breakbias.co Manifesto

common sense  (link)

• Common sense does not necessarily imply any great quality of mind; that explains why it is considered common (as opposed to extraordinary).

• basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge that is shared by ("common to") nearly all people.

extraordinary (link)

•beyond what is usual, ordinary, regular, or established:
• exceptional, noteworthy, or remarkable
• extra- in extraordinary means "outside" the ordinary.

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We will ditch our common sense

As we grow up, we learn about ourselves, our outside environment, and many governing rules in the family, community, and the world around us. The culmination of those activities builds how we think and behave. We call that common sense. This is a wonderful act as a human being. Precisely because of that, we are able to have social engagement with others and conduct economic activities. If there is absolutely nothing in common, how do we expect to conduct any business? 

We praise a person with common sense but don’t even realize that common sense rules our thinking. It is this common sense that prevents us from coming up with extraordinary ideas.

We will allow ourselves to be creative thinkers.

It’s wrong to think that their species is called the ‘creative type’. Instead, let’s accept a single truth that applies to every single one of us. That is: we are born with unlimited creativity. 

Even if we don’t currently believe in it, from this moment on, we will give permission to live as creative thinkers every single moment. 

We will tap into our exhaustible creative energy.

We will think about how we think before ideating.

We tend to jump in thinking about the solution, and new ideas because it’s so much fun doing so. And we face the same type of ideas coming up from everywhere. Before we start thinking about ideas, we will think about the ways we think. We will carefully challenge our thinking patterns so that we can generate fresh ideas.

We will intentionally break through our thinking patterns.

We will acknowledge that without breaking through our thinking patterns, we won’t be able to generate interesting ideas. 

We will embrace creative thinking frameworks that help us to break through our common style of thinking.

We will embrace being different.

Being different is scary. Being different requires courage. We got comfortable thinking and behaving similar to others. We will acknowledge the fact that being different is the first step to innovation. 

We will engrave in our hearts that having the majority to say ‘yes’ to our idea is a sign of a ‘bad idea.’ Our idea needs to bring strong opposition as well as support. We don’t aim to please everyone. We aim to make one remarkably excited. 

We will not discriminate against ‘weird’ ideas.

Being weird means it’s less or the least accepted in society. Therefore there is a chance to be innovative. When, one, two then three start to support the idea, then, all of a sudden, the border of ‘common sense’ transforms and changes its shape. Weird becomes ‘cool’, ‘interesting’, ‘new’, and ‘innovative.’ 

We pay attention to ‘weird’-ness.

We will not do ‘free thinking’ but rather conform.

‘Think free’ doesn’t really help us to bring somewhere because it doesn’t help us to challenge our thinking panthers and common perspectives. Instead, we will put ourselves in creative thinking frameworks, forcing ourselves to think in certain manners, we will break through our heavy thinking habit by using “Kata.”

We will conform to this Kata to train our thinking. 

Kata is a Japanese word meaning literally "form" referring to a detailed choreographed pattern. It is practiced in Japanese martial arts as a way to memorize and perfect the movements being executed. 

Using creative thinking “Kata”, we are able to free ourselves from our own habits and expect to see our new ideas emerge.

We will continue to be courageous to beat our bias.

Biases, fixedness, and preconceptions are all enemies of our innovation. We will continue challenging ourselves to be trapped with biases and courageously overcome them. Even if we may break through once, that does not mean that we can rest on our laurels. Not challenging our bias is retreating.