We’re all looking for ways to get that jump on the competition or trying to figure out how they keep getting that jump on you. Sometimes, both.

The problem is that we don’t know how to do it.

We’re looking for a missing owner’s manual that tells us how to “see what others miss” and “do what other extremely successful business people do.” If it were easy, we’d all be doing it. It’s not. It’s hard to see what’s often hidden in plain sight. Why? We’re mentally stuck.

We’re stuck because we’re constrained by our habits and the results they deliver. Habits aren’t bad things, after all. Learning the shortcuts that get us through the day is one of the great success stories of the human brain. But when you’ve maxed out the utility of your current way of doing things, you need to find a way to quickly, effectively change them---and your results.

So, let’s give you the tools to quickly change your habits. Here are five mental shifts---the missing owner’s manual---that you can use to achieve escape velocity from your habits and uncover opportunities that were there all along, hidden in plain sight.

Shift #1: Question the givens.
What are your givens? What do you think is gospel truth? Stop. What changes in the calculus of your thinking if these assumed sacred cows aren’t sacred at all? What options have just opened up for you?

What if having landline phones---and the switch in the office, plus the labor costs of billing and arguing about the bill with the guests checking out---aren’t necessary in your new hotel? What if you don’t need a keypad on your phone or a hard drive in your computer?

Shift #2: Shift time.
How can we turn a marathon into a sprint or a sprint into a marathon? How can you find time where your opponent thinks the game is over? How can you end the game early and wrap up a win when the other guy is still warming up?

Can you pre-empt a protracted contract negotiation with a one-time offer? Can you blunt the force of a competitor’s offer with a longer term deal that stretches out over the horizon?

Shift #3: Shift interactions.
Are you doing more of the same and expecting a different outcome? Do you think the answer is pushing harder? It isn’t, in all likelihood. What are your attempted solutions that aren’t working? Characterize the solution, and create a 180-degree opposite solution, from “ordering” to “requesting,” for example. Are you taking action when you should be listening? Are you not taking action when you should, dodging instead of informing?

How can you change how your company communicates with your most important prospects in a way that changes the dynamic from its status quo to one where a new response would be needed?

Shift #4: Shift perceptions.
How do you declare that “the debate is over”? How do you create the appearance of success so that it becomes success? Perceptions may or may not be reality, but they can become reality if we get people seeing things our way.

Feinberg tells a great story in his book of a general under siege in a castle tossing its last cow over the walls stuffed with the last of its grain, causing the besiegers to think their enemies were laughing while sitting on a stockpile of food. It caused the besiegers to withdraw.

Shift #5: Shift structures.
Are there conflicting structures---goals, in this case---that are neutralizing your best efforts? Are your goals and your targets goals in alignment or in conflict? Can you replace the existing reward structure with one that gives you a natural advantage?

Sony was a slave to its internal structures and watched as Apple launched the iPod and iTunes. Sony was a linear technology company, a tape company, not a digital one, and it truly believed its ownership of a music label was a coup because it gave them proprietary control of a stable of artists. They missed on all fronts.

Five shifts, all aimed at helping you break the mental adhesions that hold you back. Question the given, shift time, shift interactions, shift perceptions and shift structures. That’s Q-TIPS, for short.

For more details, go read "Seeing What Others Miss: Creating Advantages Through Tactical Shifting" in the Winter edition of The Conference Board Review. You can also download it in PDF format.

Regards.