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It’s safe to say we’re not practical thinkers! The proof of that is the list of more than a hundred cognitive biases (or thinking errors) that scientists have found over the last century. We often make decisions based on gut feelings, emotions, and without having the right information.
I use my mind, and it’s no longer the other way around. To me, that’s the definition of better thinking. It has nothing to do with how smart you are or how many mathematical equations you can solve. It’s about using your mind to get what you want.
“The true is that which works.” But that doesn’t mean we should believe everything we hear or read. That makes us delusional.
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.
I view the mind as a muscle that requires regular training to keep strong. One way to train your mind is by learning new things.
We’re creatures of habit who prefer relaxing our mind instead of straining it.
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. Stoic philosopher Epictetus put it best: “The life of wisdom is a life of reason. It is important to learn how to think clearly. Clear thinking is not a haphazard enterprise. It requires proper training.” The problem is that we don’t know how we must get proper training, as Epictetus put it.
The quality of your thoughts matters the most. Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius said it best: “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
And many philosophers argue that the quality of your thoughts determine the quality of your life. From Confucius to Socrates to Descartes to William James, they all talk about their method of thinking—a way to view the world.
We’re conflicted as a species.
His most important idea is that we should question the source of our beliefs, not the belief itself. Because most of our beliefs are based on our or other people’s perception.
Thoughts should serve a useful purpose. If they don’t, they’re useless. That’s straight thinking.
Remember: The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives. And our decisions are a result of our thoughts.
If you believe in something, you will try hard to find information, clues, and signs to back that up. In other words, you do everything to prove you’re not wrong. Instead of looking at facts, you look at beliefs. And that’s what all cognitive biases do. As of this writing, there are 106 decision-making related cognitive biases known!
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as “the best decision.” If that was the case, we lived in a perfect world full of people who made logical and practical decisions. I like to look at it this way: There are only good-informed and bad-informed decisions.
What if you can’t rely on facts? Well, sometimes you just can’t find facts, or you have to make a quick decision. In those (very rare) cases I prefer gut feeling. Whatever you do, never waste your thoughts on other people’s ill-informed opinions and guesses.
When Nietzsche said that there are no facts, he meant that we, as human beings, ultimately rely on our interpretations of reality. There’s no way to confirm reality objectively. That doesn’t mean nothing is real and that we’re all living in a big dream. We
just have to realize that facts are not the same thing as the truth.
Why are we even afraid that people think we’re stupid? It’s the perfect example of slow thinking. Instead of following your instinct of, “I’ll prove them!” you can take a step back and ask yourself, “Why do I even want to come across as smart?” If you really think about it, it doesn’t matter what others think of you. I think it’s always better to take your time to think. If others think that makes you stupid, they are the ones who are.
Why do we make things so complicated while we can easily solve these things by just taking an extra day to THINK? That’s all you need. Just think things through. Know yourself. For instance, I’m currently in a great writing flow. I don’t feel the need to leave my city. I have a set routine every day, and it works very well for me. I feel happy, and I enjoy my life a lot. When I go away for even a weekend, my whole routine can be messed up. And then I need another two weeks to get back to my ‘old’ self. However, I don’t always have this mindset. Right now, I’m working on this book, opening a
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Instead of giving up, I’m happy. All I need to do, is to take a break, rejuvenate, and let my mind recover.
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.
But as soon as I think, “I have enough money in my savings account,” I stop thinking about money. No matter what happens, if you have enough money to survive for six months, you’ll figure it out.
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.
It’s good to let your attention wander and stop thinking. This is also a part of controlling your mind. You have the ability to decide when you want to let go of your thoughts. Similar to relaxing your muscles when you lay on the couch after a tough day, you can let loose of your thoughts.
Let go of everything. You can escape your outside world and go inside your mind to find
peace. If you can’t do that right now, train yourself. Become aware of your thoughts, observe them, and let them go. That’s the whole process. You can do that anytime, anyplace. You don’t need a different scenery or class to do those things. Let go and relax. And do it as often as you think is necessary. You’ll find that the moments you’re not thinking are just as important as the times you are actively thinking.
We always limit ourselves by narrow and conventional thinking. We always want to stay within a box. That’s because we never take a step back to look at the larger picture.
But you can only see the goal if you take a helicopter view. It’s impossible to see the goal from within the maze. And yet, that’s how most of us live. We do things conventionally because that’s “how it’s done.”
When you stop doing things the way they’re done, you’ll start doing things how you get it done.
Improve the quality of your thoughts, so you improve the quality of your actions. And always have an imbalance. Action > Thinking The best way to make sure you act more is to rely on habits.
When you combine a few rules, you have a system. And a system helps you to take the thinking part out of the equation. The only thinking you need to do is when your system doesn’t give you the results you want. If my system would make me feel bad or gain weight, I would rethink it. And even if it works, a system is never perfect. That’s why I regularly think about what I can change or how I can improve my systems.
But I didn’t know that before I actually started traveling. How could I? Some things in life you must experience to know what they’re like in reality. No one can truly feel how it is to be an entrepreneur unless they start doing it. You can read all the business books you want, and watch as many videos about entrepreneurship as you want, but they will not make you an entrepreneur. Ever. You will only end up living someone else’s life.
At the end of the day, this is your life and the only way you can live with yourself is to follow your strongest desires. Just make sure you think straight so you eventually act on those thoughts.
So yes, look back, but don’t stare for too long. Life happens now.
Like any skill, better thinking requires daily practice. I do that by looking at everything that happens in my life as an exercise for thinking better.
That’s the ultimate prize in life. Mastery of the mind means that we control our mind. Remember: You can only achieve that through daily practice. Some people call it meditation and others might call it mindfulness. No matter what you call “finding inner calm,” please don’t overcomplicate it. You don’t need a ten-thousand-dollar course to learn how to find some peace inside your head.
Pragmatism means that one must look at the practical value of ideas.
William James himself once said: “The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.”
If we live our lives every day with that idea in mind—that we should strive for doing/creating useful things that matter to others—we end up spending our time on things that actually make a difference. When you do that, life automatically has meaning—to everyone.
Instead of talking endlessly about which philosophy is best, they used the ideas of pragmatism to live a better life. And to live a good life, you don’t need endless study of philosophy. Instead, we must act!
