Introduction
Imagine you are looking at a house. If you stand in the front yard, you see the front door and some windows. But if you walk around to the back, you might see a porch, a garden, or maybe a broken fence that you couldn’t see before. The house hasn’t changed, but what you know about it has changed completely just because you moved your feet.
Problems in life, school, or work are exactly like that house. If you only stare at them from one spot, you miss half the picture. You might feel stuck or frustrated because the solution is "hiding" in the backyard, but you are still standing on the front lawn.
Learning to shift your perspective isn't a magic trick; it is a skill you can practice. When you change how you look at a challenge, you stop feeling trapped and start seeing options. This guide will walk you through simple, practical ways to "walk around the house" and solve problems faster.
In this post, we will cover:
Why our brains love to get stuck in one way of thinking.
The "Six Hats" method for organizing your thoughts.
The "5 Whys" technique to find the real root of a problem.
Simple mental games to force a new perspective.
How to use AI to act as a thinking partner.
Let's get started and learn how to see the full picture.
Why We Get Stuck in One Way of Thinking
First, it is important to know that getting stuck isn't your fault. It is actually how human brains are wired. Our brains are designed to save energy. When we face a problem, our brain quickly looks through its files of past experiences to find a quick answer.
This is often called a mental shortcut. Most of the time, this is good. If you see a red light, you don't want to think about it for ten minutes; you just want to stop. But for complex problems, these shortcuts can trap us.
One of the biggest traps is something called Confirmation Bias. This is a fancy term that just means we love information that proves we are right, and we ignore information that proves we are wrong.
If you think a class is boring, you will only notice the boring parts.
If you think you are bad at math, you will only remember the problems you got wrong.
According to Psychology Today, this bias makes us "blind" to new solutions because we are too busy looking for proof that our first idea was correct. To solve hard problems, we have to actively fight this tendency and force our brains to look for what we are missing.
The Six Thinking Hats Method
One of the most famous ways to break out of a mental rut was created by a calm and clever thinker named Edward de Bono. He called it the Six Thinking Hats.
The idea is simple: instead of trying to think about feelings, facts, risks, and creative ideas all at once (which is messy and confusing), you "wear" one hat at a time. Each hat has a color and represents a single way of thinking.
Here is how you can use it for your next project or problem:
White Hat (Facts): Look only at the data. What do you know for sure? No guessing, just facts.
Red Hat (Feelings): How do you feel about the problem? Are you angry? Scared? Excited? You don't need to explain why, just admit the feeling.
Black Hat (Caution): What could go wrong? This is where you get to be a critic. Look for the dangers.
Yellow Hat (Optimism): What is the best that could happen? Look for the benefits and the bright side.
Green Hat (Creativity): This is for new ideas only. No judging allowed. What are some crazy, wild solutions?
Blue Hat (Control): This is the manager hat. It asks, "Are we following the rules? What is the next step?"
By separating these thoughts, you don't let your fear (Black Hat) kill your creativity (Green Hat) too early. You can learn more about the official method from the De Bono Group.
Need help practicing this? It can be hard to do this alone. If you want a guide to walk you through this process step-by-step, you can check out our Thinking Hat prompt. It acts like a coach, handing you each hat one by one so you don't have to memorize the rules.
The "What If" Technique
Sometimes, the problem isn't the problem itself—it's the boundaries we put around it. We tell ourselves rules like "I don't have enough money" or "I don't have enough time" without checking if those rules are actually true.
The "What If" technique helps you break these invisible walls. You simply ask "What if..." followed by something that seems impossible or opposite to your current situation.
Try asking these questions:
What if I had to solve this in 24 hours? (This forces you to look for fast, simple shortcuts).
What if I had unlimited money? (This helps you see the "perfect" solution, and then you can try to find a cheaper version of it).
What if I could not fail? (This removes fear and helps you think big).
What if I did the exact opposite? (If you are trying to talk more, what happens if you stay silent?)
This strategy is often used in business to invent new products, but it works great for personal problems too. It forces your brain to step off the well-worn path and walk in the grass for a while.
Role-Playing Different People
Have you ever noticed that you give great advice to your friends, but you can't solve your own problems? That is because when you look at a friend's problem, you are detached. You are looking at it from the outside.
You can trick your brain into doing this for yourself by role-playing. Pretend you are someone else looking at your situation.
Who should you pretend to be?
A Five-Year-Old: Ask simple questions. "Why are you doing that? Why does that matter?" A child’s perspective is fresh and uncomplicated.
A Strict Teacher: What would they say about your work? They might spot mistakes you are ignoring.
A Famous Inventor (like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs): How would they tackle this? They might look for a high-tech solution or a totally new design.
Your Future Self: Imagine you are 80 years old looking back at this moment. Will this problem matter? What would your older, wiser self tell you to do?
Research shows that "perspective-taking", mentally stepping into someone else's shoes—actually reduces our personal bias and helps us see clearer solutions. You can read more about the science of perspective-taking in this article from Frontiers in Communication.
The 5 Whys Method
Sometimes we spend all our energy fixing a symptom of a problem, rather than the cause.
Imagine there is a puddle of water on your kitchen floor.
Symptom: Wet floor.
Your Solution: Mop it up.
The next day, the puddle is back. You mop it again. You are "solving" the problem, but you aren't fixing it.
The 5 Whys method was made famous by Toyota to fix problems in their car factories. The rule is simple: Ask "Why?" five times until you find the real source.
Let’s try it with the puddle:
Why is there a puddle? Because the pipe under the sink is leaking.
Why is the pipe leaking? Because a seal inside the pipe is broken.
Why is the seal broken? Because it is old and rusted.
Why is it rusted? Because we haven't replaced it in 10 years.
Why haven't we replaced it? Because we don't have a schedule for checking house maintenance.
Real Solution: Create a maintenance schedule (and buy a new seal). Moping the floor was never going to fix it.
By digging deeper, you stop wasting time on "band-aid" fixes. You can read how Toyota uses this method in their factories here.
Changing Your Physical View
This might sound too simple to work, but it is surprisingly effective: move your body.
When you sit in the same chair, in the same room, looking at the same screen, your brain falls into a routine. Your physical environment cues your mental habits. To break the mental habit, change the physical environment.
Go for a walk: Walking increases blood flow to the brain and distracts the conscious mind, letting your subconscious work on the problem.
Write on paper: If you usually type, switch to a pen and a notebook. The different physical motion can trigger different thoughts.
Change rooms: Go sit in a coffee shop, a park, or even just on the floor.
There is a reason why people say they get their best ideas in the shower. It is a relaxed environment where their mind is free to wander away from the specific details of the problem.
Asking for Feedback (The Right Way)
You don't have to do all the thinking yourself. Sometimes the best way to get a new angle is to ask someone who is already standing in a different spot.
But be careful—don't just ask, "What should I do?" If you do that, people will just give you their first reaction. Instead, ask specific questions that force them to give you a specific perspective.
Try asking these questions:
"If you had to play 'Devil's Advocate' and argue against my idea, what would you say?"
"What is the most confusing part of my plan?"
"What is one thing I am ignoring?"
Getting feedback can be scary because we don't like to hear that we are wrong. However, honest feedback is the fastest way to see the "back of the house" that we mentioned in the introduction.
If you don't have a person to ask right now, you can browse our prompt library to find an AI tool that can act as your debate partner or editor.
Using AI to Shift Perspective
We are living in a time where we have access to the smartest tools in history. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is excellent at pretending to be different people and looking at problems from new angles because it has read millions of books and articles.
You can use AI like a thinking partner. You don't just have to ask it for the answer; you can ask it to challenge you.
Prompts you can try with ChatGPT or Gemini:
"I am trying to solve [Problem X]. Please give me three arguments AGAINST my solution."
"Explain [Topic Y] to me as if I were a 10-year-old."
"What are three creative solutions to [Problem Z] that cost zero dollars?"
AI doesn't have emotions or an ego. It won't get tired of your questions, and it won't judge you for being stuck. It is a safe space to explore ideas that you might be too embarrassed to say out loud to a human.
Conclusion
Solving problems isn't about being the smartest person in the room. It is about being the person who can see the room from the most angles.
When you feel stuck, remember that you are just standing in one spot. You have tools now to help you move:
Check your bias: Are you only looking for proof that you are right?
Wear the hats: Try the Six Thinking Hats to separate facts from feelings.
Ask Why: Dig five levels deep to find the root cause.
Role Play: Imagine how a genius or a child would solve it.
Move: Change your environment to wake up your brain.
Next time you hit a wall, don't keep pushing. Take a step back, put on a different hat, walk around to the back of the house, and look again. You might find that the door was open the whole time.
For more guides on how to learn faster and think clearer, check out our other posts on the Vertech Academy blog. Keep practicing, and happy thinking!
