A New Way of Thinking About Thinking

Have you ever experienced silence? In our ever busy, and often noisy, world, many of us do not know what silence actually sounds like. And given our busy lives, we don’t even think about it much. Today, I ask you to think about it. More than think, I ask you to reflect upon it.

Why?

We need silence to clear away the chaos. We need silence to focus. We need silence to think – and to hear ourselves think.?

Today’s newsletter was inspired by my conversation with Michael Griffin. Michael is a master educator and keynote. His first love is music. His second is education, specifically in music education. Michael creates his reality through a growth mindset. To him, this is the belief that improvement comes from personal training. Today, I ask you to experience part of this growth-mindset through a series of personal (and interpersonal) exercises (below).

Michael, thank you for the inspiration! You are an incredible educator and keynote. Keep inspiring others to think, learn, and grow!

My Challenge

This newsletter takes a different turn than my norm. I hope it achieves what it is intended to achieve – I challenge you to think about your thinking.

I will use this newsletter to ask you a series of questions. After all, I am The Question Guy – it’s what I do. These questions have a specific purpose, which I will clarify at the end. Take some time today to consider the questions. Then spend some time answering them.

Question 1 - Autonomy

What is autonomy? What does it mean to have personal control over your life? What does personal control look like to you? How much of your life do you not have control over? Can you clearly identify the areas you have control over versus the areas you do not have control over?

Question 2 - Work

Some people want things handed to them – like a birthday gift. Others want the challenge of having to find things out. What type of person are you? Do you want everything handed to you or will you go and find things out for yourself? This is an interesting part of self-reflection.

Question 3 - Questions

Life is full of possibilities. We fall short of seeing the possible because our eyes are out of focus (metaphorically speaking, of course). This means we need to regain focus, and we can do this by asking questions. Create a list of questions (at least three) that you would like to have answered before the end of the year 2022.

Question 4 – Strategy

How many times did you get stuck with a task because you simply did not know how to proceed? This happens to many of us. What strategies did you use to figure out the problem, find a solution, and complete the task.

Question 5 - Speak

Earlier I asked you about the sound of silence. Do you know what silence sounds like? Now I ask you to speak – talk to yourself. Do you know the sound of your own voice? What do think about the sound of your own voice? Can you use your voice and your words to effectively communicate ideas, thoughts, and insights? How often do you practice communicating?

Question 6 – Co-creativity

Co-creativity is the engagement of two or more people who put effort into working together for the purpose of completing something. I know family members who work together, synchronously, and asynchronously, to complete a puzzle. On the business side, collaborative teams are assigned to complete projects. What is your experience with co-creativity? What was that experience like? How could it have been better?

Question 7 - Goals

How well do you set goals? I do not mean new year resolutions. I mean actual goals. Goals are things you want to achieve in life. Do you want to start a business? Do you want to write a book or talk on stage? Do you want to grow your personal or professional network? Setting goals – envisioning them, thinking about them, writing them down, planning them out, and executing on that plan – this is a skill set.

Question 8 – Writing

Write down the following prompts and complete the thought.

1.?????Today, I am thinking about _____. What is weighing heavily on your mind? Why is that? Write it down. Experience it with words rather than just thoughts. How will this help you? What types of words are you using to describe the idea, thought?

2.?????I recently heard about _____. What do you think about it? How does it make you feel? What will you do with the information?

3.?????I am interested in _____. What interests you today? Why is it a point of interest today, and not yesterday? Do you think it will interest you tomorrow? How will you know the difference?

4.?????I’m confused about _____. What are you confused about today? Why is that? What will you do about it?

Question 9 – Activity

Being physically active – to the extent that it is meaningful to you – is also important. What types of physical activities are important to you? Why are they important (yes, real question)? What do you get out of these activities? How do you benefit from them?

Reflect Upon Yourself

In your own words, define metacognition.

All of the questions identified in this newsletter address various aspects of metacognition. To become a more productive human being, whether working on individual or team projects, or engaging in some form of personal growth, you should have a better appreciation and understanding of metacognition. Often, we do not use the term. We may use other verbiage such as growth-mindset or mindfulness. Even those who claim to be mentalists or practice mentalism have a thorough understanding of metacognition.

Metacognition is practicing all of the above and getting better at each. The simplest definition of metacognition is ‘thinking about thinking’. But, truth be told, it is much more than that. It is one’s ability to engage in certain thinking, reflection, meditation, questioning, and writing exercises to improve your overall self-awareness. The more time you spend with any or all of these types of exercises, the better you will know yourself.

As identified earlier, part of becoming more self-aware is your ability to interact with others – it’s the co-creative experience. So, with this in mind, practice these thinking exercises with a like-minded friend. Share your thoughts, feelings, and insights with one another.

Take it a bit further – and this is a freebie – develop a mastermind class using anything in this newsletter. Bring a group of like-minded individuals together. Challenge each other in thought and experience.

Finally, I am tagging a few names – colleagues and friends – in this article to get your input into the ideas presented here. I would love to read your words in the comments.

Thank You

I hope you had fun with today’s challenge. Please use any or all of them to motivate yourself to be more than you are today, tomorrow, and hereafter.???

Credit for pics: www.pixabay.com