Hello and welcome to the new generalists who joined us!

I’m Elhadj, an entrepreneur/indie hacker and a generalist. I want to help you find your purpose by sharing practical and actionable content. Being a generalist can be overwhelming, but by connecting the dots, you can gain perspective, productivity, and opportunities.

I hope you learn something useful from every issue. Your feedback is welcome and valuable!

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For now, let's get on with today's program :

• What is Lateral Thinking?

• Generalist' Digest

• Relevant Content I Like

Let's get to it!

P.S: This is part of a series of 20 articles on being a generalist. We'll explore the means and tools to figure out our own path as a generalist. Each entry will focus on a specific topic, so if you have any preference just hit reply!

What is Lateral Thinking?:

Thinking clearly is one of the most important things if you want to achieve anything of worth.

One of the most important frameworks to foster that sort of thinking is called lateral thinking.

Lateral thinking is the ability to think outside the box and find new and unexpected ways to look at challenges.

By design, it allows you to combine different domains of knowledge and technology to create new products or services. So, ideal for people who have a natural tendency to be multidisciplinary, wouldn’t you say?

Lateral thinking was coined by psychologist Edward de Bono in 1967. He proposed four main principles of lateral thinking: check the assumptions, ask the right questions, go to creativity, and think logically. By applying these principles, you can find new and better ways to approach any problem or challenge.

The good news is that lateral thinking is not a natural talent that only some people have. It is a learnable skill that anyone can master with curiosity, openness, persistence, and courage.

Like a muscle, it needs to be trained, with practice and specific exercises: random word association, SCAMPER method, six thinking hats, reverse brainstorming, provocation technique…etc.

As always, if you want to learn more, here’s the long version:

Let me know what you thought!

Generalist' Digest:

🧠 Thinking: One of the best ways to practice lateral thinking is by adding somewhat opposed concepts to generate innovative approaches to problem-solving. In this very thought-inducing article, Milly from the Generalist World posits that the future might reside in balancing breadth and depth. (familiar).

🌟Interesting: If you’ve been reading this newsletter regularly, you must know how much I value mental models and systematic thinking. One key concept is ‘‘Iatrogenics’’, which is when intervention in any situation makes things worse. This means, you gotta really think and study the context before doing something, cause something not doing anything is better, in fact.

Business: To change the pace from high-level thinking, let’s talk business. As an entrepreneur myself, I’m biased, but I truly believe this is a great venue to explore for generalists who are not walking down the corporate/9-5 path.

Content is nice and well, but it’s not enough right? Don’t worry, we’re working on how to make all this actionable and useful for you in your careers and life in general!

Content I Like :

Sometimes I'd recommend a cool piece of content/content creator!

Today, a newsletter called ‘Not Boring’, one of the smartest and most entertaining ways to stay abreast of major business trends and gain deeper insights beyond the surface level.

I’ll illustrate that with the post below. He addresses the concepts of hard and smart work and links it with another fascinating study of our civilization’s progress as a function of energy consumption.

And if you like sci-fi concepts and how they translate to real life, you’ll be at home.

That's a wrap!

Thanks for being a valued member of the Thinkbox!

For more and for any inquiries, you can find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.