Thinking : the hardest work there is

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it. - Henry Ford

In this AI era where artificial intelligence, automation, speed, and efficiency are often prioritized, Henry Ford’s timeless observation about the nature of thinking resonates more than ever. While many people try to engage in this difficult task, Ford's quote highlights the challenge and critical importance of intellectual effort. This article tries to delve into why thinking is tough for all of us, the significance of deep thinking, the modern challenges to engaging in it, and the benefits it brings to both individuals and society.

1. The Nature of Thinking

• Definition and Complexity: Thinking, in its truest sense, goes beyond mere day-to-day decision-making. It involves deep, critical, and creative processes that require substantial effort.
• Types of Thinking:

Analytical Thinking: Dissecting problems to find logical solutions.

Creative Thinking: Innovating and imagining new possibilities.

Strategic Thinking: Planning for the future.

Reflective Thinking: Learning from experiences.

It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. - James Thurber

• Cognitive Effort: Each type of thinking requires concentration, patience, and mental stamina, making it inherently challenging. With a world full of smartphones, news 24X7 and social media, the attention span of people has reduced. Henry Ford quoted the above somewhere in the 1920s - so surely, with all the distractions around, the thinking task has become more challenging.

Let's now see the challenges in thinking.

2. Challenges in Thinking

• Distractions and Information Overload: Technology often distracts us with constant notifications and an overload of information.

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. — Blaise Pascal

• Lack of concentration: The single biggest challenge in thinking is lack of concentration. Thinking requires concentration as the first principle. Without concentration, thinking is nearly impossible.
• Lack of patience and stamina: Thinking requires energy and stamina. It is a highly energy-draining process. Just 15 minutes of deep thinking requires huge effort, patience and stamina. Not many are up for such an effort.
• The Allurement of non-thinking tasks: Non-thinking tasks (e.g. reel checking) are intuitively more enticing and alluring than thinking. Thinking from the outset looks like a boring and lonely affair.
• Pain of the Process: The pain of sitting down, alone, in a corner, away from all distractions itself, is the challenge big enough. Most people don't cross this hurdle. Few of those who cross this can't go through the pain of giving a single attention to the topic at hand.
• Longer Reward lifecycle: Thinking is not an item for instant gratification. The rewards of thinking are mostly more "actions / tasks" to be accomplished. Thus, thinking results in more pain. Thus it is not a "rewarding" activity from an "instant gratification" point of view.
• Educational Systems: The system sometimes prioritizes rote learning and standardized testing over the development of critical thinking skills.
• Psychological Barriers: Fear of failure, laziness, and the discomfort of confronting complex problems can hinder our willingness to think deeply.

3. Benefits of Engaging in Deep Thinking

• Personal Growth: Enhances problem-solving skills, creativity, and emotional intelligence, leading to greater self-awareness and personal growth.
• Professional Success: Fosters better decision-making and innovation, providing a competitive edge in the workplace.
• Societal Progress: The collective intellectual efforts of individuals drive progress and lead to meaningful change. Societies that value and encourage deep thinking are more likely to develop solutions to complex problems.
• Larger picture and achievement: Thinking helps in understanding the problem at hand from different perspectives and thus helps to understand the big picture. Having seen big picture; the small irritant doesn't sound that big a challenge and the focus remains on big picture.

Most People Would Die Sooner Than Think - In Fact, They Do So - Bertrand Russell

4. Strategies to Encourage and Develop Thinking Skills

• Personal Habits: This is a tough one. Most people don't think because of the challenges that we have seen earlier. Given the option - I would also not like to think but just survive without thinking. But then to improve we would need to cultivate habits such as increasing attention span, mindfulness, reading, journaling, and engaging in intellectual discussions to enhance thinking skills. We would need to increase our commitment and stamina to just struggle through the thinking process.
• Distraction Avoidance: Current society as a whole is a distracted one. Most people are engaged in some sort of social media on their mobile phones. Thinking definitely will not flourish with so many distractions around. We would need to keep the smartphones away and remove all distractions to build a habit of thinking.

• Teach them young: We would need to emphasize critical thinking from a young age. Encourage curiosity, questioning, and problem-solving over rote memorization.
• Workplace Initiatives: Create a culture that values and encourages innovation, reflection, strategic thinking and challenge.

Hope you agree with some of the "thoughts" :-)