Wow – it's been so, so hot in the UK today.

I think I have some sort of thermal cut out switch which kicks in at about 25°C. After that my brain struggles to work, so writing today's email was a bit of a struggle.

But I did have something important I wanted to talk about that's cropped up a couple of times during the week.

It's dichotomous or polarised thinking.

The tendency to see things in extremes rather than shades of grey.

In marketing you typically see it in words like “none”, “never” or “all”.

As in “none of my clients would pay that much” or “my market never uses Facebook” or “no one is ready to buy when they first meet you”.

Really? None of them? No one?

This kind of thinking stems from oversimplification.

Usually it's true in the majority of cases. But rarely in all.

Maybe most of your clients wouldn't pay that much. But are there enough of them that would to make it worthwhile?

Maybe most of your market isn't on Facebook. But maybe enough are to make it a viable channel – especially if none of your competitors are there.

Maybe the vast majority of people aren't ready to buy when they first meet you. But are there enough to make it worthwhile offering something?

Challenging these oversimplified rules you set for yourself can help you break away from what everyone else is doing and find profitable little niches that others aren't active in.

Because usually they're oversimplifying too and going for the majority rather than exploring whether focusing on the minority might just work.

“None of my clients would pay that much”. “My market never uses Facebook”. “No one is ready to buy when they first meet you”.

These are all oversimplifications I've told myself in the past. And when I realised there might be exceptions and explored them it opened up very profitable possibilities for me.

What oversimplifications or polarisations are you making that are blinding you to great opportunities?

Finding them starts with challenging yourself whenever you say “none” or “never” or “all” or “always”.