked whether to quit or not to quit, at open ones - to divorce or not to divorce. My job is not to tell you whether you should run a marathon or get a divorce. I help people create conditions in which they can make decisions themselves, do things that they would not have done without training. Doing something you've never done before is a wonderful thing, and it's within everyone's power.

Convincing someone to think outside the box is as pointless as forcing a penguin to fly. But it also makes no sense to expect a different result from repeated actions. If you're tired of stepping on the rake, try looking at things from a different angle.

Our whole life is a continuous choice. We choose whether to get up at dawn or sleep longer, drink tea or coffee, walk or take the bus, buy or not buy, study or get married...

We make simple choices without straining ourselves. We agonize over difficult things, sometimes calling on friends for help. Our destiny depends on the choices we make. Like in a fairy tale: if you go to the right - ?.. If you go to the left - ?.. If you go straight - you won’t collect any bones.

Fearing making a mistake, a person faced with a choice usually follows the majority. After all, there is an opinion that the majority is not mistaken. However, the German philosopher Hegel said: “When everyone thinks the same, then no one thinks especially.”

To think like everyone else means to think standardly, in accordance with stereotypes. An example of stereotypical thinking: you must definitely get higher education, because people without a diploma are losers. Or: if a girl is beautiful, then she is stupid. Or: successful man Must have a car of a prestigious brand.

Do we think so ourselves or are we supposed to think so? Most people try to keep up with others, and if they do not conform to stereotypes, their self-esteem decreases. Stereotypes drive people into boundaries, limiting their ability to think, analyze and draw conclusions on their own.

It is easier for people to think in stereotypes, figuratively speaking, to ride on well-trodden rails - this will be standard thinking. Non-standard thinking can be compared to an arrow that moves the train to another path.

In our educational institutions They give knowledge, but do not teach them how to think, because people who think in a standard way, like everyone else, are easier to manage. (By the way, most of those who respond to a request to name a Russian poet, poultry, fruit and part of a face name chicken, apple and nose. Their answers are not original. How many will be able to answer the question: what comes first - the seed or the tree? Of course , a seed, the majority will say. But where will the seed come from if there is no tree?)

Knowledge can be called the raw material for decision making, but without the inability to think outside the box, it will be of little use. French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said that “to see clearly, sometimes it is enough to look from a different point of view.” To think differently than everyone else means to think outside the box, to be the master of your own destiny.

Why think outside the box

Why do some people manage to “catch the Firebird”, unlock their potential, become successful and happy, while others are said to be “neither a candle to God nor a devil’s poker,” while they themselves whine about missed opportunities and “villain fate”? The difference in the destinies of the first and second is in the ability or inability to go beyond standard thinking.

A person who thinks differently than everyone else is a creator, a seeker who has escaped the captivity of templates and stereotypes. Would our outstanding contemporary and other great people be able to make discoveries, realize themselves, leave their mark on Earth if they thought in a standard way? Of course not.

Gray mediocrity, who are comfortable thinking like everyone else - in stereotypes, which means not thinking at all, constitute a gray mass that blindly follows the person they have chosen as a leader. Even if he leads them to a dead end.

A gray life, gray thoughts and gradual degradation - that’s what the inability to think outside the box is. The harm of stereotypes is that they relax the brain, which no longer wants to do anything, and a relaxed brain means a degraded one.

And vice versa, life drive, joy of creativity, feeling own strength and internal freedom, pride in oneself, recognition and respect - all this is received by a person who has escaped the captivity of stereotypes.

People who dream of becoming successful as individuals must learn to think outside the box, to move the arrows of their lives to a different path - away from templates, routine and boredom.

However, there have been, are and will be people who think in stereotypes. And they can even become professionals in some narrow industry. But, as a rule, they see life in a gloomy light, and they do not love themselves or people. They walk along the narrow corridor of life, not imagining that behind its walls a vibrant, interesting life is seething.

Rebooting to outside-the-box thinking and breaking patterns

How willing we are to think outside the box can be tested by asking questions like: “Are we willing to step out of our comfort zone or prefer not to? Are you doing something you don't like, but don't dare change jobs? Are we grumbling about how we’re fed up with everything, but not changing anything? How do we perceive something new - do we immediately reject it or think about it first?”

People who think in stereotypes really don’t like to leave their comfort zone. They will whine that everything is bad, but they won’t lift a finger to get out of the usual stagnation. All kinds of changes frighten them. Someone jokingly remarked on their behalf: “Dreams, adventures, great things called me. But the sofa screamed loudest.”

Every day we perform the same actions and, as a rule, in the same sequence. We already do many things “automatically”, and our brain gets used to not thinking and relaxes. Simple ways to "enable" it is:

1. Do non-standard things

We are used to getting to work by the same road, we know all the traffic lights, bumps and potholes, we almost say hello to strangers whom you are used to meeting every morning? Let's change the route - this will force our brain to awaken, cheer up, and turn on attention.

After work, we rush home, but if there are no urgent matters waiting for us there, we will try to change our usual routine - we will invite our wife or husband, boyfriend or girlfriend, without waiting for the weekend, to walk through the park, look into a cafe. Or maybe we’ll go to the pool or workout, or go for a run if we haven’t done it before.

Are we waiting for a vacation to go on a short trip to the country or to a familiar resort? Let's change ourselves and go to an unfamiliar place, country, to the mountains, and not to the sea. Let's take a vacation in the winter, and not in the summer, as usual, and learn some winter sport. Let's try hitchhiking or riding bicycles.

Are you used to dressing in neutral colors? Let's buy ourselves something bright - look at ourselves in a new color! Do we avoid people and don’t like to communicate? Let's make new acquaintances. Or maybe you should change your job? For the best, of course.

If some ideas seem crazy to us, we don’t get indignant, we don’t immediately say “no,” but we analyze whether there is a rational grain in them. In any case, our brain should not sleep, but work. As the poet Nikolai Zablotsky wrote: “In order not to pound water in a mortar, the soul must work day and night, and day and night!”;

2. Break the usual sequence of actions

All our actions are practiced to the point of automaticity: did you wake up, wash your face, have breakfast, get ready, run to work? During the break, do we sit with our eyes on the computer? After work - home? Is one day the same as another? It was just Monday - and now it’s Friday, and it’s the weekend. On weekends - cleaning, walking. And again all over again: Monday - Friday, weekend. We go to the same store for groceries, communicate with the same people, go to the same cafe on the same days.

This means we break out of the usual rhythm and load the brain with new tasks. Of course, you won’t go to work on a day off, and you won’t be able to arrange one for yourself on Monday. But let's try sometimes to transfer from a car to public transport, don’t be too lazy to walk a few stops, start cleaning not in the usual order and not on weekends, but little by little throughout the week.

Buying groceries in different stores, going to unfamiliar cafes, tasting unfamiliar dishes, changing the diet and breaking the usual order of actions - all this makes the brain “not sleep”;

3. Work on the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for talent, creativity and innovative thinking.

There is an opinion that among left-handers there are more people who think outside the box, and all because their right half of the brain is more developed. Therefore, we involve the left, non-working hand in the work, and arrange training for it in writing and drawing.

They improve non-standard thinking and dancing: they develop coordination, motor skills, the ability to distinguish musical rhythm and follow it. We learn to see the unusual in the ordinary: imagine what a cloud or a pattern of leaves reminds us of.

For those who seriously want to engage in the development of the right hemisphere, we can recommend the book written by psychoanalyst Marilee Zdenek, “Development of the Right Hemisphere.” The author offers 67 exercises to do during the week, and an interview with famous people, telling how they develop innovative creative thinking;

4. Read David Schwartz’s book “The Art of Thinking Big”

American professor David Schwartz, a famous author of books on motivation, believes that in order to think outside the box, you must first forget about the negative particle “not.” The words “impossible”, “it won’t work”, “we have never done this” need to be thrown out of your vocabulary and not uttered even in your thoughts.

In order not to think in stereotypes, you need to have a broad outlook. David Schwartz advises communicating with people of different professions, from different social groups, because communicating with them fills us with new ideas, thanks to which we can look at the situation in a new way and find new ways to solve problems.

To avoid stagnation, we must periodically ask ourselves: can I do more, can I do better?

10 fun challenges to develop lateral thinking

See the answers in the comments at the bottom of the page.

1. The hotel has 7 floors. The first floor accommodated eight people, each subsequent floor accommodated 2 more than the previous one. On which floor of the hotel is the elevator called most often?
2. It was given to you, and it belongs to you now. You have never passed it on to anyone, but everyone you know uses it. What is this?
3. If it rains at 12 o'clock at night, can we expect sunny weather 72 hours later?
4. A tin can was placed on the edge of the table, tightly closed with a lid, so that 2/3 of the can hung from the table. After some time, the can fell. What was in the jar?
5. There are a ruler, a pencil, a compass and an eraser on the table. You need to draw a circle on a piece of paper. Where to begin?
6. One train travels from Moscow to St. Petersburg with a delay of 10 minutes, and the other from St. Petersburg to Moscow with a delay of 20 minutes. Which of these trains will be closer to Moscow when they meet?
7. Three swallows flew out of the nest. What is the probability that after 15 seconds they will be in the same plane?
8. There are two coins on the table; they add up to 3 rubles. One of them is not 1 ruble. What coins are these?
9. How fast must a dog run without hearing the clink of a frying pan tied to its tail?
10. A satellite makes one revolution around the Earth in 1 hour 40 minutes, and another in 100 minutes. How can it be?

Students at Stanford University were given a task: earn $600 in 2 hours. Each of the 14 teams received an envelope containing $5 of “starting capital” and 2 hours of time. Upon completion of the task, each team had 3 minutes to present their solution.

There were proposals to open a makeshift car wash or a stand selling soft drinks - in these cases, $5 would be used to purchase materials and products to get started. Quite decent options for those who would like to earn a little money in a few hours.

However, most students eventually found a way to go beyond the standards. They questioned a huge number of traditional solutions and were able to realize a lot of opportunities to create maximum value in given conditions. However, the winning teams were able to earn up to $600, and the average return on a $5 investment was 4000%! How did they do this?

Here's a hint: the teams that made the most money didn't use the starting $5 at all. They realized that this amount, in essence, would not help them in any way, and decided to look at the problem more broadly: “What if we start from complete scratch?”

One group noticed a problem common on many college towns - long lines outside popular restaurants on a Saturday night - and decided to help people who didn't want to wait. Team members made multiple reservations at restaurants. When the appointed hour arrived, they sold the right to enter the restaurant for $20 to those who wanted to get there immediately.

The other team did it even simpler. They set up a special stand in front of the student union building and began measuring the pressure in bicycle tires for free. After serving their first few customers, the team realized that cyclists were incredibly grateful.

Despite the possibility of free pumping and the simplicity of this operation, the new service seemed convenient and valuable to customers. In fact, within an hour of starting the job, the team stopped charging a flat fee and instead asked to pay whatever amount the client would deem appropriate. Profits immediately increased several times.

Each of these projects brought in several hundred dollars for the teams, and the others were pretty impressed. However, one team managed to earn as much as $650 by being able to look at the resources at their disposal from a completely different perspective.

These students determined that their most valuable resource was not $5 or 2 hours of time, but 3 minutes of presentation on Monday, and decided to sell that time to a company that wanted to hire students. They created a three-minute commercial for the company and showed it to the students instead of talking about their activities the previous week. It was a great decision that no one else had even thought about.