Think About Your Thinking

I'm back.

Where did I go?  That would take entirely too long to write here, just assume I was abducted by aliens and they thought I was too weird and dropped me back off with a box of "new" Twinkies.

Where were we?

Oh yes...

I've spent the last few months immersing myself in strategic improvement...books, audio, webinars, websites, web groups, and most importantly, THINKING...and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the word of the day.

It's amazing when you actually isolate yourself away from everything and everyone, the quality of your thoughts goes up exponentially.  I found myself just today listening to an audio book (free plug for Audible.com) and my mind kept drifting.   When I caught myself, I paused the audio and listened to what I had to say.  That may sound silly at first, but sometimes part 1 of your brain is trying to communicate with part 2 and you have to pay attention or you're NOT going to be able to enjoy what you're doing (I'm sure there's some ego, id, and superego connections there, but I slept through psychology that day).

If there's one thing I've learned over the last few months, it's that you have to think about your thinking.  Make time specifically for you and your thoughts to spend quality time together with some method of capturing those thoughts.  Note:  Unless you're an artist, if you catch yourself doodling, you're doodling...not thinking.

If you're thinking of a solution to a problem, write everything that comes to your mind.  I'm a big fan of dry erase boards for this.  After I finish, I take a picture of the board with my phone and email it to myself.  BOOM.  I have a permanent copy of my notes (good camera on my phone).  You can also save a copy to Google Drive or other personal cloud storage site.

Thinking has become so important, that I have it scheduled on my calendar 3 times during the work week and early in the mornings on Sunday when it's just me and the dogs padding through the house.

It's amazing what a difference it's made in my life.  I no longer worry about anything.  That's what my thinking session is for.  I can always schedule an "Emergency Thinking Session" with myself and get isolated for 15-20 minutes when necessary.  My phone has a spot for notes and the only thing I keep is my Thinking List.  Sometimes when I don't have anything on the list for the day, I can contemplate the meaning of life, what I'm getting my wife for Christmas, or how to make a difference for someone else.

These sessions are 15 minutes long and I hold myself to that time frame so my mind doesn't wander to lunch or last night's episode of The Walking Dead.

Try it.  Let me know how it works for you.

Be awesome!
Chris