Observe Thyself

What activity do we all engage in that most profoundly affects the rest of our activities? It’s thinking. You might be interested to know that the most effective and creative problem solvers are people who engage in the process of meta-thinking, or “thinking about the thinking.”

Food for Thought ~

Meta-thinking means being aware of how we are thinking while we are doing the thinking. In other words, it’s consciously observing and evaluating our continual inner dialogue and then testing, challenging and re-directing our thoughts as needed. We all carry on a fairly constant stream of internal thoughts, and this concept reminds us that we are not passive bystanders in that process. We can actively choose our thoughts and assess the quality of our thinking. It’s likely that from time to time we’ll find we need a mental tune-up to upgrade the quality of our thinking.

Question of the day ~

Do you pay attention to how you are thinking or just to what you are thinking?

The readership for my current article continues to be strong, which delights me because it’s based on a brilliant definition of leadership by John Quincy Adams, our country’s sixth president. In nineteen words, he sums up the essence of leadership! If you haven’t already done so, click here to read his definition, and the article.