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

2. Appreciate Thinking Different from Your Own
One of the ways to embrace innovation and change is to learn to appreciate
how others think. To do that, you must continually expose yourself to people
different from yourself. My brother, Larry Maxwell—a good businessman and
an innovative thinker—continually challenges popular thinking by thinking
differently. He says:
Most of our people in sales and middle management come from businesses
with products and services different from ours. That constantly exposes us
to new ways of thinking. We also discourage our people from active
participation in formal business and trade associations and fraternities
because their thinking is quite common. They don’t need to spend lots of
time thinking the way everyone else in the industry does.
As you strive to challenge popular thinking, spend time with people with
different backgrounds, education levels, professional experiences, personal
interests, 
etc.
You will think like the people with whom you spend the most time.
If you spend time with people who think out of the box, you’re more likely to
challenge popular thinking and break new ground.

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3. Continually Question Your Own Thinking
Let’s face it, any time we find a way of thinking that works, one of our
greatest temptations is to go back to it repeatedly, even if it no longer works
well. The greatest enemy to tomorrow’s success is sometimes today’s success.
My friend Andy Stanley recently taught a leadership lesson at INJOY’s Catalyst
Conference called “Challenging the Process.” He described how progress must
be preceded by change, and he pointed out many of the dynamics involved in
questioning popular thinking. In an organization, he said, we should remember
that every tradition was originally a good idea—and perhaps even revolutionary.
But every tradition may not be a good idea for the future.
In your organization, if you were involved in putting into place what currently
exists, then it’s likely that you will resist change—even change for the better.
That’s why it’s important to challenge your own thinking. If you’re too attached
to your own thinking and how everything is done now, then nothing will change
for the better.

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