Tag: insight

Today I wanted to talk about things to do and not to do when it comes to inculcating the required qualities to enhance the power of thinking.

The qualities I will be talking about is :

CONCENTRATION :

It is the ability to direct one’s attention in accordance with one’s will.

Things to do :

• Live in the moment. It’s hard to concentrate when you are ruminating about the past, worrying about the future or simply daydreaming. It’s important to stay fully mentally engaged in the current moment.
• Take a short break in between. This in fact helps in concentrating better.
• Spend a little time with nature everyday. It boosts your senses.
• Rethink your environment. It can greatly affect how you focus, tidy your environment so that your mind feels in order and in place.
• Listen to soft music, like lofi beats or simple nature sounds to mask the other distractions in your environment and make your mind calm enough to concentrate on the work at hand.

Things not to do :

• Avoid multitasking, our concentration is like a spotlight, when you shine it on one particular area you will be able to see clearly but if you try to spread that same amount of light across a large dark room, you might instead only glimpse the shadowy outlines.
• Eliminate pointless distraction, don’t check your Instagram dm’s or your phone notifications for that matter when you’re concentrating on something else.
• Don’t let your mind wander to things other than the work at hand, take deep, steady breaths and draw your mind back to what you were working on.
• While thinking many possibilities is good, don’t overdo it. This will also hamper your concentration. So don’t overthink the situation or work you’re concentrating on.
• Don’t try to concentrate on something when your sleep deprived. Getting enough sleep is vital for you to improve your concentration throughout the day.

THINKING ANALYSIS

The ability to breakdown a difficult situation into its components by means of clarification and evaluation.

Things to do :

• Question basic assumptions. It’s quite easy to make a fool of yourself simply by failing to question your basic assumptions. Some of the greatest innovators in human history were those who simply looked up for a moment and wondered if everyone’s general assumptions was wrong.
• Evaluate the existing evidence. who gathered this evidence? how? why?
• Be aware of your mental processes. Being aware of your cognitive biases, personal prejudices and how they seemingly influence “objective” decisions and solutions. All of us have biases in our thinking, becoming aware of them makes thinking more profound.
• Your thinking is not always going to be intact, there will be lapses in your ability. What matters is that you recognize these lapses and try to avoid them in future.
• Be more open to change and try to accept different ways of thinking and ideologies. Try reversing them.

Things not to do :

• Ignore certainty- the belief that there are definite, correct answers to all questions and all you have to do is find the right source. This is wrong to do when it comes to thinking analysis because there isn’t really a right or wrong answer, its all a matter of ones perception. Answers to most meaningful questions are rarely straightforward.
• Naive relativism- the belief that there is no truth and all arguments are equal. Part of thinking analysis is evaluating the validity of arguments (yours and others’). Therefore, to think critically you must accept that some arguments are better (and that some are just plain awful.)
• Don’t be ignorant, consume all the knowledge you can get out there.
• Jumping to conclusions can be your downfall when it comes to thinking analysis. Be patient and see things level-headed.
• Being pessimistic will not help your situation, in fact only worsen it. Try being more rational and don’t be lead by your emotions alone.
  

REASONING POWER

The just and right thinking for drawing inferences with a view to a conclusion believed to be valid.

Things to do :

• Be observant. Use as many of your senses and be aware of what’s happening around you and make reasonable deductions.
• Open your mind to various possibilities and outcomes.
• Keep trying new things and stimulate your mind to think more.
• Play games that require reasoning skills like board games such as chess or sudoku.
• Do your research. You need enough material to reason with.

Things not to do :

• Don’t confine yourself to only one way of thinking. like the popular saying, “think outside the box.”
• Don’t be biased just because it pleases you or you don’t understand the situation at that moment.
• Don’t stick to the normal way of how things work. Keep trying something different, change the flow. Being basic will not get you anywhere.
• Identify stereotypes and avoid it as much as possible. It can influence your way of reasoning in a way not beneficial to you.
• Fantasies and dreams in our head sure seems beautiful and as much as we wish that, that was our reality, it might not be the case. Our reality may demand something different, so face it no matter how bitter it is.

MENTAL MATURITY

The ability to respond to a given situation appropriately.

Things to do :

• Enrich your mind, keep challenging yourself everyday to learn something new.
• Check your ego at the door. Simple things can cause you to be petty so leave your pride aside, don’t let it cloud your judgement.
• Increase your self-discipline.
• Be more self-aware. Knowing one’s emotional state, providing accurate self- assessment, possessing self confidence, and managing one’s own emotions and focus can be vital for mental maturity.
• Empathize with yourself and others instead of quickly judging or labelling them and yourself.

Things not to do :

• Don’t repeat your past mistakes. The third charm only works in your romantic novels not in reality. Make the same mistake the third time and it shows you’ve not improved and it will not be helpful.
• Respect everybody’s ideologies and opinions even though you may not particularly agree with them. Hear them out instead of dismissing them or imposing your ideas on them.
• It is true that opportunities knock your door only once, so catch them while they are still there.
• Don’t be indecisive.
• While it is okay to seek help, don’t be too dependent on others.

ADJUSTMENT THINKING :

The ability to settle or to free ourselves from discrepancies or differences by bringing conditions to a satisfactory mode.

Things to do :

• The only thing is constant is change, so learn to accept it.
• Have the will power to adjust.
• Adapt to the situation.
• Prioritize right.
• Step out of your comfort bubble.

Things not to do :

• Don’t fear change.
• Don’t lose focus of your ideas and goals.
• Don’t stick to the same thought patterns
• Don’t dodge problems and lessons.
• Don’t keep a rigid mindset, be open to any way of thinking.

INSIGHT

An accurate and deep understanding; a realization of the contents of a situation and the existence of a whole structure to solving a problem.

Things to do :

• Combine your newly acquired information with information that has already been known to you in the past. This will help you gain a different perspective.
• A little curiosity will not hurt you here. Be curious of the things you come across.
• Contradictions, “That can’t be right” moments are important because they don’t follow predicted patterns. Rather than getting frustrated with the cognitive dissonance, take a step back. By taking time to verify our doubts, we can find ill-formed assumptions and work to improve our thought process in the future.
• Your past and personal experiences is vital for gaining insight. Don’t dwell on it but learn from it.
• Build a soul map and reflect on it.

Things not to do :

• Lacking analytical skills can hamper your path to gaining insight.
• Don’t hold on to faulty and unjustified beliefs.
• Don’t judge based on what you see on the surface, delve deeper.
• Don’t rush into anything.
• Don’t allow deep-rooted ideologies to take over your critical thinking.

MENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES

The ability to make full use of your mentality can be considered as a personal responsibility.

Things to do :

• Be patient, things will not change overnight.
• A lot of the times things are not going to be easy, you will have to brave through all the storms your way and see it as a chance to get better.
• It is all in your head so you need to have the willingness to change.
• Failures like they say, are stepping stones to success. Don’t let it stop you from moving on ahead.
• Accept the challenges that come your way.

Things not to do :

• Don’t lose sight of your goals and responsibilities.
• Giving up is easy and is tempting too but its always good to keep moving ahead rather than completely stopping. Even little progress is better than no progress at all.
• Don’t let your self-confidence meter go down. Have faith in yourself.
• Don’t clutter your brain with too many thoughts and unwanted anxiety. Keep it stable.
• Don’t relax for more than an hour and let yourself be lazy. Remind yourself why you started it.

ORIGINAL THINKING

Mental process in an individual or a group of individuals that produces innovation and invention.

Things to do :

• Imagination is the key to original thinking so let your imagination go wild and don’t stop at anything.
• Be creative, think of new ways to do old things and create new things altogether.
• Get ideas from your unique personal experiences. See it in a new light, how can you possibly profit from it?
• Think innovatively, out of the box.
• Be you, there’s no one like you. So don’t lose your originality.

Things not to do :

• Grab whatever opportunity you can get, even if it is hard to do so at times.
• Don’t rely on existing information, rather use it as a catalyst to develop yourself.
• What if you fall? oh but what if you fly? you never know what the outcome is going to be so don’t be afraid to get out there even if it’s intimidating.
• Abandon anything repetitive.
• Don’t have a procrastinating attitude. No it can’t wait, now is the time.

THOUGHT EXCHANGE

The communication of ideas through visuals, hearing, voice, touch, taste and smell.

Things to do :

• Enhance your vocabulary.
• Watch debates and T.V discussions.
• Practice writing.
• Loads and loads of reading.
• Vocalize your ideas to an audience.

Things not to do :

• Don’t be apathetic
• Don’t disregard others perspectives.
• Don’t close yourself to the same type of mindsets. Venture out.
• Don’t put yourself down. Believe in yourself and your ideas. You are stronger than you think.
• Listen to what others have to say. Don’t have a one-way conversation.

THE UNCONSCIOUS

A part of the mind that comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influences our judgements, feelings and behaviour.

Things to do :

• Explore your thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories.
• Think at a deeper level resulting with more than one answer.
• Surround yourself with positive reinforcement.
• Maintain a journal as it helps to reflect on yourself.
• Analyze your behaviour and adapt to the required changes.

Things not to do :

• Avoid triggers at best. Triggers from the past or being mentally unstable can hinder this.
• Don’t live in the fantasy world you created in your head, get out, accept your reality.
• Don’t indulge in unhealthy coping mechanisms like regression, repression, projection, etc.
• Don’t over analyze and overthink every little detail. It bears no fruit.
• Don’t make wrong assumptions and jump into conclusions.

CLEAR THINKING

A kind of consideration and thinking which have complete freedom from haziness in thought.

Things to do :

• Be critical of your convictions and beliefs.
• Be willing to accept any conclusions found, regardless of your feelings and beliefs.
• Having a questioning attitude towards your findings but avoid any emotional bias or hopeful outcomes.
• Seek data to help answer questions.
• Guard against any contradictions in your findings. If they occur, test them on the basis of reasoning.

Things not to do :

• Don’t be afraid of making mistakes or being wrong.
• Don’t be delusional.
• Don’t be prejudiced.
• Don’t be paranoid about all of the possible outcomes.
• Don’t compromise on quality while multitasking.

EMOTIONAL MATURITY

The ability to handle situations without unnecessarily escalating them.

Things to do :

• Recognize emotional reactions and control them.
• Know the correct emotional reactions to life’s situations.
• Knowing your trigger points and how to deal with them.
• Having healthy coping mechanisms like writing poetry or drawing. Use this as an outlet to vent.
• Have the upper hand.

Things not to do :

• Don’t dwell on any emotion for too long.
• Don’t neglect or dismiss your emotions either.
• Don’t rely on unhealthy coping mechanisms like isolation and dissociating.
• Don’t resort to substance abuse as an escape.
• Avoid making rash decisions in the heat of the moment.

LEARNING ABILITIES

The acquisition of knowledge

Things to do :

• Engage in extra-curricular activities
• Practical application of learnt theories.
• Read all kinds of genres and more attention to the genre you like, of course.
• Watch informative podcasts, T.V shows, TED talks.
• Observe and imbibe information from outside.

Things not to do :

• Don’t let yourself get distracted easily.
• Be open-minded.
• Don’t study something you are not interested in, it will only result in wasted time.
• Don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone.
• Don’t limit your learning resources.

MIND ANIMATION

The communication of ideas through visuals, hearing, voice, taste, touch and smell.

Things to do :

• Having a strong will-power for this is essential.
• Curiosity will not kill the cat in this case, so be curious.
• Take it with ease, don’t panic about irrelevant things, be positive in your approach.
• Keep exploring and and take a leap, hustle hard.
• Read a lot.

Things not to do :

• Don’t be indifferent towards your goals and vision.
• Do it because you want to, not because you have to.
• Lacking a challenging attitude is a no.
• Don’t be lazy
• Take necessary breaks, don’t overdo it.