Whenever we start thinking about insights, most of us are not even sure what insights actually are. Some people have trouble differentiating between observations and insight. While others confuse it with patterns. Yet another kind of creative minds confuse insight with the idea. Unfortunately, it is none of those. One simple solution to finding the true meaning of insight is to actually sit down and think of the purpose itself! Today we explore the actual meaning of insight and what makes a great insight.
So what is actually and insight? Insight can be defined as:
Life is full of experiences, whenever you venture on a new experience, you are bound to have a perspective or an insight through it. Consider the case of moving out of your house for work. Whenever we relocate for work, the first couple of days we spend exploring and understanding the new place and the people. We watch people and observe how they behave. It is a human tendency to form patterns, develop reactions. From these patterns, our mind generates ideas on how to adjust to these new people and the new place. However, when our mind starts to understand the "why" behind the behavior and what could be the potential outcomes, it is when the aha! a moment happens and we get an insight.
Insights are notions that have been analyzed well and deliberated upon. They are generated only when our mind is composed, objective, and unbiased. Insights are useful not just in professional, but also in social & personal situations. We possibly cannot discover insights every day. Philosophers like Homer and Plato did not gain fame overnight. It required years and years of observation, analysis, and thinking.
Therefore, it is important to understand what actually makes a great insight. Following three points can help you understand it:
1. These are novel & contextualized: Every person who has an insight in life may have a different take on it as compared to the other person. Consider the example of fitness training. While one person may be of the notion that strength training should be a necessary addition in your regime as it helps train the muscles, another person may consider it necessary only if you are preparing for competitive sports. So Insights are highly contextualized and every person will benefit from the one which is most personalized to their needs.
2. These are evidence-based: Whether it is an insight on something as simple as traveling to a new place or something as complex as a life-defining decision, insights are always evidence or experience-based. You build them with first-hand experience, facts, reasoning and careful observation of events. If you are the one who likes to graze on the surface, it might be hard for you to uncover the treasure of "Insights" which is lying deep in the ocean of chaos, confusion & complexity.
3. They drive growth & solve problems: Any instance or any observation, based on which, you have an insight, makes you grow and become more mature as a person. You feel a sense of ease in your mind. It also makes you more open to new ideas and challenges in the future. For example, at university, you find a certain subject very challenging. However, when you realize how can those topics help you form the foundations of your course, you have an insight and therefore, approach the subject with greater maturity. Good Insights can frame & drive strategies for yourself but also for others.
Knowledge Graph to empower Sharing & Discovery?
Great Insights are impactful, novel, contextualized and form the basis of situational intelligence. So often people realize Insights but often it's only them or their personal network that can benefit from those insights. We saw a huge opportunity here to bring transformation in the way people can share & discover Insights with a much wider network and make an impact in other's lives. Insights after all the most underutilized and most abundant asset in the world.
We thought to ourselves and our beta users:
Wouldn't it be cool to have personalized Insights delivered to your phone every time you come across a complex situation?
Wouldn't it be impactful to share any novel insights you find with a network of users who can take your guidance for that situation?
At Headstrt, we are thrilled with the global possibilities of people sharing insights and helping everyone grow situational intelligence. Therefore we are building Social Learning Network for Insights with a mission of empowering and incentivizing our users to share novel Insights that can solve problems for others. We will be sharing articles on what makes a great insight into our part 2 article.
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