Category Archives: Thinking

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking

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“A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.”

-Arthur McBride Bloch, Author of Murphy’s Law Books

Image of a magnifying glass over the word "conclusion"

Image from MP3ringtone

Time pressure is one of many factors affecting our personal and professional worlds. Most people I coach are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress. They feel they are required to accomplish more in less time than ever before, just to keep up.

Critical thinking and decision-making are vital components of the world we live in. It often feels like we are all on a game show in which getting the right answer is only one part of how we win. The speed of our answer is also part of the equation.

The sheer number of decisions we need to make causes many of us to seek short cuts in our decision-making process, to avoid exhaustion and burnout.

EXERCISE:

How are you currently allocating your mental energies to your personal and professional priorities? How can you conserve or strengthen this energy to help you reach your most optimal and wisest conclusion?

Friday Review on Thinking

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FRIDAY REVIEW:  THINKING

How much time do you give to the art of thinking? Here are a few thinking-related posts you may have missed. Click on the link to read the full message:

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“No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.”

 

 

 

 

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“From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.”

 

 

 

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“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather, leads you to the threshold of your mind.”

 

 

 

Threshold of your Mind

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“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom, but rather, leads you to the threshold of your mind.”

-Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer

image from itu.edu

image from itu.edu

Take a moment to get into an imaginary time machine and go back to your youth.

Specifically, I’d like you to visit your grammar school, middle school, high school, college, and if you had them, post-graduate educational experiences.

As you explore each of these periods in your life, take note of the teachers who have made the most memorable and lasting impact on your life. How many of them challenged your thinking and encouraged greater personal inquiry, rather than simply pouring their reservoir of knowledge into you?

EXERCISE:

Who are the current teachers, mentors, and coaches that lead you to expand the threshold of your mind? How can you be such a resource for others in your personal and professional communities?

From the Errors of Others

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“From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.”

—Publilius Syrus, ancient Syrian writer

QC #906

A highly notable technique to support personal growth and development is to encourage people to embrace failure. When we fail, we have the opportunity to pick up experiential lessons from the event.

Today’s quote, however, suggests that not all lessons need to occur from our own failures, setbacks, and stumbles. All we need do is pay particular attention to the misadventures of those around us. From them, we can glean additional nuggets of knowledge and wisdom.

Given the fact that there is only one of you, and so many people in your personal and professional worlds, the odds favor the open and receptive mind in picking up a higher proportion of lessons this way.

EXERCISE:

Where and in what ways can you use the errors of others to pursue greater success and mastery throughout your day?

Everything you Think

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“Don’t believe everything you think.”

—Allan Lokos, founder of the Community Meditation Center in New York City

Photo from Flickr by Karen Neoh

Photo from Flickr by Karen Neoh

I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase, “Don’t believe everything you hear.” Over the years, most of us have learned to take much of what we hear or read with the proverbial grain of salt.

At some point however, we decide what we are going to internalize and cement within us as truth. This choosing, whether intentional or perhaps mostly unconscious, can be useful and at the same time, limiting. Usually, these thoughts help us navigate our world efficiently and effectively, supporting a form of life momentum.

Alternatively, sometimes our thinking simply doesn’t work or serve us in certain situations.

EXERCISE:

Take out a piece of paper or Post-it Note, and write the following questions:

  • How does my current thinking help or hurt this situation?
  • What alternative thoughts would generate even more work-ability?

If you have been reading The Quotable Coach series for some time, you may know that Edward DeBono’s The Six Thinking Hats is a resource I refer to frequently.

“No man can think clearly when…”

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“No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.”

—George Jean Nathan, 20th century American drama critic and editor

Photo from Flickr by Colin Davis

Photo from Flickr by Colin Davis

If you have been reading The Quotable Coach blog for any length of time, you may know that one book I find highly useful is Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono, in which a color is assigned to each of the six ways to think about any issue:

White Hat Objective Thinking
Red Hat Emotional Thinking
Black Hat Negative Thinking
Yellow Hat Optimistic Thinking
Green Hat Creative Thinking
Blue Hat Orchestrative Thinking

The person referred to in this quote is probably using the black and red hats together, and is missing the clear and more effective approach of using all six hats at once.

EXERCISE:

Consider reading The Six Thinking Hats so that you and those in your professional and personal lives can reap the benefit of clear and collaborative thinking.

Reply to this message and I will be happy to send you a one-page summary of DeBono’s book. Simply put “Six Thinking Hats” in the subject line of your reply.

“If you see the world in black and white, you’re missing important grey matter.”

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“If you see the world in black and white, you’re missing important grey matter.”

—Jack Fyock, PhD, Market Strategies International

When was the last time you had a conversation with a friend, colleague, or family member in which they responded to a statement with “I know”? Not the “I know” that is agreeing with the statement. This is the “I Know!” that indicates they have fundamentally stopped listening and have stuffed what you are saying into a pre-existing black/white category in their mind.

Ask those in your life how often you step into this “I Know” world — we all do this to help simplify our lives and navigate our world with greater ease. Alternatively, as Fyock suggests, we may be missing much of life by not using all of our grey matter to experience the many shades of grey an expansive and diverse life can offer.

EXERCISE

Imagine you were an artist who only had black and white paint to work with, and there was a rule forbidding you from mixing them together.

Now remove this limitation and paint away.

How can reducing your black and white “I Know” thinking expand your cerebral canvas to lead a more diverse and expansive life?

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

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“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

– Aristotle, Greek Philosopher & Student of Plato

Photo from Flickr by RasMarley

Photo from Flickr by RasMarley

For centuries, people believed the world was flat. Aristotle himself considered that “fact” long and hard before he accepted the spherical shape of the Earth on empirical grounds around 330 BC. Today “flat earth” thinking won’t get the job done.

Aristotle suggests that the ability to think through an issue without the issue having a good/bad, true/false, yes/no perspective is an indicator of educated intellect. In some regards, an open mind is an access point to creativity and invention.

EXERCISE:

Consider, as you go through your day, how quickly you accept or reject a thought, a statement, a request, without “entertaining” the possibility of its validity. What can you learn about yourself and your life by being willing to let go of immediate judgments or decisions?

“There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem and a concerned person solves a problem.”

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“There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem and a concerned person solves a problem.”

—Harold Stephens, American Author

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Image from Flickr by Debs

Have you ever watched a mouse racing around one of those circular wheels, never getting anywhere? They run and run and always end up in the same place. Alternatively, think about running on a treadmill. We get all worked up and sweaty, but find ourselves in the same place.

Worry is like that. In this case, the treadmills are in our minds. Concern, on the other hand, seems to have more of a mobilizing quality that takes us out of our heads and off those treadmills so we can set out on a journey to an eventual solution.

Exercise:

Where would a shift from worry to concern mobilize your thoughts and actions toward a successful solution in some important professional or personal issue today?

 

“Great minds like a think.”

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 “Great minds like a think.”

– The Economist

Image from The Economist

Image from The Economist

Based on research from the Jenkins Group, one-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42% of college graduates never read another book after college, and 80% of families did not buy or read a book last year.

Great minds, like great bodies, need exercise. Reading and thinking about new ideas is like doing cerebral sit-ups, toning our cores to have those six-pack abs we desire.

Exercise:

How will you exercise your mental muscles in the coming days, weeks, and years ahead to avoid the atrophy of the mind?

Consider taking the “use it or lose it” mental fitness challenge in Episode 10 of Brain Games, from National Geographic.