How to Think Like a Fool #54: Pay Attention to the Unnoticed

OBSERVE: Pay Attention to the Unnoticed “You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it.” —Neil Gaiman

The fool is in the details. Fools imagine that the world is a series of magic tricks to be figured out, if only they look where no one else is looking.

You spy, misunderstand, look for laughs, and change your perspective. Now it's time to go farther and/or deeper. You pay attention, not just to the obvious things that first capture your fancy, but to the things you missed, overlooked, ignored. Those are the missing pieces that will complete the puzzle.

Whenever you wonder, why didn't I think of that, then somebody else paid attention to the unnoticed before you, and it only seems obvious in retrospect.

In rehearsal and performance, an actor gets the chance to revisit scenes over and over, and see beyond the superficial. Today I ran through one of my pieces, made notes, and then ran through it again to focus on other things. I'd look in a different direction, or spend more time with a prop than I usually would. From there I found comic possibilities I would have skipped past otherwise.

The reason Chaplin's character is able to stay one step ahead of the criminal and the cops in this clip from The Circus is that he is aware of what they initially ignore. And the director/writer/performer Chaplin would not have been able to create this piece if he hadn't spent time exploring the all possibilities of a funhouse hall of mirrors.

Think: What did I notice? What did I miss? What did others notice and miss?

Next: How to Think Like a Fool #55: Follow and Trip Assumptions

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How to Think Like a Fool #53: Change Your Perspective

OBSERVE: Change Your Perspective
"When the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail."—Abraham Maslow
"People who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped."—Author unknown

Why do fools learn to walk on their hands? One reason is to change how they see the world.

Head and heels
"When you die Mulla," asked a friend, "how would you like to be buried?"
"Head downwards. If, as people believe, we are right way up in this world, I want to try being upside-down in the next."
—From The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin by Idries Shah

Fools look at the world sideways, upside-down, close-up, and faraway. They might pretend to be shorter or taller than they really are. They'll put on rose-colored glasses and then go look at roses. One will even drop his pants, put his foot in a bucket, and walk on a big ball. All these help them to break out of the habitual ways of perception.

In Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards has her students draw pictures that have been turned upside-down, so that the students are less conscious of the meaning and more aware of shapes and shading, causing a shift of consciousness. The psychologist Robert Ornstein has said that he reads drafts of his writings in reverse, so that he can catch things he would have missed otherwise. I just sang this blog entry to myself and made some changes.

You observe the world from a different perspective or point of view. You do this physically or imaginatively. And suddenly the information you take in becomes much more present and useful. But it can be exhausting:

Think: What can I do to change my perspective? What would happen if I looked at a hammer through a keyhole?

Next: How to Think Like a Fool #54: Pay Attention to the Unnoticed

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How to Think Like a Fool #52: Look for Laughs

OBSERVE: Look for Laughs
“The biggest laughs are based on the biggest disappointments and the biggest fears.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"Man alone suffers so excruciatingly in the world that he was compelled to invent laughter."
—Friedrich Nietzsche

"Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis."
—Jack Handey

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Today, I installed a bike computer (a fancy name for a speedometer) on my bicycle. As with any task that involves following obscure instructions, I used many swear words (as taught to me by my father when he would assemble anything). And then I made a seemingly irreversible action, attaching the sensor in the wrong direction with plastic zip ties. Instead of giving up, I started to laugh. That was just enough to keep me going. I tried different ways to loosen the zip tie, but it was not designed to be loosened, and I kept laughing, because I knew I would not find a solution if I wallowed in despair. I finally tried inserting a thin sewing needle into the zip tie—and it worked! I can''t explain why I found this situation funny, but I would have given up if I hadn't.

Fools deal in humor. They smuggle it in by looking for laughs. The world is the set-up and they provide the punchline. It's all a big joke to them. Even if you don't see them laughing out loud, you can bet that they are laughing inside, where it counts.

Looking for the funny in anything and everything will, if nothing else, make you feel better, but it can also stimulate creative thinking. Psychologist Alice M. Isen did a study where 20% of participants were able to solve an assigned problem after watching a serious math film, but 75% were able to solve it after watching a comedy film.

Here's a series of steps you can try:

1. Pick something and decide, that's funny.
   
2. Act like you are stifling a laugh, trying not to crack up, with appropriate mouth and facial expressions. Hold your breath.
   
3. Snicker. Chuckle. Laugh.
   
4. Now, retroactively figure out what was funny about it...
   
5. Or how that could be funny or funnier.
   
6. Laugh again.
   

Cultivate your personal sense of humor. Observe what you makes you laugh, and the things that you do that make others laugh. Take time to remember things that have made you laugh in the past.

Think: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha?

Next: How to Think Like a Fool #53: Change Your Perspective

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How to Think Like a Fool #51: Misunderstand

OBSERVE: Misunderstand
By misunderstanding, I specifically mean the act of forgetting to stand underneath someone when they were supposed to be standing on your shoulders. What did you think I meant??

"It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people understood each other, they would never agree."
"The world only goes round by misunderstanding."
—Charles Baudelaire

You've been spying on the world, collecting data. Now what do you do with that information? How do you use it to solve a problem foolishly, creatively, joyfully?

You misunderstand.

Farces and other comedies begin with misunderstandings. (So do some tragedies—Oedipus marries a woman who is his mother—comic gold). One misunderstanding upsets the balance, leading to more misunderstandings and conflicts that tumble into controlled chaos. Which is often what happens in the mind of an innovator, until balance is reached again with a realized idea.

Fools misunderstand on purpose. They transform meaning, similar to when they transform objects or change identity. By doing so, they manipulate their perceptions of the world, and formerly impenetrable insights become available. It's a bumpy ride, but it's the only way to get there.

One of the easiest ways to misunderstand is to take something literally. When Harpo hears a gambler say cut the cards, Harpo pulls out a hatchet and cuts the deck in two.

Think: What does this mean? How can I misunderstand this? What else could it mean? How can I take it literally?

Next: How to Think Like a Fool #52: Look for Laughs

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How to Think Like a Fool #50: Spy on the World

OBSERVE: Spy on the World
"'What kind of man are you?' he asked. 'I am a clown,' I said, 'and I collect moments'"—from The Clown by Heinrich Böll

I sit out on the front porch, apparently working on the computer, but really, I'm a spy. Most people don't even notice me as they pass by, but I watch them and overhear their conversations. They have such interesting, individual ways of walking. With a little exaggeration, they could be like living Commedia or cartoon characters. I imagine myself walking like them and what ways that would change how I feel and how I see the world. I am collecting moments, filing away details that I may never use, until the right problem comes along to apply my findings.

To think like a fool, fools need foolish things to think about. Fools take time to observe the world, and because they risk, imagine, play, and pretend, fools become spies, with the world as their focus. Instead of spying on the enemy, they spy on everything.

Playing at spy or private detective has also been the subject of many a comic film performance, including Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr., Chico and Harpo in Duck Soup, and Laurel and Hardy in Do Detectives Think? (among others).

Whether you use the image of a spy, or a fly on the wall, or a detective looking for stray clues, or an alien from another planet gathering information, the idea is to stand back unobtrusively, take your time, and pull in as much as you can with heightened awareness.

Use multiple senses, combining them without judgement. You can analyze later. Engage your senses in unorthodox ways—touch with your elbow, for example—just don't get caught. Experience things as if for the first time. Learn to be a wallflower. Blend in, become invisible. If you are really brave, follow people and subtly mimic them without being noticed. Just don't blame me if you get beat up.

Think: How will I spy on the world? What do I see, hear, feel, taste, smell? What's noticeable? Remarkable?

Next: How to Think Like a Fool #51: Misunderstand

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How to Think Like a Fool #49: Play Yourself

PRETEND: Play Yourself
"Clown characters are not created, they are uncovered."—??
The foolish take on the concept of pretending (and the last entry in this category), is that fools pretend to be themselves. By doing so, fools take on the most difficult of roles, because there's no bigger fool than oneself.

The great clowns of silent cinema, like Chaplin or Keaton, go beyond the idea of an actor playing a character, as if they have tapped into the essence of their personalities to project a partially transparent persona—what the movement and theatre teacher Jacques Lecoq called one's personal clown: our ridiculous side that we so often try to hide.

Which of your selves do you choose? Observe yourself in all your imperfections—it may be part how others see you or just how you see yourself. Pick a mannerism, habit, idiosyncratic thought, or personality trait. Exaggerate it. Make a caricature of yourself in action. Become the cartoon version of you.

Self mockery leads to self discovery. This heightened awareness gives you the ability to step away from those parts of you that are unessential and accept what doesn't need to be changed. By embracing the parts you may normally hide, you often find they are just what was needed to solve a problem. You are already creative. It was you all along.

Think: Who am I? If I were to play myself in my life story, how would I act? If someone just like me were to solve this problem, how would I do it?

Next: How to Think Like a Fool #50: OBSERVE: Spy on the World

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How to Think Like a Fool #48: Enjoy Failure

PRETEND: Enjoy Failure
"If you can't succeed every time, learn to fail magnificently!"—Avner the Eccentric

I planned to write this post this morning and am now writing it this evening. Fail! Yay!

Don't just set yourself up for failure, celebrate failure! Relish it and revel in it! Every time you make a mistake, clap, cheer, have a little failure parade around the room.

Fools enjoy failure when the alternative is to wallow in despair. They laugh back at a culture that mocks those who flop or are perceived as imperfect. Bullies lose their power when they are preempted by the fool who loves to crash and burn. Even if that bully is just actually another voice in the head of the fool.

Like seeking rejection, enjoying failure does not come naturally to most people. Certainly not for me. It is a habit to be practiced and developed. Instead of moping, crying, apologizing, giving up, you train yourself to smile, hold your head up, and laugh. You delight in this opportunity to learn and keep going without losing any momentum.

Think: How can I fight my dislike for failure? How can I enjoy failure?

Next: How to Think Like a Fool #49: Play Yourself

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