HOW TO DEVELOP MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS WHEN WE LOOK AT SOMETHING IN THE ENVIRONMENT?

I remember vividly, one of the most challenging creative endeavours I got myself into, as part of my journey as a knowledge adventurer and technology explorer during the early years, is developing multiple viewpoints when looking at the environment.

Oftentimes, when we look at something in the environment, we tend to look at it from one preferred perspective.

That something can of course be a thing, a person, an event, or just some body's idea.

Interestingly, that one perspective of ours is often unwittingly governed by our biases, prejudices, expectations, beliefs, hopes, and even frustrations, etc.

Why do we need to develop multiple viewpoints?

Very simple . . . so that we don't get stuck at one single viewpoint or perspective. Worst still, a truncated perspective!

With multiple viewpoints, we can get more perspectives to look at something.

How can one go about developing multiple viewpoints?

It's not difficult actually, all we need to do is to be prepared to adopt an open mind.

Let's say we are looking at an object. All we need to do is explore the attributes of the object as one possibility.

Attributes can run like these (think of them as basic guidelines, not some hard and fast rules):

- size;
- shape or structure;
- weight;
- colour;
- texture;
- components;
- nature of parts and their relationship;
- principle of operation;
- uses;
- origin;
- history;
- place in nature;

If that something happens to be a person, then explore, additionally:

- gender;
- racial or country of origin;
- face and body features;
- behaviour and gestures;
- voice patterns;
- distinguishing marks on the face and/or body;
- social and/or cultural norms;
If that something happens to be an event, then explore, additionally:

- by using the journalist's questions;

If that something happens to be some body's idea, then explore specifically:

- what's positive about it?
- what's negative about it?
- what's interesting about it?

or just a quick one, what's good & new about it?

Another possibility is to do a quick comparison and contrast. That's to say, we explore the similarities as well as contrasts.

Here are some other possibilities:

- associate what we are looking at by asking what it reminds us of.

Making associations can be real fun.

From my personal exploration, possible associations can come from:

1) The Nature World;

2) The Animal Kingdom;

3) Other Human Cultures and Civilisations;

4) Other Industries;

5) The Sciences;

6) The Arts and Crafts;

7) Sports;

8) Leisure Activities;

We can even go to a higher level by exploring analogies and metaphors.

Next:

- with our personal observation, we can even argue for or argue against, in the form of an imaginary debate;

- we can learn to apply our personal observations with the view of an utility response, by asking, if it's an object: what can we do with it? How can it be used?; if it's an event, what can we learn from it?

- we can also learn to anticipate future developments and/or new applications from our personal observations of the environment;

What I have just written is not meant to be an exhaustive presentation. Just sharing some of my personal experiences.

By developing multiple viewpoints, we are actually enhancing our perceptual sensitivity, which is a critical prerequisite for personal, professional as well as business creativity.