Prediction

Judy's Snail

I predict that of the 10 people signed up to come to tomorrow’s workshop MOTIVATION to Beat Procrastination 9 will be what I call A Gestalt Thinker.  The 10th person  lives or interacts with a Gestalt thinker and needs to figure out how to survive in that relationship

What the hey? You say!  Gestalt is a German word that has no English counterpart.  Think of it as  WHOLE picture rather than as pieces of the picture.

VERY simplistically these are two types of  brain HARD wiring:  Gestalt and Linear.  It’s not about personality, intelligence, intention, character – it’s how the brain is wired to perceive the world.

Linear thinkers rarely procrastinate. Procrastination drives them crrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaazy.  They need to know where they are going, what time, how and when they will get there.  If they are forced to take a detour (they will only detour if forced) they get a bit cranky.  With tasks they go from A to B to C to D and finish each before proceeding to the next.  Linear thinkers are thought of in our society as organized, dependable, tidy and factual.

Gestalt thinkers have an idea of where they’re headed but if something interesting happens along the way they will take a detour, spend as long as it FEELS RIGHT and try out many forms of transportation finding each one interesting.  With tasks they start at A and then get sidelined when M pops up and on the way to N they detour to Q and then F on their way back to A leaving each a little finished and a little unfinished until it’s a deadline and then they get it all done by staying up all night.  Gestalt thinkers are thought of in our society as procrastinators, undependable, messy,  scattered, disorganized and emotional.

In my estimation Gestalt thinking gets a really bad rap.  Our brains are hard-wired differently and our view of the world is different.  We see the whole picture first before noticing detail.  We do NOT like tedious linear tasks (like balancing checkbooks, paying bills, making do-to lists.)

We are very creative in that we see POSSIBILITY in EVERYTHING.  That’s why we never throw anything away.  There’s always some use, need or value in everything.

Don’t throw my prediction out.

I’ll let you know if it’s right. 

And if it isn’t right I have the feeling

I’ll figure out how to POSSIBLY explain it.

Gestalt from Webster: psychology : something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts
▪ the gestalt of human consciousness ; broadly : the general quality or character of something
▪ the gestalt [=feel, atmosphere] of the place ▪ the gestalt [=spirit] of the era