How to increase your thinking capacity

Like other high-energy people and most leaders, I have a natural bias for action. And success in achieving goals certainly requires action. But bias for action has its limits. I discovered a long time ago that if I wanted to increase my overall success capacity, then I needed to increase my thinking capacity. The problem is—schools in this part of the world do not teach on how to think let alone on how to increase one’s thinking capacity. As an effect of this article, I am teaching you (in synopsis) on how you can augment your thinking capacity.

Over the years, I have used the process that I want to share with you to boost my own thinking on a daily basis.  If you can learn and practice this process, it will make your thinking more meticulous. As your thinking improves, the number of good ideas you have will increase. And as you take action on those ideas, your life will become better. Great lives are created by taking good actions on great ideas!

Most people do not recognize the value of good thinking. They have thoughts, but they let them go and do not do anything with them. However, when you value good thoughts, it makes all of your thinking more valuable. That is the starting point of increasing your thinking capacity. Because I value good thinking, I am constantly asking myself questions to help me discover and develop ideas, such as: Where can I find an idea? How can I use it? And how can I maximize the idea?

University president and United States senator S.I. Hayakawa believed, “Learning to write is learning to think. You do not know anything clearly unless you can state it in writing.” I think there is a lot of truth to that. Writing makes you think things through. It forces you to articulate the thought. And it makes your thoughts visual.

That does not make it easy. Nobel Prize—winning novelist Ernest Hemingway is famous for saying how bad the first draft of anything is. It may take you multiple tries to get something coherent written. I know that was usually true for me when I started my writing career. When I wrote my first book, I threw away twenty pages for every one-page I kept. But trust me: Putting your ideas down on paper will be worth the effort.

Do you know what people’s number one time waster is? It is looking for things that are lost. That is why you need a good system for capturing your ideas. And it is why my first goal when I have a good thought is not to lose it. I have been an avid filer for most of my career. For years, I always kept two books close to where I was per time: Whatever book I am reading, and a notebook to capture my ideas. Today, I still carry a book, but I now use my iPhone to capture and review my thoughts.

While I am at it, I want to also encourage you to find a place to find your thoughts. What do I mean by that? You need to condition yourself to think in certain places. Many years ago, when I was living on the Plateau, I had a mountain I was always going to, to think. As I got older, I wanted a place that was a little more comfortable, so I designated one particular chair in our home as my thinking spot. It does not matter where it is—just pick your place, spend time there, and good thoughts will show up.

That reminds me of a story I once heard about Charles Kettering, the founder of Delco. He once bet a friend of his one hundred dollars that he could make him buy a bird. The friend thought the idea was absurd, so he agreed to the bet. That Christmas, Kettering bought the friend a beautiful, elaborate, and very expensive birdcage and had it delivered to the man’s house. It was set up right by the front door so all his guests would see it.

The friend understood Kettering’s strategy, but he had no intention of getting a bird for the cage. However, every time guests visited the man at his home, they would admire the cage and remark about how beautiful it was. And they would always ask, “Where’s the bird?” Finally, the friend got so sick of the question that he gave in and bought a bird. What is the moral of the story? When you have a designated place for something, whatever it is, there is the sense within you that it needs to be filled. And you will find yourself doing what it takes to fill it. That holds for your thinking.

The next step is perhaps the most critical of the thinking process, because this is where you cull the bad thoughts and set the good ones on track to be improved and become great ideas. Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night with an idea? It happens to me all the time. Before smart phones, I used to keep a special pad of paper next to my bed. Now, ideas can be recorded in the Notes app on your iPhone. If you do not record them immediately they come, you are likely going to forget them. And once they are forgotten, they are gone!

Also, to get the most out of an idea, you need to not only think it through, but you also need to talk it out. Both are necessary, but the order in which you do it depends on how you are wired. For example, I like to think things through first. Some people may be surprised by that, because I am known as a communicator. But I have always wanted to think something through completely before presenting it. The way you are wired may be different from mine.

Lastly, if you want to take your ideas to another level, you need to talk them out. Remember, writing down an idea gives your thinking intellectual weight. It creates clarity in your thinking. Talking about an idea gives it emotional weight. It connects your thinking to your heart. If you can follow everything I have written here, your thinking capacity will surely get increased and expanded, and I shall celebrate your outstanding success real soon.

See you where excellence-driven leaders are found.