Thinking about Thinking

Do you ever stop and think about your thinking?(by the way - this is called?metacognition)? Amazingly few people do, yet, how we think can be the greatest impediment to us becoming better or it can be our greatest tool to become better in all areas of our lives.

We have been reading more and more about how our brains work and how we think and it is astonishing how some simple changes in how we think can have profound effects on our lives. Now, to be clear, simple does not always mean easy, but sometimes the changes are easy and incredibly effective.

One simple change that I was taught was to look at something and invert it. For example, some people I know have always been taught that you have to get up early and “get after it” - that early morning was the best time to do important things and if you had a hard time getting up, then you had a problem - maybe not. In the case of some of my family members and some of the leaders I coach, they actually work better later in the day and not the first thing in the morning. So, they just learned to “invert” their schedule. Instead of forcing themselves to get up at an hour that did not work for them, they adjusted their schedule (as best they could) and moved key items to later in the day. The key is that they examined the way they were thinking and then they changed the way they thought about how a day should be structured.

The thing is -?think about your thinking. What is it about your thinking that is holding you back? What myth, urban legend, old saying, internet quote, or whatever is keeping you from doing your best?

Some Interesting Quotes about Thinking

“Part of the disconnect, I eventually became convinced, comes from the reality that we’ve lost our familiarity with the concept of ‘thinking’ as a concrete and isolatable activity; something that can be prioritized, and trained, and even cherished as a valuable pursuit in its own right.” -?Cal Newport“

“Our intellectual self-reliance skills have withered. . . The key is to think for ourselves, to not outsource our thinking to others.” -?Vikram Mansharamani

What is the simplest way to achieve this result?” -?Greg McKeown

“I changed the way I thought about what I was capable of, and that changed everything.” -?Jon Acuff

“. . .take every thought captive. . .”?2 Corinthians 10:5

“Growth requires you to be open to unlearning ideas that previously served you.” -?James Clear

“You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.” -?James Clear