5 Steps to Improve your Thinking Right Now

Photo by Chance Agrella via @freerangestock

I was sitting watching Pride and Prejudice with Kelly (thank you very much, I hear that applause) on TV last week and I found myself concentrating closely on the dialogue. This was partially due to poor miking (I thought they could’ve done better with the audio) and partially due to the fact I can never understand Keira Knightley when she speaks in movies.  Anyway, I enjoyed the subtleties of the dialogue and nuances of the cultural formalities … and sitting with my wife, of course.

The commercial breaks featured the Kardashians.  Rare has there been a more diverse portrayal of relationship nuances and values. Pride and Prejudice (you know, “Every woman wants a Mr. Darcy and few men know who Mr. Darcy is“) featured characters in pursuit of qualities quite different from that of the reality-show world.

It made me wonder which direction the culture of the day was pushing us.  What does it take any more to have a deep thought around here?  Why did I find myself concentrating so carefully on the dialogue?

Seriously, how is it that we can cultivate our thinking in a world that is working (not on purpose, of course) against that?  As long as the WiFi is working (just check Twitter the next time the power goes out) and we have our favorite App to play (not all apps are bad and some DO prompt good thinking), we’re happy to entertain ourselves in comfort and never make our brain “hurt” with one new thought.

But we should.

We should make it hurt like we would a muscle we’re working to build.

Here are 5 ways you can immediately begin to improve your thinking:

Clean your lens.  There are two ways to do this. First, narrow your focus by cutting out some things and focusing in on things, like a photographer who looks through a lens.  He or she doesn’t see the sides or periphery, but has crystal clear perspective (zoomed in too!) on what is in focus.  Second, get rid of the obstacles on the lens. Some things block our view 0 emotions, insecurities, noise/hurry/crowds, or even a bad lens.  One of my favorite ways to keep the lens clear is to be immersed in the Bible. Part of our thinking issue is that we fail to see life and the world as God sees it and we let the cultural “water we swim in” to set the current for us.  Thinking good thoughts starts with the One who is good.
Read on purpose. This is actually a sub-category of the overarching principle: Be a lifelong learner. Too many folks, especially men, fail to keep reading and learning as they age.  Reading requires a discipline to be shaped. The old axiom is that we’re shaped most by the people we spend time with and the books we read. I have added to my 2014 stack some literary novels so that I don’t melt down to a level of discourse that is reality-show level.
Nurture your heart.  This one may surprise you, but I’m surprised how often we want to merely think.  Be sure to feel.  Don’t divide the mind from the heart, and neither from everyday living. Be inspired. Let your affective side (different from sensationalism) of your life grow!  You’ll find your thinking is invigorated when your heart is nourished.
Draw your ideas. This is an area I’m working on this year.  I’ve watched leaders I admire draw, diagram, and doodle their way toward better conceptualization and creativity. I’ve begun to use the Paper app on my iPad as a vehicle to draw out my ideas. The infographic phenomenon has proven this to be an effective way to communicate clearly.  (You know, it used to be that if it was in a book it was true. Then if it was online it was true. Now, if it’s in an infographic, it must be true). 
Do manual labor. This may seem weird, but I believe this deeply.  You will think better the more you work with your hands, whether clearing brush, woodworking, cooking, or gardening, it will be helpful to your thinking. I can’t count the number of times in a meeting where I started sharing an idea by saying, “While I was mowing the other day….”  Most of us could slow down a bit to heed the apostle Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians, “Aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands. (I Thessalonians 4:10-12).

This is going to be a theme for me this year. We’re not intentionally heading toward better thinking. We focus on the forms of things (i.e. blogging, ministry, leadership) but we don’t spend much time talking about the content of blogs, the object of our faith, or the people we lead.

What do you do to keep your thinking sharpened?

 

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