Redesigning our thinking
hello from berlin
or good afternoon good morning or good
evening
depending on where in the world you are
right now first of all i would like to
say thank you
for being here with me right now because
it really feels good
to know that i’m not alone especially in
times like this
my name is birgit and i will be talking
about redesigning
our thinking in context of
uncertainty and how to embrace it
i will also share a few key learnings
with you
and now that we’re so close basically
just one click apart
i will also share a little bit about
myself
and how i experience uncertainty and the
role it plays in my life
the picture you can see here this
beautiful
black and white picture showing my
mother and me striking a pose something
my grandmother tried to get out of my
system
for many years without any success
was taken in the former gdr
i was around two to three years old i
don’t really know to be totally honest
what i do know is that at that time
socks and stockings were bought three
sizes bigger
to make sure that we could wear them for
multiple seasons or even pass them on
it looks like that time everything was
still okay
little did i know that 12 years later
uncertainty took over
my mother was diagnosed with cancer
and we as a family we had no idea how to
deal with it
first we ignored the shock then we
pretended
that nothing happened everything is okay
everything will eventually turn back to
normal which of course it didn’t
we came to a point where we had to face
reality
but then let me be totally honest with
you it became apparent
that the family wasn’t functioning we
developed
into a dysfunctional family
maybe we have been dysfunctional before
i don’t really know
but it was obvious that we were
dysfunctional
i was too young i had no clue how to
deal with it
i did not know what to make out of it
the only thing i can remember was
that i constantly felt why me
or why my mother
i also came to a point where i had to
face reality
and then i said to myself okay
what do i do i was overwhelmed because i
realized that i could not change
anything
no matter how hard i tried and the
harder i tried and believe me i did try
very hard
the more frustrating it became to me
because i was paralyzed
so i realized what i can change are the
little things i can change the steps i
do
and i also told myself what i will be
doing is i will try to
make this memorable moments and try to
see how i can make life easier
and be good to myself at the end of the
day
i said my mother is teaching me the
hardest lesson she can
teach me something a mother can give to
a daughter
she taught me to be present to be
giving the best in every moment in life
i can
to value time and to value others
and enjoy life to the fullest
and i also told myself that
this is an experience i don’t need to
ever go through in my entire life again
and i was very happy yeah strange that
you think
that i connect happy to such as that
thing but i did
and it worked it’s a very pragmatic
approach but if you know me better
you will know that i am actually a very
pragmatic
person so
enough said about myself
let’s jump back to
[Music]
here i am again faced with uncertainty
but this time i’m not alone we are
all in a collective state of uncertainty
you entire companies
or countries
we have to deal with a different
speed of change there is a new order of
things
and new relevancies we have to deal with
uncertainty such as climate catastrophes
increasing power of internet companies
smart data
artificial intelligence and now to top
it off
with the pandemic we want to hold on to
what we know which is totally perfectly
normal
but at the same time everything around
us changes in
a speed of light and it’s super fast and
it increases in complexity
so it’s no wonder that we feel
overwhelmed or we feel
like what shall we do right now how to
deal with it
and often a question comes into mind as
i said how to deal with it and
we tend to focus on the systems of this
uncertainty which we try to change
which i believe from my point of view is
the wrong thing to do
because it amplifies
often uncertainty it makes it even
bigger
or more painful and also
it takes away the pleasure of a new
journey that you could be taken
so when i was 21
i looked back and i said okay i want to
change it
i embrace uncertainty i
let it move in with me i decide my life
is an adventure
and this is what i’m doing at the moment
and this is how i deal with this new
reality
i see life as an adventure and i develop
resiliencies
and you can do the same
embrace and see the opportunities they
are
and what we can do with this new wealth
of information that is ahead of us
and now i would like to invite you to go
on a trip with me
i would like you to make sure that there
is nothing between us
except the screen
please relax and take a moment
and breathe in and breathe out
and now close your eyes
and feel good
it’s a beautiful day
the sun is shining and you can feel the
sun on your face
you’re out about on a bicycle tour with
your beloved ones
and you feel so good no masks required
everything is perfect
and then something comes into your mind
and you feel how would it be right now
if i could have ice cream that would
just make it perfect
you can imagine the taste you know your
flavored
favorite flavor you know what you would
like to get
you see it you envision it the texture
the more you think about it
the more your tongue
gets active and what happens is
there is an ice cream parlor just around
the corner
so you park your bike you cycle there
you know exactly what you want you don’t
need to think about it
you can almost smell the taste
you step into the ice cream shop there’s
a lady in front of you
you go in you’re eagerly waiting to
place your order
you take one step and there you are
and you look and you see
your favorite ice cream is gone nada
gone nothing
will you leave the shop being frustrated
not knowing
that there are other opportunities will
you be grumpy the entire day
or will you decide to look around
and see the different flavors see the
different
new combinations of ice cream that are
available that you may have never
thought of before
embrace the moment
of opportunities and have a look
now slowly close your eyes and come back
to me
aren’t we humans amazing isn’t it
amazing
what we can imagine or create if we want
to
we possess minds and we have the ability
to revisit things to recreate to create
to reshape to
bring into life to accept or to ignore
if we want to
but is it easy that it really that easy
no not really in a way yes but in a way
no
it’s a rather complicated process that’s
happening
our brain responds to whatever we do
and how we experience our world in
milliseconds
way faster than we are aware of so when
we make a decision
or we think we make a decision as
individual as a business person
we have no awareness of what’s happening
in the background
how our subconsciousness constantly
works and how our experiences and
habits are playing into role
so we believe we make decisions but
ultimately
a lot of that is automated and that’s a
good thing
it’s different with the conscious mind
the conscious mind
needs much more effort and requires more
brain capacity and also more energy
and in moments like this in a moment
like this
massive uncertainty like the pandemic at
the moment
our basic needs and emotions are
activated
and we start looking at the world from a
different point of view
and we give it different meaning
we value it different so when we start
rethinking or revaluating the habits we
have
or we stop the habits we have
we talk about zero based rehabiliting
the need to reinstall or reactivate
habits and affinities is
from zero ground on is zero based
rehabilitating
we humans have the capacity our brain
has the capacity and is equipped
to create new behaviors and habits we
know it’s not
easy but it’s doable
that’s the way we’re wired so we can
create new habits
and now in the pandemic when we don’t
want to change a habit but we’re forced
from the outside we can use this
to help create a better life for
ourselves so if you’re a company you can
see that as an opportunity to change
okay sorry
and use that of an opportunity to change
and look at things from a different
point of view
so the fear
we have is that we’re overwhelmed
and uncertainty is often linked
to negative connotations if we go back
to the ice cream experience
it can also be triggering something
positive
but when we try to overcome the
uncertainty in the aspect
what we don’t really understand or know
most of us don’t know is that we’re also
limiting the pleasure factor
that uncertainty can bring to the game
some scientists say that when we
are in a state of let’s say we fall in
love with someone
that then this positive feeling will
last
longer when we maintain uncertainty and
don’t
try to understand and make everything
clear straight away
they also say that can help make
existing relationships
more attractive or more exciting but i’m
not an expert on this so
don’t quote me on this one i’m more here
to talk about how we can embrace it
and integrate it into our life and
make it more enjoyable
so and now i would like to talk to you
about a few key learnings that i have
ignorance ignore if you feel like
it helps you i myself sometimes i
ignorancia
but i have to tell you at a certain
point it’s not helpful it will come back
to you so the sooner you start dealing
with whatever is difficult or makes you
feel uneasy the better it is
sometimes uncertainty can reveal the
ugly truth
like in my face case with my family
but you have to be ready to deal with
that
this function stays dysfunctional and
that applies to companies to
families to organizations products or
processes
being present always enjoy what you have
and don’t regret things you do because
if you’re present and you decide as good
as you can in this given moment
what’s the point in time to you know
harming yourself afterwards by
questioning yourself sense making sense
making
can help you to deal with traumatic
experiences or with
uncertainty have fun don’t take yourself
too serious
and the pleasure paradox if you make
sense in uncertainty that are linked to
a positive experience
you will harm and take away of the
pleasure
last not least people say okay this is
all good you can assign to that but what
do i do when
uncertainty really takes over and i
have the feeling of being overwhelmed
not knowing what to do so i tell you a
little trick of what i do is
whenever that feeling comes into my life
i look at it and i said okay emotions
i accept you i take you and i park you
decide on where you want to park them on
the live
right or on the left side totally up to
you so don’t push them away just park
them there
and then look at the piece of paper
which is in front of you
empty and you said okay so what is it
right now what is this complexity that i
don’t know how to deal with all this
uncertainty
and explore it see the opportunity that
lies in it
explore what you can do and how you can
help shape
and change it and all the beautiful
things you can develop
new solutions you can create with
whomever you want to involved in that
process
and all of a sudden you will realize
that the
excitement will overtake the anxiety
before and they will no longer be
relevant so let me know how that works
for you i would be very interested
last not least redesigning
our thinking you can make use of the
ability to turn around whatever you have
in mind right now from negative to
something positive
and create something which is meaningful
inspirational
lovely and powerful so it’s all yours
thank you namaste and on
cheers thank you
you