Do you want to master the process of good
thinking? Do you want to be a better thinker tomorrow than you are today?
Then you need to engage in an ongoing process that improves your
thinking. I recommend you do the following:
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| think smart |
1. Expose Yourself to Good Input
Good thinkers always prime the pump of ideas.
They always look for things to get the thinking process started, because what
you put in always impacts what comes out.
Read books, review trade magazines, listen to
CDs, and spend time with good thinkers. And when something intrigues
you-whether it’s someone else’s idea or the seed of an idea that you’ve come up
with yourself-keep it in front of you. Put it in writing and keep it somewhere
in a favorite place to stimulate your thinking.
2. Expose Yourself to Good Thinkers
All of the people in my life whom I consider to
be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers. Now, I love all people. I try
to be kind to everyone I meet, and I desire to add value to as many people as I
can through conferences, books, audio lessons, etc. But the people I seek out
and choose to spend time with all challenge me with their thinking and their
actions. They are constantly trying to grow and learn.
The writer of Proverbs observed that sharp people
sharpen one another, just as iron sharpens iron. If you want to be a sharp
thinker, be around sharp people.
3. Choose to Think Good Thoughts
To become a good thinker, you must become
intentional about the thinking process. Regularly put yourself in the right
place to think, shape, stretch, and land your thoughts. Make it a priority.
Thinking is a discipline.
Recently I had breakfast with Dan Cathy, the
president of Chick-fil-A, a fast food restaurant chain headquartered in the
Atlanta area. I told him that I was working on this book and I asked him if he
made thinking time a high priority. Not only did he say yes, but he told me
about what he calls his “thinking schedule.” It helps him to fight the hectic
pace of life that discourages intentional thinking. Dan says he sets aside time
just to think for half a day every two weeks, for one whole day every month,
and for two or three full days every year. Dan explains, “This helps me ‘keep
the main thing, the main thing,’ since I am so easily distracted.”
You may want to do something similar, or you can
develop a schedule and method of your own. No matter what you choose to do, go
to a special thinking place, take paper and pen, and make sure you capture your
ideas in writing.
4. Act on Your Good Thoughts
Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on
them before the expiration date. World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker said
it all when he remarked, “I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think
things through-then follow through.”
5. Allow Your Emotions to Create Another
Good Thought
To start the thinking process, you cannot rely on
your feelings. In Failing Forward, I wrote that you can act your way
into feeling long before you can feel your way into action. If you wait until
you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it. The same is
true for thinking. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking to do it.
However, I’ve found that once you engage in the process of good thinking, you
can use your emotions to feed the process and create mental momentum.
Try it for yourself. After you go through the
disciplined process of thinking and enjoy some success, allow yourself to savor
the moment and try riding the mental energy of that success. If you’re like me,
it’s likely to spur additional thoughts and productive ideas.
6. Repeat the Process
One good thought does not make a good life. The
people who have one good thought and try to ride it for an entire career often
end up unhappy or destitute. They are the one-hit wonders, the one-book
authors, the one-message speakers, the one-time inventors who spend their life
struggling to protect or promote their single idea. Success comes to those who
have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find
one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years. To become someone who can
mine a lot of gold, you need to keep repeating the process of good thinking.
Credit: John C. MAXWELL
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