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When you want to come up with good ideas, but can’t think of any

People aren’t good at thinking in threes. For example, you might say to your friend:

Shall we go to the cinema or a restaurant tonight? (two options, not three)
Dinner? OK then – Chinese or Italian?
Italian? OK – Il Forno or San Carlo?

Similarly, as you saw in the previous chapter, when people face challenging situations, they tend to think they have only two solutions. And, if neither is satisfactory, they feel powerless to resolve it.

For example, a company recently asked me to help smooth their relationships with some customers. They were worried because, in the face of an onslaught from an irate customer, they felt they’d only had two options – back down or fight – and neither appealed. ...

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