How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

2. Find a Place to Shape Your Thoughts
Rarely do ideas come fully formed and completely worked out. Most of the
time, they need to be shaped until they have substance. As my friend Dan
Reiland says, they have to “stand the test of clarity and questioning.” During the
shaping time, you want to hold an idea up to strong scrutiny. Many times a
thought that seemed outstanding late at night looks pretty silly in the light of day.
Ask questions about your ideas. Fine tune them. One of the best ways to do that
is to put your thoughts in writing. Professor, college president, and U.S. senator
S. I. Hayakawa wrote, “Learning to write is learning to think. You don’t know
anything clearly unless you can state it in writing.”
As you shape your thoughts, you find out whether an idea has potential. You
learn what you have. You also learn some things about yourself. The shaping
time thrills me because it embodies:
Humor:
The thoughts that don’t work often provide comic relief.
Humility:
The moments when I connect with God awe me.
Excitement:
I love to play out an idea mentally. (I call it “futuring” it.)
Creativity:
In these moments I am unhampered by reality.
Fulfillment:
God made me for this process; it uses my greatest gifts and
gives me joy.
Honesty:
As I turn over an idea in my mind, I discover my true motives.
Passion:
When you shape a thought, you find out what you believe and
what really counts.
Change:
Most of the changes I have made in my life resulted from
thorough thinking on a subject.
You can shape your thoughts almost anywhere. Just find a place that works for
you, where you will be able to write things down, focus your attention without
interruptions, and ask questions about your ideas.

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