Beginning My Metacognitive Journey
Being able to support ideas with physical evidence is a huge asset for any startup, and it’s something I’m try to start doing more. We tend to get involved in a project and make claims based on ourselves or what we think is the answer. In addition, we often accept these assumptions even with the lack of logic necessary to continue. We then continue this telephone line of poor assumptions making more and more decisions until our final solution is nothing more than what we originally thought the answer should be. This is a huge trap and why I have found the design thinking method very difficult to execute correctly.
While speaking with a close friend recently, I tried explaining my need for metacognitive thinking in the business world (the thinking of why we think what we do, tricky I know) he agreed it was important, but saw my ability to ideate to be much more important. However, I completely disagree.
While ideation is critical, there is nothing more profound than transitioning from ideas to being able to provide evidence for WHY the idea makes sense. I have found moving from sharing assumptions to sharing useful insights is a difficult skill to master, but one that will increase the quality of your design thinking significantly. I encourage everyone who considers themselves a innovator to research and fully understand the process of metacognitive thinking. It’s challenging to learn, but is such a crucial tool for any and every entrepreneur and I hope someday I can consider myself more than an amateur in the art.
