I Learned How I Think, and I Couldn't Wait to Share!

Dear Friend, 

Two letters in a week? Yes, because I just finished figuring out the process I use to think and I am excited. In one way, it’s obvious! I feel as though if I had sat down and thought about it, I may have come up with it on my own. On the other hand, I have never figured it out before so this stuff really works. It's part of the Gift Profile Assessment from Dr. Leaf’s book, Think, Learn, Succeed. But here’s the thing. We process information super-fast. Dr. Leaf says steps 3, 4, and 5 of our thinking process are often below our conscious level. So while we can see the pattern while working with larger, more slow learning styles, they are also active in the split-second decisions and we may not realize we're using them at all.

I answered questions with “Yes” or “No” and refined them. Then I wrote long paragraphs about them, read the paragraphs to my friend Christy, and distilled it down into sentences. You know what? Those sentences described perfectly what I had just done with the quiz. If you take the quiz, you would probably do it differently than I did.

So, my friend, I present to you the Lindsey Way of thinking—presented in my own words and current understanding:

I analyze incoming information, organize it in my head, and make a plan.

I look for patterns, then consult my gut and conscience for whether a choice is right and worthy.

I visualize the choice, playing the plan or concept in my imagination and trying out different scenarios.

I write or talk about the idea, often bouncing it off of a friend. Often, I will develop and teach a class, which helps me make sure there aren’t gaps in my understanding and that I have grasped a complex concept well enough to break it into parts and reassemble it until someone else can understand it.

I then move into interacting with people, answering their questions. I find joy in seeing their eyes spark as they gain their own ideas and find ways to apply it to their unique circumstances.

I then step back into a more solitary mind space to quantify and organize both the results and the process, honing my ideas of how to approach and implement the idea.

Finally, I move into action, becoming hands-on and working in the physical aspects of the idea. This is how I came up with my life’s motto of “Bringing Stories to Life.”

That’s it, folks. And it makes so much sense in the way that I draft books, organize my theater events, or even answering a friend about going out for the night. We all use these modes of thinking but we all combine them in a different order and add our experiences and mindsets into them. This is why people think differently and why we sometimes have trouble understanding and relating to someone whose mind works differently.

You know what else it means? You ain’t dumb. Just because you weren’t strong in math as a kid, doesn’t mean you’re less intelligent than the A student you sat next to. (I can finally put the “Was I smart, average, or learning-disabled question to rest.) You processed information in a different order and when you learn and use this order, you are optimizing your uniqueness and working at your full-strength. And you’re not competing with anyone because no one in the world is going to think exactly the way you do, so you will always have something that only you can offer.

I am so excited this morning, that I had to share, even though I haven’t even finished reading Think, Learn, Succeed. This is my best and current understanding of the book, but I will be sharing even more once I have fully-grasped it. But this is life-changing stuff, so I wanted to encourage you to explore it for yourself without waiting on me! You can find out about this in Think, Learn, Succeed or explore Dr. Leaf’s concepts for free just by visiting her site. And just so you know, I am not affiliated with Dr. Leaf. I won’t make money on this link if you click it and I won’t even claim the above is exactly what she teaches. I am an average reader who learned something this morning. And I was too excited not to share.

I hope you are having a lovely day whatever you are doing today.

Lindsey