Jeannie Phan for NPR Do you consider yourself an open-minded person? Most people would likely say yes. I mean, who wants to be closed-minded? But the reality is that many of us are probably not as open to new ideas as we might like. It can be hard to reconsider long-held beliefs, and even harder to question things you didn't even know you believed in the first place. I spend the vast majority of my time thinking about the future — I make a podcast about possible tomorrows, and just published a book about them, too. And what I've learned is that the only way you can really successfully think about future scenarios is by being open-minded to new ideas, and especially to the possibility that what we have today isn't the best way of doing things. It's not easy, but I believe that it's work that's worth doing. So how can you practice open-mindedness? Here's what the experts I spoke with say: