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3 min read Principles

When learning removes thinking

A practical demonstration of how “The answers to complex problems lie in simple solutions” 👌🏻

When learning removes thinking
Photo by camilo jimenez / Unsplash

Here’s another example of “Think less, live more” that came up in a coaching conversation this morning.

Back in the old days, when Giles was a doctor in a hospital (another life! 😮) most people during their training would rotate through A&E (Accident & Emergency, or E.R. if you’re on the other side of the pond).

[Things may be very different now… you’re just going to have to accept that this story is coming to you from the late 1900’s.]

👴🏻😆


It was scary to start. There were sometimes really sick people who would die pretty sharp-ish, without intervention, and it was our job (the team) to stop that from happening.

As relative newbies, us juniors’d had a bunch of training, learning things from textbooks and lectures, but when it came to the crunch, it was terrifying. I never felt like I knew what I was doing, always felt like I was in the way, and had a lot of thinking about it all, before, during and after these events.

But there were courses that we got sent on, to help with this universal experience: ALS (Advanced Life Support) and ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support).

(I love that they both have “advanced” in the title; acknowledging that your bog standard medical training just ain’t gonna cut the mustard here!)

Anyway, you’re encouraged to do these courses, and I dutifully attended both (out of my own pocket, natch – this is the NHS we’re talking about) and as a result I felt better, and performed much better during the life-threatening medical events that I was a part of.

Why?

“Because you learned a whole load of new stuff, Giles, obviously – you dummy!” I hear you cry.

But I don’t think that was it at all.

Here's what I think was going on, and how it's going to help you find solutions to all the seemingly complex problems you face in your life…

🧐💭😲