Janusian Thinking is “bringing two opposites together in your mind, holding them together at the same time, considering their relationships, similarities, pros and cons, and interaction, and then creating something new and useful.”
Two years ago I moved into a new apartment. And even though it’s actually bigger than my current house, I made the difficult decision to reduce the number of books and tapes I had to keep. My reason was that there are books I haven’t read or seen in years, tapes that have been gathering dust, and my favorite library is having a book/tape sale to raise money. I know there will be others who will enjoy and benefit from buying from my old friends.
What does this have to do with “Janusian thinking”? While she was purging and packing, I listened to some of my old tapes. One that was particularly interesting was a series of tapes called Entrepreneurial Thinking by Mike Vance. Vance is the former Dean of Disneyland University and was in charge of developing ideas and people for Walt Disney Productions.
When Vance started talking about creativity, he recommended Janusian Thinking. Not being able to find the term in the dictionary, I did a search and was delighted by the number of results (all 507 – no, I didn’t read all of them, but I found out how many groups adopt the use of Janusian). Thought).
Bottom: Dr. Albert Rothenberg, a leading researcher of the creative process, identified the process in 1979 and calls it “Janusian thinking,” named for the Roman god Janus, who had two faces looking in opposite directions. Dr. Rothenberg has identified traces of Janusian Thought in the works of Einstein, Mozart, Picasso, and Conrad. The way to use Janusian Thought is to ask “What is the opposite of this?” and then try to imagine that both opposites exist at the same time.
Einstein’s Big Story: Rothenberg claimed, after studying 54 Nobel Prize winners, that most of the great scientific breakthroughs and artistic masterpieces are the product of Janus thought. He concluded that creative people who actively formulate antithetical ideas and then resolve them produce outstanding results.
He cites the example of Einstein’s account of “the happiest thought of my life.” Einstein recalled his first thought on the concept that “for an observer in free fall from the roof of a house, there is, during his fall, no gravitational field … in his immediate vicinity. will do”. remain, relative to it, in a state of rest.” This antithetical idea led to his general theory of relativity. Rothenberg’s point is to advocate reversing or contradicting currently accepted ideas in order to expand the range of perspectives considered.
Sample: there are many paradoxes around us and clichés are the perfect example. Compare: “He who doubts is lost.” and, “Look before you jump.”
Remember that Janusian Thinking is seeing both sides of an idea, both positive and negative. When you understand why an idea doesn’t work, you can focus on how to make it work. Let’s all try it together!