Peter Drucker, one of the great thinkers of modern management, observed that young executive stalled in their career because they lack the essential skills to walk into a situation and grasp the whole picture at once - the gestalt.  

It is amazing how much details we failed to notice, when our perceptual sensibility is clouded by our pre-occupation with analysis.  

In typical business occasions, our thoughts are usually quick to perform analysis that often gets distorted by our values, judgments, and experience.  As our mind is busy processing the information, we are distracted from hearing, sensing and seeing the obvious that is just in front of us.  Without a trained mind, we fail to notice the change in voice tone, tightening of jaw muscle, tension in the shoulder, or subtle change in the eye.  We often hear the spoken words without getting the real messages.  Excessive analysis does hamper perception sensibility, and can potentially become barriers to personal growth and development.

However, it is incorrect to say that analytical skill is not important.  The converse is true.  Analytical thinking is one of key essential skills needed to dissect and solve complex problems.    However, we need to use our analytical skill as a tool effectively, and not become its slave.  If we don't restraint its use, our analytical skill can really become barriers to personal growth and development.  We need to let this capacity of our mind take a back seat, when it comes a time where other more powerful essential skills are required.

What are the other more powerful essential skills?

Whether you are an executive or entrepreneur, your career success hinges on the ability to quickly grasp the key issues among fuzzy noises in critical situations.  Your performance in all aspects of life can be improved if you master three essential skills to enhance your perceptual sensibility ? Instinct, Creativity and Imagination.

Instinct

Our instinct is powerful tools that can help us gain a lot more information than our usual senses.  It can tell us things in our environment that directly affects our well-being.  

Sometime, certain information or thoughts just come to our mind, prompting us to take certain actions that greatly impact the course of our life.  Instinct is the higher kind of knowledge that comes from direct experience.  When instinct is at work, we just know it without any need to figure anything out or to analysis the situation.  Our heightened sense of awareness receives all the information we need without us trying too hard.

Creativity

Creativity runs opposite to analysis.  It is only possible when the mind thinks in a non-linear way.  Creativity can help us solve problems at a higher level that is impossible with analysis.  Besides increasing our effectiveness in work, it also adds color and beauty to our life.

Many people never thought that they are creative.  We failed to realize that everyone has a mind that is a huge creative force.  Creativity is a natural and constant process of our mind.  However, creativity is often inhibited by rules and restrictions that are imposed on it externally.  This is in stark contrary with analysis, where rules and restriction are the basis of its function.

Creativity can be nurtured with a spirit of adventure, as well as the willingness to experiment and change the rules.  A simple way to kick-start the development of creativity is to make changes to things that we do day in and day out as a matter of rules or habits.  In our daily life, there are plenty of opportunities to find new ways to do the same old things.  By consciously looking out for ways for improvement, we activate the creative genius within us to start exercising its creative muscle.

Imagination

Imagination is the language of the subconscious mind, which defies analysis.  It helps direct our creative force, and lead our thoughts into a multi-dimensional paradigm.  There are two ways to use our imagination: Reflective or Active.

Using imagination in a reflective way tune your attention inward to develop intuition.  On the other hand, using imagination in an active way helps build your vision and creates the outcome you want.

Concluding Remarks:

It is clear that instinct, creativity and imagination runs on a totally contrasting mental paradigm from analytical thinking.  In fact, the development of the above three essential skills will be obstructed when we put our analytical skill on over-drive.  These powerful resources are within everyone one of us.  With constant practice, you can develop these skills to enhance your perception sensibility, which plays a critical role in your personal growth and development.  

Now, are you convinced that your analytical skills can become barriers to personal growth and development?