It might be more accurate to say that everyone is already an effective thinker, and that unfortunately some of that useful thinking is being resisted and even rejected (often with the help of other people).
Here are a bunch of things that I feel effective thinking supports:
- Lots of celebrations
- Fresh new experiences
- Lots of creative options
- Playful rather than serious mindset
- Profound relationships
- Amazing outcome
- Useful sense of order
- Feeling of freedom
- Sense of: clarity; focus; and presence
- Transformative surprise common
Effective thinking is really the basic reason that I developed my 10,000 Year Thinking® program—as a kid I saw what I thought was a lot of useless thinking in my own family and I didn’t want that for myself.
Things are changing so fast these days that the idea that I could come up with some ideas and thinking that could guide anyone even one year from now, never mind 10,000 years from now, seems absurd—and I agree it would be if that was what my program did.
But my 10,000 Year Thinking® program doesn’t offer thinking to guide anyone, anywhere. I don’t advocate, for example, positive thinking or winning is everything as fundamental guides for creating your new thinking, goals, job, relationships, etc.
Rather, in creating my program, it was my intention to find a process that guides us in the creation of our thinking—it is that process that allows effective thinking no matter what the conditions are now or 10,000 years from now—I was looking for a process that naturally updates thinking as we go in order to keep it useful.
Ask yourself, how do you create your thinking, where does it come from? — and you will be considering the question that started me down this path many years ago. And know this, in answering that question, I decided that new thinking doesn’t come from old thinking, positive or not.
I wanted my thinking to serve me and that meant it must also change with me as conditions changed in my: relationships, work, play and so forth. 10,000 Year Thinking® says that while ideas can certainly be very useful, at your most fundamental level, a process that creates those ideas and thinking is what to look for—and look for one that reflects the authentic you at the unique time and place you find yourself—look for a process that naturally creates your thinking and you will have something that can serve you forever no matter what happens.
A little tip to consider—since effective thinking doesn’t come from old thinking that stays the same, look instead to a certain kind of feeling as the birthplace of your effective thinking—after all feelings naturally change with conditions. In particular, start with your sense or feeling of intuition.
In my next blog I will talk about three fundamental things that your intuition tells you—things that will have you continually updating your thinking to have it serving you effectively over the years.