By the time the average person finishes college, he or she will have taken over 2,600 tests, quizzes, and exams. The right answer approach becomes deeply ingrained in our thinking. This may be fine for some mathematical problems where there is in fact only one right answer. The difficulty is that most of life isn’t this way. Life is ambiguous; there are many right answers- all depending on what you’re looking for. But if you think there is only one right answer, then you’ll stop looking as soon as you find one.

Look for the second right answer.

Flexibility is a requirement for survival.

If you make an error, use it as a stepping stone to a new idea you might not have otherwise discovered.

New ideas are not born in a conforming environment.

Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think what else it might be.

Open your mind up to things that have no connection with the problem you're trying to solve: subscribe to an unusual magazine; spend a morning at an elementary school; go to work two hours early; test drive an exotic car; attend a city council meeting; ...try an Indonesian recipe.