“Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches or pounds, or college degrees or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking.”
David Schwartz
Learning to think properly is by far one of the best skills to possess on this journey to success. Good thinkers are always in demand. In the words of John Maxwell: “A person who knows how may always have a job but the person who knows how will always be his boss.” Good thinkers always solve problems and look to tap into the opportunity in every situation they are in. They also rarely fall prey to deceit or enslavement. Hence they rule themselves and the world by extension. These 5 tips will get you started on your way to good and productive thinking:
- 1. Expose yourself to good input.
- 2. Expose yourself to good thinkers.
- 3. Choose to think good thoughts.
- 4. Act on good thoughts.
- 5. Allow your emotions to create another good thought.
- 6. Repeat
It is important to set out a particular time and place in a day dedicated to thinking good thoughts alone and free from all worldly distractions. Everyone is different, some people think better in the shower, on their bed or even in the front seat of a public bus. Wherever works for you is just fine. The important thing is this, when you’re in your thinking space, let your mind roam freely and any thought or idea that comes to mind, write it down. Don’t let it escape. Note that this idea of yours does not have to be the next light bulb or the next SpaceX; no matter how small the idea may seem, it still counts. Make sure to always write it down as it kind of gives the idea life and also makes for some clarity.
“Learning to write is learning to think.”
S.I Hayakawa
Next is to shape these thoughts. Ideas rarely come fully formed, most of the time they need to be shaped into substance. You also want to hold the ideas up to strong scrutiny because ideas that seemed outstanding late at night may turn silly in the light of day right? Ask questions about the thought and fine-tune them. As you shape the ideas, you find out whether they have potential or not. You also learn somethings about yourself in the process; your creativity might come to light, your honesty improves, your passion clearer, your humility and ability to accept change is also put to test here. The thoughts that don’t pass your scrutiny test should be discarded. As a bonus, the humour from the thoughts that didn’t make it creates a comic relief.
After shaping these thoughts, the next step is to expand the thought. This involves bringing others in to rub minds on the idea and thus stretch it to its full potential. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can take the idea from seed to tree on your own, you will go much further with a team than on your own.
Next is to find a place to land these thoughts. There are three people or groups of people you should land your ideas on:
- 1. Yourself
- 2. Key players
- 3. The target
In landing an idea on yourself, ask these three questions:
- Do I believe it?
- Do I live it?
- Do I believe others should live it?
If you cannot answer Yes to all three questions, then you know what to do. You should probably go back to the drawing board. Secondly, the key players; how will an idea fly if the influencers in that area don’t embrace it. Thirdly, the target audience. These are the ones most affected by the idea. Landing thoughts on the people who are direct recipients can give you first hand feedback. This is the most important group to land your thoughts on. Without their yes, your ideas are have no use case in real life.
“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.“
Louis Bergson
What good is thinking if it is not applied in real life. Thinking without action cannot be productive and that brings us to the final step; fly your thoughts. Whatever your thought may be, without acting on it, they are just thoughts. So take the first step, do not wait until you have it all figured out. Action brings more clarity to thought than mere thinking alone.
Alpha Felicity 
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