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1 • Perceptual Blocks

A perceptual block is caused by the mind's tendency to short-circuit and jump to a conclusion too rapidly. We look at some­thing, and what we see appears to be all there is. (The way the human male can look at a well-endowed young female, and im­mediately overestimate all her other attributes.) However, per­ception, as we are using it here, is not limited to the physical act of seeing. It also includes the mental act of synthesizing facts or observations into a whole. This manifests itself frequently when we are given a new problem to work on, with an incomplete background of facts. We jump to a conclusion on the basis of the facts we have, and then put our minds to work trying to justify that conclusion. Actually we frequently block ourselves from ever solving the problem satisfactorily because the jump carried us to the wrong conclusion.

A glance at the drawing on the next page will probably give you a firsthand demonstration of a perceptual block in action. What did you see when you first looked at it?—a wineglass?—or two faces looking at each other?

If you saw the wineglass, you saw a white object in front of a black background. If you first saw the faces, you saw black objects in front of a white background. By now, of course, you should be able to see both pictures—but only one at a time. Although it is possible to make an instantaneous mental shift back and forth, you cannot see both pictures at one and the same time. Therefore, if, when you first looked at the drawing, your mind stopped with a single impression—either the wineglass or the faces—and did not go on to see the other, you were being restricted by a perceptual block.

Fig. 1

Now let's translate that into a very common business problem with a salesman as an example: This salesman is on his way into a plant to call on the purchasing agent. In his hand is a briefcase containing a catalogue describing a whole line of products his company has to sell. But this salesman is calling on that purchas­ing agent to sell him one item he thinks the man might be interested in buying. He either makes the sale or he doesn't, and then he leaves. On the way in, and on the way out, he passed right by a dozen opportunities to sell other products he had right in that catalogue right in the briefcase, right in his hand. But he never even saw these opportunities because his perception was limited to that one opportunity he had in mind when he entered the plant. This is the kind of perceptual block that hurts—it costs money!

Another example: we watch a fellow-executive or co-worker who seems to be the most industrious man in the company. He works nearly every night and at least one day every weekend, in addition to his daily schedule on the job. Everyone is impressed with his industriousness, and everyone is worried about his "killing pace," because he is obviously suffering from overwork. It is easy and all too common to "pin medals" on this man. Chances are his management wishes they had a dozen more like him so they could take life easier themselves. But with what we know about efficient working habits and methods today, such a work schedule for any man cannot possibly be justified. If a man has to work long hours of overtime and extra days a week to handle his job, then there is either something wrong with the man or something wrong with the job. In either case, a change is called for.

Another way in which we can be perceptually blocked is in our inability to carry over, or "transfer," the creative abilities we already have. As examples: an engineer who solves problems wholesale on his job every day—but who has to use brute force to get his ten-year-old son to turn off the TV and go to bed at ten o'clock. Or a highly talented designer who can't solve simple problems of personal finance and money management and so has to spend his time both in and out of the office dodging collection agencies. Or the do-it-yourself home hobbyist who spends every spare hour creating beautiful pieces of furniture—starting with orange crates—but who treats his job as a dull routine, to be gotten through with in the easiest possible way every day, when actually any job presents the same kind of creative challenge he enjoys in his basement workshop. All these people are blocked from using their imaginations because they do not see, or do not realize, that the same methods, the same attitudes, and the same approaches that they use so successfully in one field can also be applied to solving their personal problems or job problems of other types.

Perceptual blocks, then, are all those factors that prevent us from getting a complete, accurate, and pertinent picture of the world around us. If you do not know with accuracy what your world or your problems really consist of, you will find it ex­tremely difficult, and perhaps impossible, to be creative.

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