Archive for thinking
Quotes to make you think
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I’ve mentioned before that I love to collect quotes; in fact, I’ve been doing it since I was a young man. Today I went to my files and pulled out a sampling of my favorite quotes on Thinking, which I’m sharing with you here.
Feel free to collect and file them yourself. Or pin one up to inspire your thinking this week.
The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-class mind is only happy when it is thinking. –AA Milne
Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others. –Meng-Tzu
Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in public and private life, have been the consequences of action without thought. -Bernard Baruch
Thought is action in rehearsal. –Sigmund Freud
Great leaders don’t think outside the box – they bury it. And then they make darn sure none of their followers are tempted to dig it up again. –Jeff O’Leary
Thinking is one thing no one has ever been able to tax. –Charles Kettering
The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do. –BF Skinner
The biggest lesson I have learned is the stupendous importance of what we think. If I knew what you think, I would know what you are, for your thoughts make you what you are; by changing our thoughts, we can change our lives. –Dale Carnegie
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without [necessarily] accepting it. –Aristotle
More Thinking resources can be found in my book, How Successful People Think.
Change your thinking, change your life?
Posted by: | CommentsCan changing your thinking really change your life? Consider this: I’ve studied successful people for forty years, and though the diversity you find among them is astounding, I believe they are all alike in one way: how they think! That is the one thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful.
The good news is that it’s possible to learn how to think like a successful person. But before we can learn from a good thinker, we need to know what they look like. You often hear someone say that a colleague or friend is a “good thinker,” but that phrase means something different to everyone. To one person it may mean having a high IQ, while to another it could mean knowing a bunch of trivia or being able to figure out whodunit when reading a mystery novel.
I believe that good thinking isn’t just one thing. It consists of several specific thinking skills. Becoming a good thinker means developing those skills to the best of your ability. In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras describe what it means to be a visionary company, the kind of company that epitomizes the pinnacle of American business. They describe it this way:
A visionary company is like a great work of art. Think of Michelangelo’s scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or his statue of David. Think of a great and enduring novel like Huckleberry Finn or Crime and Punishment. Think of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or Shakespeare’s Henry V. Think of a beautifully designed building, like the masterpieces of Frank Lloyd Wright or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. You can’t point to any one single item that makes the whole thing work; it’s the entire work—all the pieces working together to create an overall effect—that leads to enduring greatness.
Good thinking is similar. You need all the thinking “pieces” to become the kind of person who can achieve great things. I believe that those pieces include eleven skills, which I’ve listed below. After each is a question you can ask yourself to measure your own thinking:
1. Cultivate Big-Picture Thinking
Am I thinking beyond myself and my world so that I process ideas with a holistic perspective?
2. Engage in Focused Thinking
Am I dedicated to removing distractions and mental clutter so that I can concentrate with clarity on the real issue?
3. Harness Creative Thinking
Am I working to break out of my “box,” exploring ideas and options, so I can experience creative breakthrough?
4. Employ Realistic Thinking
Am I building a solid foundation on facts so that I can think with certainty?
5. Utilize Strategic Thinking
Am I implementing strategic plans that give me direction for today and increase my potential for tomorrow?
6. Explore Possibility Thinking
Am I unleashing the enthusiasm of possibility thinking to find solutions for even seemingly impossible problems?
7. Learn from Reflective Thinking
Am I regularly revisiting the past to gain a true perspective and think with understanding?
8. Question Popular Thinking
Am I consciously rejecting the limitations of common thinking in order to accomplish uncommon results?
9. Benefit from Shared Thinking
Am I consistently searching the minds of others to think “over my head” and achieve compounding results?
10. Practice Unselfish Thinking
Am I continually considering others and their journey in order to think with maximum collaboration?
11. Rely on Bottom-Line Thinking
Do I stay focused on the bottom line so that I can gain the maximum return and reap the full potential of my thinking?
Based on your answers to the questions, where are you strongest? In what kind of thinking do you need to grow? Develop in any of those areas, and you’ll become a better thinker. Master all that you can—especially the process of shared thinking, which helps you compensate for your weak areas—and your life will change.
For specific guidance on developing as a good thinker, my book, How Successful People Think, devotes a chapter to each of the above skills. A companion workbook is also in the works.
The biggest lesson I have ever learned is the stupendous importance of what we think. If I knew what you think, I would know what you are, for your thoughts make you what you are; by changing our thoughts, we can change our lives.
Dale Carnegie
The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts.
Earl Nightingale
You can’t find the right answer if you’re asking the wrong question
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“The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.”
~Sir Antony Jay
When problem-solving, it’s so easy to fall into the rut of uncreative thinking. We can focus so much on answers and solutions that we lose sight of the question. And if we’re asking the wrong questions, we’ll often end up with the wrong answers.
How creative is your thinking? When faced with a problem, do you immediately turn to the tried-and-true solutions that you’ve always used? Or do you open your mind to new ideas? A good way to do that is to start asking some right questions, like these:
• Why must it be done this way?
• What is the root problem?
• What are the underlying issues?
• What does this remind me of?
• What is the opposite?
• What metaphor or symbol helps to explain it?
• Why is it important?
• What’s the hardest or most expensive way to do it?
• Who has a different perspective on this?
• What happens if we don’t do it at all?
You get the idea—and you can probably come up with better questions yourself. Physicist Tom Hirschfield observed, “If you don’t ask, ‘Why this?’ often enough, somebody will ask, ‘Why you?’” If you want to think creatively, you must ask good questions. You must challenge the process.
How Successful People Think
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been vacationing with family in Idaho this week. And yesterday, as I watched the kids and grandkids play on the river, I was able to really relax and devote some time to thinking.
With the help of my son Joel, I finally figured out how to record and send a voice memo. So I took the opportunity to record some of my thoughts — on thinking.
John C Maxwell on creative thinking and writing
*In my recording, I mention Thinking for a Change. The updated edition of that book is titled How Successful People Think
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My recent message on Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral airs this weekend. Visit the Hour of Power for times and stations, or to watch online.
How Successful People Think
Posted by: | CommentsWhat’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.
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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.
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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
