Inversion thinking can help us find solutions to our problems

Our brains are really good at coming up with problems and not so good at coming up with solutions. We detect problems more readily than generate solutions due to an evolutionary survival mechanism called the negativity bias. For our ancestors, missing a clump of berries sucked. Missing a predator was fatal.

If you walk into a room filled with 15 adorable puppies and one pissed off cobra, you focus on the cobra (Martha Beck). Negative information triggers stronger and faster brain responses than positive or neutral information. If my daughter is late, my brain doesn’t think, “She lost track of time”. It screams, “She’s lying in a ditch!”

Understanding the negativity bias can be really helpful when working on your mental health or when interacting with others. Hacking the negativity bias can become an efficient problem-solver.

Finding solutions requires more energy than identifying problems because our brains default to quick, easy responses. We often grab the first, easiest fix just to make the anxiety of uncertainty stop.

Your brain is naturally wired to look for problems. Stop fighting it, use it. Flip the thinking.

Inversion thinking involves approaching problems backwards. Focus on what you want to avoid rather than what you want to achieve. Instead of asking “How can I succeed?”, you ask “What would guarantee failure?” and then work to prevent those outcomes.

The Inversion Process:

1. Define your goal.
2. Ask how you could ruin it. Identify the specific factors that would guarantee failure.
3. Avoid those factors or take the opposite action.

From a mental health standpoint, how would you guarantee someone becomes miserable? You would tell them to stop moving their body, stay inside, isolate themselves from friends, and eat garbage food. So, how do you get healthy? Invert it. Go outside, move your body, see your friends, and eat real food (James Clear).