Think better and achieve more

I’m going to tell you about the strangest thought I had whilst telling a story today.

I had a thought "I was lucky because I didn’t understand."

That’s right, once my lack of understanding was so great that it in fact has bought me immeasurable “luck” today.

A strange but I assure you exceptional thought.

If you'll give me a moment to explain. I'm 35 now, and the incident which made me think that happened to me when I was 18. At that age, I was smart and able to learn. Though, my ability to think and learn would get a steroid level boost soon after.

And if you continue to read this, you will learn one of the ways in which I came to have the extraordinary thinking mind that I have today.

So, my morning began by rooting through my shelves for a book on marketing.

In searching for that book; I came across another. I had not seen it in over 10 years.

This bought back amazing memories of my time in Loughborough University.

Back in 2005 - I would go down to the computer rooms in order to print my essays and photocopy textbooks.

Whilst there one day, I came across 5-6 pages of photocopied material on the topic of better thinking.

It was fascinating stuff and I wanted to know from which book this originated.

Fortunately, I remembered what a classmate had told me about Google Scholar. If you typed a quote or sentence into it, you could find out from which book it originated.

So I type into Google and presto!

Edward DeBono’s Thinking Course.

I ordered my copy from Amazon and read through the book in a week. I knew it had benefited me. However, thinking is a master skill. Its not something that's niched down and easy to see the benefits instantly.

It is only with the benefit of hindsight I can truly see how much it has done for me. This book added immeasurably to my life. One of the core mental processes I use for making decisions is an enhancement on the PMI technique outlined in this book. In fact, I must have thought it was really good as I know for a fact, I went onto read other De Bono books, including the Six Thinking Hats which helped me during an Assessment Centre at the start of my career.

Looking through the pages today, there are ideas in this manual that I'd thought I'd come up with over time. And it is true I have improved or innovated on top of the ideas in the book. Ultimately, I've stood on the shoulders of a giant and unconsciously picked up the mental models from this book.

Realising I am in part where I am today thanks to the incredible work of Mr De Bono gave me an immeasurable feeling of joy. After all, reading a book is good. Learning from it is even better. The real power is in using what you've learnt to make things better.

Thinking is a skill like any other. And if you want to be good at it, you have to practice consistently.

In this modern age of the internet and (poor quality) information overload, one can only hope that a few bright minds continue to read such wonders.

Mr De Bono passed away last summer. Though his work's are timeless. Especially if you're a young person, I recommend you go check this book out right now. Link to buy De Bono's Thinking Course here.

So, the strangest thought I had whilst telling a story today to my brother was that I was lucky because I didn’t understand, because it gave me the motivation to go out and learn more and become a better thinker.

Regards

Thanks for reading. I plan to write and publish more articles. Mainly because I do it anyway (merely no one sees it). I do them for myself in order to reinforce learning and maintain good habits. So, publishing purely for pleasure.

If you are reading this, please feel free to comment below and provide your questions or thoughts.

Also, if there is a specific topic you'd be interested in hearing from me fill in the form (or comment below). If I think my expertise covers it - I'll address it and let you know.

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