Every now and again, I meet someone or encounter a moment that flips my thinking.

I was talking to someone today, and when they described the walking route they took to our meeting, they said they came over the forty-two stripe crossing.

Naturally, I asked what that meant. 

They explained, a forty-two stripe crossing is to get across a double road, so I have to walk fast. A twenty-two stripe crossing is just for a single road, and I can take my time more.

‘How do you know?’ I asked.

‘I count them, I count the stripes’, came the reply.

I walked into that answer. Obviously, that is how you know, and I should have guessed as this is the same person that introduced me to the following…

“I always take the leaflets from the people handing them out because I am helping them do their job, and that gives me satisfaction. One day they might be in the position to help me do my job.”

“When I use the Dyson hand washer and dryer in the office, I pray because then I know I activate the washer and the dryer in the correct order.”

“Beijing hotpot is like a barbecue but with water instead of flames. A water barbecue.”

“The overpass is useful because I can walk up and down the steps on the same side so I can see pavement road ahead of me.”

And the one other thing that they taught me at a previous catch-up when they used a fly away comment. 

‘When I see a question, I ask an opposite question to that just for fun.’

Back then, I asked for an example, and they shared some that were roughly like this…

The question; If you go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

The opposite; If you couldn’t move more than 5 miles from your current location, what would you do?

The question; If you order food for your last ever meal, what would you order?

The opposite; If you had to order food for someone else’s last ever meal, what would you order them?

The question; If you could learn anything like in the Matrix movie, what would it be?

The opposite; If you had to unlearn something in an instant, what would it be?

The question; If you didn’t have to earn money, what would you do?

The opposite; If you had to make a lot of money fast, what would you do?

The question; If you had to give all your money away to a charity right now, what charity would it be?

The opposite; If you had to work for a year for a charity for no pay, what charity would you choose?

I forgot about using this technique. It is interesting.

It is good to challenge you’re thinking by asking the opposite question to what you would typically ask. 

Or ask the opposite question that you would want to ask or did ask.

It is the road less travelled.

This has given me something new to explore.