{"id":101048,"date":"2023-04-23T13:41:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T17:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=101048"},"modified":"2023-05-03T13:46:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T17:46:28","slug":"big-picture-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/big-picture-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Big-Picture Thinking: The Top 3 Methods (+ Examples)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you consider yourself a big-picture thinker? Do you try to understand every problem or situation holistically?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we\u2019re faced with a problem or a difficult decision, we tend to resort to our usual cause-and-effect, detail-oriented type of thinking. While this type of thinking is useful in some situations, it can obscure the bigger picture. As a result, the optimal solution may evade us because it lies outside the range of ideas where we are looking for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, here are three ways you can apply big-picture thinking to solve problems and make decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1. Systems Thinking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

People naturally think in linear, cause-and-effect relationships because they\u2019re clear and easy to understand. <\/strong>However, thinking in a linear fashion can cause you to become too zoomed in on the effects of a particular action or event that you fail to see the bigger picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By practicing to think in systems instead of linear cause-and-effect relationships, you can get a better grasp of any problem or situation. In his book The Fifth Discipline<\/em><\/a>, systems scientist Peter Senge explains that systems thinking relies on feedback loops<\/a>. <\/strong>This means when you take an action, that action creates some effect; that effect eventually circles back around and influences the cause (you), often in an unexpected way. Studying feedback is how you see the effects of your actions on the entire system, rather than just the part of it your decision directly altered.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example of a feedback loop is an investment bubble: Investors overvalue a company or industry and invest heavily in it, which drives up its value. That causes others to overvalue it even more and invest even more, creating a loop of accelerating investment. However, this loop doesn\u2019t last forever: Eventually, market forces catch up with the investment, the bubble bursts and the value plummets, and those investors unexpectedly lose a great deal of money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Systems thinking through feedback loops could help you get a more accurate view of the whole situation rather than a narrow view of one event or factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Systems Thinking and Decision Making<\/a><\/strong>

When you view the world through a systems lens, you\u2019ll see feedback loops everywhere. In fact, here\u2019s a challenge: try thinking of any <\/em>decision you make without a feedback loop of some kind. Can you think of any?

You might start finding that many things influence each other in reciprocal ways. Instead of pure cause and effect, you might see that the effect actually influences the cause.

-If population growth causes poverty, does poverty also cause population growth?
-If the government makes a bad decision for the nation, did the nation do something to cause the government to make that bad decision?

Invert your thinking. If A causes B, does B also cause A?\u00a0

This type of systems thinking makes blame much more complicated. It\u2019s not an easy cause-and-effect relationship. It\u2019s a system of interconnected parts and complicated feedback loops.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\nTITLE: Thinking in Systems
\nAUTHOR: Donella H. Meadows
\nTIME: 48
\nREADS: 192.8
\nIMG_URL: https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/thinking-in-systems-cover.png
\nBOOK_SUMMARYURL: thinking-in-systems-summary-donella-h-meadows
\nAMZN_ID: XYZ
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Outside-View Thinking <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another way to engage in big-picture thinking is to look at what Daniel Kahneman, the author of Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em><\/a>, calls the outside view<\/em>. The outside view is basically looking at the wide perspective of the situation before accounting for the specifics. In contrast,\u00a0 the \u201cinside view\u201d is looking at the particular details of a situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n