Get Off the Escalator

The following video was posted on Youtube by:   

Motivating Success - Videos to Inspire & Motivate and is the reason my url is getofftheescalator.

 

 

 It is an extreme and I think rather humorous way of showing exactly what functional fixedness is. To these people the escalator means stand there and wait tell it gets to the top. There is no other way to get to the top than to just stand their. Because they are fixed on the idea that all you can do is stand on the elevator, they are stuck.

 

The solution seems so simple when we are able to look at it from an observers point of view, but many people do get stuck (perhaps not physically like the two on the escalator are but at least mentally). It maybe not be in this particular circumstance, but in situations that are similar to this. Even though the answer is right there looking them in the face, they are stuck. As you can see even the maintenance man, an expert on elevators is not sure how to get out of his current position. Functional fixedness can and will happen to everyone no matter how experienced they are. Everyone can get to the top. All they simply need to do is walk off the escalator.

Greetings!

Hello lovely people,
My name is Natalie and you are currently reading the first blog that I have ever created (so pardon any novice mistakes that may be made on my behalf).

I believe that one of the largest obstacles that man has ever had to overcome is functional fixedness. The worst part is, functional fixedness is something that is created within ones self. What is this diabolical beast that dwells inside of us all? Well, when someone has a problem that they cant solve, functional fixedness is there to tell you there is no answer. When you have writers block, or something is stopping you from innovation, functional fixedness is there smiling through its jagged teeth because its job is already done.

Psychology Dictionary, the worlds most comprehensive online psychology dictionary defines functional fixedness as "a term used in problem solving where there is a tendency to cling to set patterns and overlook possible new approaches. May overlook different uses for an object."
Functional fixedness is a mental bias that locks you into only thinking about objects, concepts, and people in one way.

Functional fixedness keeps the human race at a stand still. It says that there is nothing better than the wheel, and we shouldn't even go about thinking of the hovercraft. On a smaller scale, functional fixedness creates an obstinate individual who claims to be pragmatic. This pragmatism is at great cost though, as many of those same people that are faced with a task that requires just an ounce of creativity simply say "I am not creative enough to do this."

So many people do not understand that is not them themselves that are uncreative but their mind. The mind can be trained to be more creative. No one has to except being uncreative. This is one of the things that I hope to help people with in this blog. I will also celebrate what happens when this functional fixedness is finally subdued. As well as little tests to see how functionally fixed you are. I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I hope I will enjoy writing it.