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

Those Most Affected:
Landing thoughts with the people on the firing line
will give you great insight. Those closest to changes that occur as a result of
a new idea can give you a “reality read.” And that’s important, because
sometimes even when you’ve diligently completed the process of creating a
thought, shaping it, and stretching it with other good thinkers, you can still
miss the mark.

---

5. Find a Place to Fly Your Thoughts
French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson, who won the Nobel Prize in
literature in 1927, asserted that a person should “think like a man of action—act
like a man of thought.” What good is thinking if it has no application in real life?
Thinking divorced from actions cannot be productive. Learning how to master
the process of thinking well leads you to productive thinking. If you can develop
the discipline of good thinking and turn it into a lifetime habit, then you will be
successful and productive all of your life. Once you’ve created, shaped,
stretched, and landed your thoughts, then flying them can be fun and easy.

---

PORTRAIT OF A GOOD THINKER
You often hear someone say that a colleague or friend is a “good thinker,” but
that phrase means something different to everyone. To one person it may mean
having a high IQ, while to another it could mean knowing a bunch of trivia or
being able to figure out whodunit when reading a mystery novel. I believe that
good thinking isn’t just one thing. It consists of several specific thinking skills.
Becoming a good thinker means developing those skills to the best of your
ability.
It doesn’t matter whether you were born rich or poor. It doesn’t matter if you
have a third grade education or possess a Ph.D. It doesn’t matter if you suffer
from multiple disabilities or you’re the picture of health. No matter what your
circumstances, you can learn to be a good thinker. All you must do is be willing
to engage in the process every day.
In 
Built to Last
, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras describe what it means to be a
visionary company, the kind of company that epitomizes the pinnacle of
American business. They describe those companies this way: 
1
A visionary company is like a great work of art. Think of Michelangelo’s
scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or his statue of
David. Think of a great and enduring novel like 
Huckleberry Finn
or 
Crime
and Punishment
. Think of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or Shakespeare’s
Henry V
. Think of a beautifully designed building, like the masterpieces of
Frank Lloyd Wright or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. You can’t point to any
one single item that makes the whole thing work; it’s the entire work—all
the pieces working together to create an overall effect—that leads to
enduring greatness.
Good thinking is similar. You need all the thinking “pieces” to become the
kind of person who can achieve great things. Those pieces include the following
eleven skills:
Seeing the Wisdom of Big-Picture Thinking
Unleashing the Potential of Focused Thinking

---

Discovering the Joy of Creative Thinking
Recognizing the Importance of Realistic Thinking
Releasing the Power of Strategic Thinking
Feeling the Energy of Possibility Thinking
Embracing the Lessons of Reflective Thinking
Questioning the Acceptance of Popular Thinking
Encouraging the Participation of Shared Thinking
Experiencing the Satisfaction of Unselfish Thinking
Enjoying the Return of Bottom-Line Thinking
As you read the chapters dedicated to each kind of thinking, you will discover
that they do not try to tell you 
what
to think; they attempt to teach you 
how
to
think. As you become acquainted with each skill, you will find that some you do
well, others you don’t. Learn to develop each of those kinds of thinking, and you
will become a better thinker. Master all that you can—including the process of
shared thinking which helps you compensate for your weak areas—and your life
will change.

---