Do You Struggle to Think Efficiently? That’s why
The world is getting faster and faster, and the time to think is less and less
We all must make fast decisions daily, but deciding requires a bit of instinct and tons of thinking: how can we decide with near to zero time to think?
The brutal truth is that thinking is fed by preparation. Better: you’re efficient in thinking to the extent you have already thought.
Besides, remember that thinking is a network activity: you can invent something, but most of what you can conceive comes from others. In turn, your elaboration of others’ thoughts feeds the network, and so on.
The starting point: the fluid that flows through the human thinking network comprises words.
#1 Thinking requires words
No words, no thinking. Full stop.
I’m convinced — please, leave a comment if you disagree — that everybody is aware that words are the building blocks of thinking. That’s common sense if you focus on it.
Yet, we are so used to words that we quickly forget their ubiquitous role. And their silent power.
Words are signs; their body is nothing more than sounds or traces on some material, but that near to inconsistent entity steers our focus and attention. More, it collects even complex experiences in a highly synthetic manner. The synthesis makes it possible to connect many signs and create and discover new facets of the originally signed experiences.
On the other hand, words are clear signs that may blur, too, and result in unprecise meanings. Well, the more precise your words are, the more efficient your thinking is. The reason is simple: uncertainty combines exponentially, so many unprecise words lead to blurred thinking, which is poor awareness and, consequently, bad decision-making.
Measure the quality of your words, and you’ll measure the quality of your thinking and ability to make non-instinctive decisions.
#2 Thinking requires sensitiveness
It would be impractical to refer to a dictionary to choose the right words constantly. Fast thinking needs to have internalized words and concepts in a personal representation that allows you to feel how they behave in a context.
Remember the brutal truth I started with: preparation feeds the ability to think. Sensitiveness is the result of the practice and contributes to thinking fast.
Think of grammar, for example. When you start learning a new language, or even when you begin learning your native language, you need the nitty-gritty of its grammar. At this early stage of your learning, when you want to decide if a sentence is correct, you must explicitly recall the grammar rules in your mind. Instead, when you become advanced, you feel whether a sentence is correct, even if you forgot the related grammar. That happens because you internalize grammar as a way of listening to how words play well together: that’s sensitiveness.
Sensitiveness is the next step in learning. And learning is the workout of thinking.
#3 Thinking requires logic
Words are isolated concepts. Thinking is more: it’s linking concepts. And logic is the discipline that collets millennia of research and findings on correct thinking.
You may challenge what correct thinking means here: finding the minimum set of concepts and rules to compose them without contradictions.
Are contradictions evil? Globally no; locally, yes. Different contexts can be contradictory because they speak about inhomogeneous ideas; yet, inside a context, contradictions are the red flag that it’s a non-sense context. Here non-sense means “with no direction,” so useless to make decisions; because any decision aims to move in a defined direction.
Non-logical people may feel logic is the most boring stuff ever. That’s strictly related to their ignorance of the subject. The myth of emotions as the North Star of humankind is a children’s fairytale. Emotions are blind even when they are right because they never are in a position to justify their movements.
Are emotions evil? No, they are our original spark. Yet, emotions are the opposite of thinking; they are an unreliable way of making decisions.
Takeaway
When your mind hosts poor words, scarce sensitiveness, and no logic, you struggle to think and, consequently, to make fast decisions.
Is there a recipe for overcoming troubles in thinking? Sure. It’s a simple and challenging recipe: study.
Remember: thinking is a network activity. You can’t improve your thinking alone. From the awareness of the crucial role that words play up to the central function of logic, thinking is our touch point with experience.
Whenever you struggle to decide, you stumble to get a clear picture of a situation, or you bumble to write a sentence that sets a goal: you are late to prepare to face these challenges. And you are just one option:
- Start studying.
- Ask for my help — contact me (luca.vettor@gmail.com) in case!
My truth: Things are less complex when you write them down!
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