Quit Taking and Start Thinking - Pt. 3

So if we are trying to guide ourselves to be more inclined to do more thinking and we know if we continue to pepper our brains with less than challenging material (i.e. garbage in garbage out), then what Mr. Ripple would you have me be doing on a daily basis to aid in making me more of a thinker?

So glad you asked!

For me the answer to the question is both simple and complex. In order to guide our brains to do our bidding we need to continually encourage them to get up and stretch. Very much like your legs when you sit for long periods of time, the muscles become tight and somewhat resistant to getting up and actually doing physical exercise. Your brain functions very similar and when you quit giving it mind numbing input like television or other less challenging stimuli it is gonna complain and even resist. Just remember....you are in charge. Your brain works for you not the other way around. Don't forget that!

The easy part is making the decision to do things differently - I want to be a thinker damn it! The hard part is breaking the habit of just flipping on the boob tube at night or picking up the latest trashy novel for the 3 hour flight to Denver. It's hard my friends but not impossible. So here's what I have done over the past few years to stimulate my way of thinking and force-feed my brain into working for me not against me.

Here's a few of the things I have done to actually quit taking and start thinking:

I maximizing my morning and afternoon commute by listening to NPR, talk radio or some self-improvement CD program. I pay attention and try and find one interesting story, point or idea and immediately share it with someone when I get to a meeting or into the office. Many a day its those conversations that I start that open up the flood gates of new thoughts and ideas!

I have music playing constantly when I am at the office or I am writing. I find inspiration in all sorts of music and sometimes during a stressful day I will pop on my headphones of shut the lid of my laptop and just let the music wash over me like a warm blanket. The music coupled with some slow breaths allow me to zone out for a few minutes and that's when my brain knows its time to start working. Many a day I can be caught watching the birds outside my office window while the music takes me on a journey of contemplative thought and appreciative understanding.

I exercise. One of the best ways to reduce my stress and clear my mind is going for a long run, walk or a trek on my mountain bike. Motion creates emotion and your brain's chemistry is automatically altered when we take on physical exercise. By doing exercise you automatically force your brain into action and for me that is when some of my best inspirational ideas have started.

I read books that challenge my way of thinking. Whether it be a more heady historical novel or one of the latest business strategy books - I read constantly. On average I probably read between 35-50 books a year. I don't just read to read. I read because it forces me to focus and in doing so, I discover new ideas and new concepts. I also make sure I take periodic breaks when I read to let my mind wander over the material that it is has just seen. It's amazing how sharp this has made my thinking.

Along the same lines of reading constantly I subscribe to numerous periodicals and the Wall Street Journal. I find that opening my Journal every morning forces me to read a wide variety of content from what the markets are doing to the latest book reviews. I try and find at least one or two articles per day and use them as a conversation starting point with someone.

I also believe that in order to force yourself to experience new ideas and new ways of thinking you need to surround yourself with people who will challenge you mentally. I have been lucky to surround myself with many people that enjoy a good conversation, debate or simply sharing new ideas. We have long conversations and dialogue on a variety of subjects; politics, religion, space exploration, you name it. I find that by hearing other people's opinions that my brain is instantly challenged to explore and understand that which it is being exposed to. I make an honest effort to have several stimulating conversations per day and because of that it has made me a more veracious all-around thinker.

So there you have it, that's what what works for me. Sure there is more but this might at least get you started or more to the point....thinking about thinking! I think thinking (slight pun intended here) is one of the most important things we can do as humans. Don't let your minds atrophy. Challenge yourself to spend more time in your own head. Expose yourself to new ideas and other alternative ways of thinking and pay attention to what happens within yourself. If you are like me, once I started, I couldn't stop.

The simple action of trying to evolve as an individual will have a Ripple Effect on the connections you make and the relationships you hope to grow.

Good luck. Good thinking. And as always...

Good Rippling!!!

Quit Taking and Start Thinking - Part 2

One of the biggest obstacles to getting clear in your thinking is to make sure you keep the garbage out. Ultimately garbage in is usually garbage out when it comes to cultivating and shaping your thinking and I didn't truly appreciate that until a few years ago.

When I first started trying to spend time concentrating on the act of thinking I had to evaluate where I put my mental energy. What was I surrounding myself with in terms of television shows, reading materials and where was I surfing during those countless hours spent out on the web? Bottom line, garbage was exactly what I was surrounding myself. By allowing myself to be sucked into mindless television shows, ridiculous time sinks on the web and by reading less than challenging books, I was allowing my brain to do exactly what it prefered to do - not work very hard or work at all!

We all have the same amount of time in each day. So I started asking myself why some people seemed to get far more done in the day than I did. I started asking people questions and really looking for clues as to what they might be doing differently. Simply put, they weren't wasting their hours on garbage activities. In fact many of the super successful people I spoke to made sure that much of their free time was spent focusing on learning something new, enhancing a particular skill, or concentrating on strategy and next steps for their business, career or achievement of some personal objective.

So I started turning off the television. I stopped wasting (as much) time on on the Internet. I started researching books that would challenge me to engage the brain and really think about what was being taught. I started dedicating a little portion of my evenings to sitting out on my front porch or in my favorite chair and just letting my mind wander where it needed to wander. And I pulled out my old trusty journal and just started writing.

My focus got sharper. Ideas started to form. My creativity, which had always been there but was somehow suppressed, was now suddenly blossoming like a beautiful flower opening on a spring morning. Things began to get clearer for me in so many ways and you know what? It was amazing!

So are you suffering from the garbage in garbage out problem like I was? Well perhaps in the coming days I can give you some insight as to ways I focus my attention and who knows, maybe what has worked for me will work for you.

Ripple On!!!

Quit Taking and Start Thinking

I believe in signs. The older that I get, the more inclined I am to recognize them as they happen. Here recently one of those signs is a nagging mental reminder to question everything and take nothing for granted. Just because someone says something is true doesn't necessarily make it so. In fact until you can truly interpret and really feel something to be true internally, I suggest that it may not be.

Your problem very well might be the same as I mine. I used to take things for face value and put little to no effort into what was being preached, taught or evangelized. Heck that's what we are taught as kids right - just listen and learn. I used to spend little time investing in the mental energy it takes to interpret ideas and concepts to be the way that they seem to be and thus I would take the mental shortcut my brain prefers me to take. I believe we've been conditioned to simply accept that which is put before us and our brains, if we don't challenge them, are all to happy to accomodate that way of thinking. Heck I can actually feel my brain say, that is so true not let me go back to sleep okay mister?

Our brains are akin to the most powerful computers in the world, processing more data, thoughts, ideas and concepts in a blink of an eye than most of us realize. Our brains are also lazy. They don't like to fire up the retro engines and go full throttle very often, preferring to keep those actions on the bench until faced with something major. The brain likes to take the easy road on most everything hence why it likes to interpret the lessons we are taught as being true and move on. That my friends is dangerous.

When we look at history's greatest teachers whether it be Einstein, Socrates, Galileo, Beethovan, or Michelangelo one quality seems to ring true - they were all big time thinkers. They spent an enormous amount of time inside their own heads, refusing to allow their brians to lay dormant. They took what life's lessons were at the time and took the time to question and challenge them. Had none of them ever done that just think how differently our world might be today. Most of today's greatest technological achivements can be traced in some way shape or form back to these great thinkers.

Over the next few days I would like to share with you what I have done to put more of a direct focus on this all important task of thinking. Believe it or not, my focus on this area has significantly improved by ability to find and make deeper more meaningful connections and present more value to those connections. Even the concept of Rippling, which continues to evolve moment by moment, is squarely attributed to my focus on thinking about it. Had I not been willing to challenge the traditional way people connect you wouldn't be reading this BLOG post today and my life and career would likely be on a much different path.

Ripple On!!!