Thinking about Thinking

Do you ever stop and think about your thinking (by the way – this is called metacognition)? Amazingly few people do, yet, how we think can be the greatest impediment to us becoming better or it can be our greatest tool to become better in all areas of our lives.

We have been reading more and more about how our brains work and how we think and it is astonishing how some simple changes in how we think can have profound effects on our lives. Now, to be clear, simple does not always mean easy, but sometimes the changes are easy and incredibly effective.

One simple change that I was taught was to look at something and invert it. For example, some people I know have always been taught that you have to get up early and “get after it” – that early morning was the best time to do important things and if you had a hard time getting up, then you had a problem – maybe not. In the case of some of my family members and some of the leaders I coach, they actually work better later in the day and not the first thing in the morning. So, they just learned to “invert” their schedule. Instead of forcing themselves to get up at an hour that did not work for them, they adjusted their schedule (as best they could) and moved key items to later in the day. One member of our family does her best work in the early evening.

The thing is – think about your thinking. What is it about your thinking that is holding you back? What myth, urban legend, old saying, internet quote, or whatever is keeping you from doing your best?

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