What’s a successful person’s greatest resource in difficult times? Good thinking!
Good thinkers are always in demand. A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss.
Good thinkers solve problems, they never lack ideas for building an organization, and they always have hope for a better future. Good thinkers rarely find themselves at the mercy of ruthless people who would take advantage of them or try to deceive them, people like Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who once boasted, “What luck for rulers that men do not think.”
Those who develop the process of good thinking can rule themselves – even while under an oppressive ruler or in other difficult circumstances. In short, good thinkers are successful.
***
I’ve studied successful people for forty years, and though the diversity you find among them is astounding, I’ve found that they are all alike in one way: how they think!
That is the one thing that separates successful people from unsuccessful ones. And here’s the good news. How successful people think can be learned. If you change your thinking, you can change your life!
HOW TO BECOME A BETTER THINKER
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:
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.
***
This article is an excerpt from the introduction to my latest book, How Successful People Think. Available now from booksellers in the United States, it’s derived from my book, Thinking for a Change.
Edited and distilled down to the bare essentials, this book is designed to help you expand your thinking and achieve your dreams with the following…
11 keys to successful thinking:
1. Cultivate Big-Picture Thinking
2. Engage in Focused Thinking
3. Harness Creative Thinking
4. Employ Realistic Thinking
5. Utilize Strategic Thinking
6. Explore Possibility Thinking
7. Learn from Reflective Thinking
8. Question Popular Thinking
9. Benefit from Shared Thinking
10. Practice Unselfish Thinking
11. Rely on Bottom-Line Thinking
28 responses so far ↓
1 dannybuntu // Jun 8, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Do you have free copies?
2 Layne Diehl // Jun 8, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Just finished “Thinking for a Change” for the second time and read part of the last chapter to my senior leadership team this morning. Ironic to get your tweet with these excerpts this evening! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on thought. These are important messages that I hope will have an impact on many. ~L
3 Twitted by julianserena // Jun 8, 2009 at 7:37 pm
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4 Stephen Blandino // Jun 8, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Good words John. Thinking for a Change was a great book. I really appreciate your point about exposing yourself to good thinkers. Too often leaders are overcome by the disease of “mindless mingling.” Mindless mingling occurs when the thinking life of a leader experiences a deficit because of limited knowledge capital or a limited relational network. http://bit.ly/bCiIZ
5 Twitted by 4Sobotka // Jun 8, 2009 at 7:57 pm
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6 Twitted by STurnerCR // Jun 8, 2009 at 8:00 pm
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7 Anonymous // Jun 8, 2009 at 10:18 pm
THANKS MR. MAXWELL, THAT WAS GREAT. GOTTA PUT IT INTO MY DAILY ROUTINE, AND STAY ON TRACK WITH IT. GOT ANY TIPS ON STAYING FOCUSED IN A HOSTILE WORK ENVIROMENT ?
8 l8dyc // Jun 8, 2009 at 10:20 pm
sorry wrong name( not anonymous)
9 Aaron // Jun 9, 2009 at 3:14 am
Very inspiring words. It certainly motuvates me to get the book and pursue better thinking practices.
10 Jason Lee CJ // Jun 9, 2009 at 3:33 am
Awesome post! looking for good thinkers in Hobart. Anyone?
11 Ranai Cholez // Jun 9, 2009 at 7:19 am
Thank you. I’m looking forward to reading the book!
12 Paulo Joao // Jun 9, 2009 at 7:21 am
Brilliant thought
Thanks
from Portugal
13 Doubledown Tandino // Jun 9, 2009 at 8:26 am
LOVE THE ARTICLE!
Just one thing though, stop teaching people how to think.. and instead, teach them how to hire thinkers like me :O)
14 Syam // Jun 9, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Great article!
I will practice it in my life!
15 Steve Broe // Jun 9, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Great post, Dr. John! In addition to your suggestions, thinkers might want to break their routine patterns of processing information, which does not constitute higher levels of thinking. Effective leaders can get out of mental ruts by learning a musical instrument, working with a Whack Pack (developed by Roger Von Oech), watch a Marx Brothers movie, or cast the I Ching (ancient book of changes). Love your column, keep it coming please.
Dr. Steve Broe
http://blog.mycareerimpact.com
16 Tes Casin // Jun 10, 2009 at 5:07 am
I have always been your follower. I always tell my friends that YOU are my mentor. Now you know!
Thanks a lot.
17 Khanh Luu // Jun 11, 2009 at 5:58 am
It’s great when reading each of your word, your advisor. Love each line of yours, such a great influence, positive impact.
18 Lucia Diaz // Jun 11, 2009 at 11:24 am
This is awesome! Thanks!!!
From El Paso, TX.
19 SELF-RESPONSIBILITY « Affirmative Thinking // Jun 12, 2009 at 12:40 am
[...] How successful people think by John Maxwell [...]
20 gaby317 // Jun 15, 2009 at 7:48 pm
This sounds both helpful and interesting. I’d been trying to practice the first three but had never thought to articulate these principles.
Thank you – I’ll have to check out your book.
21 dave // Jun 15, 2009 at 10:26 pm
that’s great!!!
22 lisa // Jun 23, 2009 at 1:13 pm
“Thinking for a Change” changed my life. I didn’t understand how to harness my creativity and follow through to completion. I am going to get a “thinking chair” that is brilliant!
23 people-power // Jul 11, 2009 at 6:05 am
Success coms to those who has a mountain of gold that they continually mine. It’s not the one-hit wonder or one-time inventor that remains at the top. Creating momentum is the key, good thinking can be fueled by your emotions. Try riding the mental energy of that thought, it is a phenomenal concept. Loved that, always see and seize it, then you will have many touch-downs in your journey of dreams. Another well done lesson, looking forward to the next.
When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.
24 HOW SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE THINK « Repair The Breach // Jul 20, 2009 at 7:20 pm
[...] across this post from John Maxwell (one my favorite authors and teachers!!). In post he shares the importance of [...]
25 Dr. Beverly T. Jaro // Jul 23, 2009 at 6:07 am
I’m from the Philippines, is this book available now in our country? Just checked out in National Bookstore, its not available. I want to purchase 1 copy. Where can i find it?
26 Nida Lopez // Jul 25, 2009 at 1:20 am
I enjoy the concepts and the realization… its something simple to do and does not require much effort, yet often we get caught up in what we are programmed to think instead of focusing on our own creative cognitive minds. These basic suggestions could help society to be less reactive and more proactive
27 Jamie // Aug 14, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Thank you Mr Maxwell for your wisdom and your leadership advice. My Pastor is a very smart guy who has read every one of your books. I am trying to catch up with him! He often says that if you’re the smartest person in your group, that you need to change groups! That goes right along with the “iron sharpens iron” quote from Proverbs. I can’t wait to get this book!
28 How Successful People Think « VemmaMax // Aug 17, 2009 at 9:21 am
[...] Full Article (Dr. John Maxwell): Here [...]