What to Think when Thinking Deeply

----

(Tl;dr- at the bottom of the page)

----

What to think when thinking deeply

Its the type of metacognitive statement thats just frustrating and probably sounds a little bit like click bait (maybe it is). But its a valid question. “What do you think about when thinking deeply?” Its an annoying question- I’m annoyed writing it. But it was the first thing I asked myself when I first decided to make a stance and focus on thinking. I made a concerted effort to disconnect from my devices, made time for thinking about the world’s problems. I was convinced all the answers to life’s big mysteries were locked away in my head somewhere, hidden behind a technologically generated cloud of facebook, instagram, and email garbage. But when I finally sat down and told myself, “ok, now its time to think, time to find clarity”...I didn’t know what to think about. I toiled and my mind wandered (knowing now thats not always a bad thing). I couldn’t focus on the big topics I wanted to cover. So I realized the first real thing I needed to think about, was thinking. What should I spend this time on? What should I put my mental energy towards, however limited it might be? Well, this was it- I’ll think about thinking through which I came to a list of 5 categories that I told myself I can put my effort towards. I think you’ll find some of these categories insightful and others annoyingly simple and maybe a copout (but still real, and useful.)

1. Think about the things within your control

This one was a little rough for me to wrap my head around at first. I decided that to understand the things worth putting my mental energy towards it should be focused mainly towards the things I can impact or change. I began trying to create a list of the things I believed I can control. This was easy- I listed things like, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the time I leave for work…perfect! I coincidentally met with a coworker that day that was really into the ancient philosophers (nowadays I refer to the stoics regularly). We happened to discuss the concept of control which is quite common in Greek and Roman philosophy of the day. The stoics in particular, like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, believed that anything outside of your body was external to your control and your thoughts and feelings surrounding objects or events were the only things within your control. So thats to say that even the food I eat is not within my control, or the clothes I wear, or the time I leave from work…and its true- after thinking on it more there were a series of factors that led me to eat the things I eat- what's available or what I have enough money for; the clothes I wear- whats clean or what type of clothes does my employer require? While this can be frustrating initially, to understand that really very few things are actually within my control, I later thought that it’s rather liberating. 

To understand that my thoughts alone are untouchable to others and that is the only thing I actually need to put mental energy towards is rather liberating. I say all this to recommend to you- take the time to understand for yourself the things which are or are not within your control. This is a great place to start and nicely frames the rest of the time you spend thinking.

1. Think about goals and aspirations

This one is probably the most enjoyable yet exhausting category for me to ponder. I muse on the aspects of my future life that I want to strive for, for both my family and I. I have visions of success, probably none too dissimilar from many people, especially entrepreneurs- owning businesses and homes, having a comfortable lifestyle, traveling and trying new foods, providing only the best education for my kids. Some were thoughts of real grandeur- we're going to buy an airplane and I'm going to fly us around the world (for some maybe this isn’t grand…but I don’t know how to fly a plane so for me it is). I inevitably begin planning backwards from those goals to determine which steps I need to take today, tomorrow and the next day so that in five years from now I’m landing my family and I on a small private airstrip on an island in the Ionian sea.

 I found frustration thinking about these wild goals of mine when they started to feel unattainable. “I don’t have the time to learn to fly, I have a full time job and two kids under two years old”. But I continued dreaming and aspiring. It became an exercise in temperance but also in imagination. And as I have come to find, imagination is such an important aspect of success and happiness. I have a mantra I often ponder on, “don’t be confined by what I know”. I recite this when I’m having a particularly difficult time finding solutions to wicked problems. Children often find creative ways of achieving results and it's largely because their imagination hasn’t yet been fully confined by the dredges of reality. So, I say all this to suggest- allow yourself to think deeply on wild ambitions; exercise that imagination. But at the same time- thinking deeply within those visions of grandeur you’ll find those goals that actually are attainable.

1. Ethics, morals, and values

I should probably have listed this one first (or maybe at the very least, second). Understanding your own values, ethics, and morality will drive everything else in your life. Having a clear set of values will be the basis for all of your decision-making. This is why huge organizations of professionals have values given to them; think healthcare professionals with “do no harm”, or the US Army with loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, and so on.

Just imagine you have a difficult decision ahead of you. As an example, lets say you have the opportunity to sell your business. You’re having trouble deciding whether it makes sense to sell for you, your family, your lifestyle, and your employees. Having a foundational set of moral and ethical values gives you something to weigh your decision against, as an example- “Employee growth opportunity comes first”. You can decide if the sale of your business will result in better opportunities for the employees of that company to grow.

Values though are not easy things to create. They take careful consideration and deep thought. Values need to be timeless, objective, and personal, in nature. Values should be easy to remember and understand- hard to forget so that when decisions are difficult or stress is high you can easily remember and internalize them.

1. The Little Things

So stupid- “think about the little things”. It feels like something you’d see written on a wooden board hanging in a small kitchen in a country home in the midwest United States. Probably bought the sign from Target or something. But here I go again, I’m going to talk about the benefits of this corny statement. 

I actually first started becoming interested in looking at the little things when I was a SCUBA diving instructor. I loved SCUBA diving and to a degree I enjoyed teaching. I mostly enjoyed seeing new divers find joy and amazement in the things we saw at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. But after a while some things became standard and unexciting. I’d see the same giant fish, the same sand tigers (enough so we’d have names for them. I liked Wilbur the most), the same shipwrecks and so on. It wasn’t until I overheard one student that had their head stuck in the sand most of the dive. She made a statement to another diver like “did you see those tiny snails in the anchor well?”...I certainly hadn’t seen them. On the next dive I made a point to look- sure enough there they were, about the size of the first knuckle of my pointer finger, and very colorful too. From that point forward I made a point to spend a little time in the sand- I found some really interesting creatures I hadn’t cared to know before. I thought to myself that this might be a decent analogy for a future blog post (yuck).

Taking time to think about the little things can help you better understand the big things. You appreciate the bigger moments in life, the big picture (also corny, but true).

1. Day Dreaming

This one may have been my biggest struggle to adopt or allow in the beginning of my efforts to think more deeply. Let yourself day dream a little bit. Most of us ‘type A’ people have a hard time allowing ourselves the freedom to think about anything other than whats necessary…maybe it not all ‘type A’ people but it was certainly me- and I know, from talking with others, I’m not the only one. If I’m not thinking about how to make myself better, if I’m not thinking about what needs to be done today, tomorrow, next, week, next year…then I’m wasting my time and wasting my energy. But here’s the thing- day dreaming, I’ve found, exercises your ability to think creatively. I’ve also found that thinking creatively has been my biggest source of success at work and at home. The ability to solve problems in creative ways, especially when you reach barriers. Day dreaming lets you put reality aside without repercussions in the real world, you can allow yourself to see angles yet to be seen. I know i’ve said it in another blog post somewhere- but I truly believe that we’re sometimes constrained by the things that we know. I’ve frequently found people’s excuse for not achieving results because of self-created systems and processes. Think around them, think through them- day-dream about what a different system would look like. Allow your mind to wonder through a problem. Afterall- some would say true genius lies in the mind of of the creatives.

Well thats it, thats the full list of things you should think about…[insert huge eyeroll]. Of course, this list isn’t comprehensive- these are just the things that I’ve found got me out of a rut- this is the list I refer to when I find my mind darting around looking for a subject to latch onto. Try out these ideas- feel free to comment on the topics you like thinking deeply on or other suggestions you might have. Thanks for reading!

-----

Tl;dr (Summary)- Think about whatever you want but there are five suggestions to help you get out of a 'thought ditch' if you find yourself in one.

1. Think about things you can control

2. Goals and aspirations

3. Ethics, and morals

4. Little things in life

5. Day-dreaming