By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you guard against predictive thinking. Reading time: 2:23.

Are you really thinking or are you simply responding to a well designed system of mind manipulations? Leaders know how easily you can be swept up in wave after wave of well-planned suggestion and swept out to sea?

Here are two Mind Manipulations that I frequent regularly just to remind myself how easily the mind can be tricked into thinking you are thinking when you are only responding to a pattern of thinking designed by someone else.

Manipulating Your Mind

Pick any number between 2 and 9.
Multiply that number by 9. Subtract 5 from that number.
Associate that number with a letter of the alphabet.
If it was 2 then it would be B. If it was 5 then it would be E.
Think of a country that begins with that letter.
Think of the second letter in that country’s name.
Now think of a very large animal jungle that begins with that letter.
Now think of the color of that animal.
How many of you came up with a gray elephant from Denmark?

Here’s another thinking pattern to be wary of:

Think of any number.
Double It.
Add 2.
Triple It.
Add 3.
Subtract the first number you thought of.
Subtract 4.
Subtract 5.
Divide by 5. The result should be the first number you thought of.

And another pattern; Make One Word out of this “New Door” (Answer is “one word”

The leadership lesson is clear: mind your own business of thinking.

Today’s ImproveMINT

Beware of predictive thinking to keep your leadership thinking in mint condition.

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