Quick! What are you thinking about? What’s on your mind right now? Take a moment and jot down your current thoughts.
After you have an initial list, consider the following:
First, how are you thinking?
Are you focused on one thing, or are your thoughts bouncing among different topics?
To the extent that you can channel your thinking in one concentrated direction, you’ll make more progress. Spending a set amount of time on one mental task before purposefully switching to a different cognitive activity is a powerful way to make the most out of your thinking.
If you need to accomplish different thinking activities, toggle between them with purpose. For example: if you’re embroiled in a brainstorming sessions, it’s not helpful to start analyzing/editing the merits of ideas — or devising implementation plans at the same time. It’s far more effective to first focus on idea generation exclusively. Once the ideas slow, then turn your cognitive machinery to analytical activities assessing the different options — the costs, the benefits, the consequences. A further shift would move your mental processing into prioritizing and selecting. Then to devising implementation plans. By channeling and directing your mental activities with purpose to focus on one task at a time, you’ll get more done, more effectively and with less stress.
How are your thoughts affecting you?
What is your current mood? What emotion(s) are you currently experiencing?
Scan your body. To what extent are you aware of any physical affects of your thoughts, e.g. a tightness in your shoulders or something else.
How are your thoughts affecting the people around you?
What kinds of things do you spend most of your time thinking about? What occupies your brain, for the most part?
Are you thinking primarily about your creative projects and topics that are most important to you — or are you preoccupied with ‘to do’s’ or ‘what if’s’ or ‘coulda woulda shouldas’?
Spend a few days paying attention to whatever is on your mind. Jot down the thoughts that occur to you, when you notice them.
Then, review your list. What do you notice? Which thoughts are helpful, healthy, and/or positive? Which are not?
What would you like to be thinking about? On what would you prefer to be spending your mental energy?
Luckily, we humans have the choice to contemplate whatever we wish. We can dabble in whatever topics interest us, in the privacy of our own minds. This is perhaps the greatest luxury we can give ourselves: to spend time thinking about whatever we consider to be important.
All it requires is a shift in focus — and perhaps a daily reminder until we establish the habit of devoting mental energy to Interesting, Important Topics.
Why not give it a try and see how it is for you? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments section below.
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Activity: For the next few days, keep track of what you think about. When you have some private time, review your list. What do you notice?
Activity: Make a list: what would you like to spend your time thinking about? What topics are interesting and important to you?
Activity: Each day, review your list of Interesting/Important Topics To Think About. Make a point of spending some time, every day, thinking about at least one of them.
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