Think Straight: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

by Darius Foroux

“You become what you think about all day long.”

we must realize that actions follow thoughts. That means you can’t change your actions without changing your thoughts.

“If there is any instrument you must fall in love with and fetishize, it is the human brain—the

“We usually think of ourselves as sitting in the driver's seat, with ultimate control over the decisions we made and the direction our life takes; but, alas, this perception has more to do with our desires—with how we want to view ourselves-than with reality.”

If we want to think straight at all times, we must stay grounded, look at facts, listen to other people’s perspectives, and only then draw practical conclusions.

What’s more, the mind is the single most important tool you have. And if you want to use that tool properly, you must train the mind.

I always thought to myself, “Why can’t my brain stop? Where’s the pause button?” Looking back, I didn’t know how to use my brain as the wonderful tool it is.

At some point, we stand up and say, “Enough.” And you know what? A lot of people never change at all. But that shouldn’t be our concern.

After years of chaos in my mind, I just had enough of mental suffering. I can’t make it any prettier than that.

Thoughts are important. But not all thoughts are equal. The quality of your thoughts matters the most.

“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”

How do I not lose my mind? Mastering your thoughts is challenging.

that the quality of your thoughts determine the quality of your life.

Thoughts should serve a useful purpose. If they don’t, they’re useless. That’s straight thinking.

Your thoughts serve as an instrument. But it’s a conflicting instrument that’s very hard to use.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” Thinking is not only hard—it’s the single most important thing in life.

The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives. And our decisions are a result of our thoughts.

there are multiple ways to achieve your goals. Also, if everyone is doing one thing, that often means you shouldn’t.

the brain also scans every piece of information that comes in. The brain compares it with other information that it has already stored. Your brain searches for similarities and differences between that information.

When faced with decisions, I ask myself: “Will the outcome of a decision change the way I live?” If you ask that yourself consistently, you’ll find that you automatically filter out useless information and only make decisions that have an actual impact on the outcome of your life.

We can’t control our consciousness. We can only control what thoughts we follow through on.

It’s better to be aware of your thoughts and decide what you will ignore, and what you will give importance to.

Only focus on what you control. Things like your: Desires Actions Words Intentions

Ask yourself: “Is that worth it?”

All that worrying about the past and the future is not going to help you. It never did. And it never will.

Don’t Trust Your Mind

My favorite cognitive bias is the “attentional bias.” It’s scientific evidence for the idea that your life is a result of your thoughts. The attentional bias states that our perceptions are affected by our thoughts. And naturally, our perceptions determine our actions and decisions, which make up our lives. If you have negative thoughts, you also have a negative perception of life. That’s what it says. Our mind might be illogical, but it’s also simple at the same time.

your mind can’t be trusted.

Whatever you do, never waste your thoughts on other people’s ill-informed opinions and guesses.

“It’s a common belief that your first reaction is the most honest, but I disagree. Your first reaction is usually outdated. Either it’s an answer you came up with long ago and now use instead of thinking, or it’s triggering a knee-jerk emotional response to something that happened long ago.”

Thinking things through takes time. Every time I gave a quick answer, I wasn’t thinking at all, I was impulsive.

What I’m trying to say is that when someone asks you a question, it’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” You can also say that to yourself. I’ve often been too hard on myself because I didn’t have an instant answer to my personal problems. That doesn’t make you dumb. It makes you human.

Training your mind happens in stages—and before you can move on to the next phase of your learning development, you have to get through a wall.

I believe that both learning skills and developing yourself happen in stages. At the beginning of a new stage, things are easy to learn because everything is new. But the closer you get to the end of a stage, things get more difficult.

When I reach a wall, I know I’m close to the next stage of my development. Instead of giving up, I’m happy. All I need to do, is to take a break, rejuvenate, and let my mind recover.

Be Yourself (Not What You Should Be)

“Conquer yourself rather than the world.”

it turns out that a lack of self-knowledge is the reason why I made the wrong decisions in my life. The jobs I had. The girls I dated. The things I chased. The decisions I made. The people I spent time with.

When you’re in a relationship with someone who has different values, it’s a zero-sum game. One person always loses something.

I didn’t know myself.

Today, I know myself better than I did ten years ago. And in ten years from now, I’ll know myself better than I do today. Knowing yourself is step one. Step two is acting on that knowledge.

I’ve found that most things in life are not for me. Most jobs, opportunities, countries, people, parties, lifestyles, books—they’re all not for me. It’s about finding the things that are for me. Believe it or not, that’s a very small list.

Since I had no idea what to do, I started reading more books.

we become too dependent on something when we give it too much importance.

It takes effort.

Remember: Money is a replaceable resource. When you’re out of it, you can earn it back. You can’t say the same for time. Don’t spend too much time thinking about money.

train yourself. Become aware of your thoughts, observe them, and let them go. That’s the whole process. You can do that anytime, anyplace.

Never brush important details off and say, “It doesn’t matter.”

think about what you can do to overcome or prevent the things that are holding you back.

I don’t want to become someone who only thinks and never acts.