Thinking Skills | Journey of a Strategic Thinker

“Experience alone does not add value to a life. It’s not necessarily experience that is valuable; it’s the insight people gain because of their experience. Reflect on it.”

Thinking Skills | Journey of a Strategic Thinker | Day 38

Last one month in this journey has been exciting. You can find more about that here:

Thinking Skills | Journey of a Strategic Thinker

Today we explore another paradigm of thinking models. The more easy to understand these models are, higher the chance that you'll remember them and use them. In my pursuit to look for easy to understand thinking models, I landed upon this book - "How Successful People Think".

Reflective Thinking:

1. Reflective Thinking:
   - Reflective thinking is essential but often overlooked in our fast-paced society.
   - It allows thoughts to simmer until they are fully processed, leading to better understanding and learning from successes and mistakes.
   - Reflective thinking provides true perspective, emotional integrity, confidence in decision-making, clarity of the big picture, and the ability to turn good experiences into valuable insights.

Reflective thinking
- Essential but often overlooked
- Allows thoughts to simmer
- Clarity comes after intentional thought

2. True Perspective:
   - Reflective thinking helps put experiences into perspective and evaluate their timing.
   - Evaluate all sides of the coin. There are always multiple point of views.
   - It allows for a deeper understanding, appreciation, and recognition of the value of experiences.
   - Example: Reflecting on family vacations and prompting children to think about what they liked and learned from the trips.

3. Emotional Integrity:
   - Reflective thinking enables individuals to distance themselves from intense emotions and view experiences with fresh eyes.
   - It facilitates the examination of past thrills and tragedies from a place of emotional maturity, truth, and logic.
   - Example: Reflecting on past emotional experiences and gaining new insights and understanding.

How to approach
- Distance yourself from intense emotions
- View experiences with fresh eyes
- Examine past thrills and tragedies with logic

4. Confidence in Decision-making:
   - Reflective thinking helps to eliminate doubt and build confidence in decision-making.
   - It allows individuals to draw from past reflections and experiences, enabling faster and more confident decision-making.
   - Example: Reflecting on past decisions and using the insights gained to make better-informed decisions in the future.

Better at Decision-making
- Reflection eliminates doubt
- Collect all insights in a journal
- Next time, make informed decision

5. Clarifying the Big Picture:
   - Reflective thinking helps to put ideas and experiences into a more accurate context.
   - It encourages individuals to spend time pondering their actions and experiences, leading to a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities.
   - Example: Reflecting on a job loss and understanding the patterns of events that led to it, as well as recognizing the bigger picture of being better suited for a new position.

6. Turning Good Experiences into Valuable Experiences:
   - Experience alone does not add value to a person's life; it is the insight gained from reflection that makes experiences valuable.
   - Reflective thinking helps to extract lessons and insights from experiences, making them more valuable and applicable to future situations.
   - Example: Reflecting on early career experiences and gaining insights that can be applied to future professional growth.

Embrace Reflective Thinking:

Find time for Reflection #1

-- Find a time and a place

-- Get away from all distractions
Express your thoughts #2

-- Use a journal or calendar

-- Write your thoughts

-- Give feedback to your actions

-- Make it a habit
Reflect on Values #3

-- Consider other areas of life

-- What's your contribution in each?

-- Have you learned anything important?

-- Did you add any value?

-- Did you show care?

1. Set Aside Time for Reflection:
   - Allocate dedicated time for reflective thinking, even though it may feel uncomfortable.
   - Example: Carving out specific periods during the day or week for self-reflection.

2. Remove Yourself from Distractions:
   - Find a quiet and distraction-free environment for effective reflection.
   - Example: Separating oneself from devices, noise, and interruptions to create a conducive space for reflection.

3. Regularly Review Your Calendar or Journal:
   - Utilize calendars and journals as tools for reflective thinking by reviewing past activities and experiences.
   - Example: Examining how time was spent, ensuring alignment with priorities, and recalling significant thoughts and lessons.

4. Ask the Right Questions:
   - Frame thoughtful questions that align with personal values, relationships, and experiences.
   - Example: Questions related to personal growth, adding value to others, leadership, faith, family, inner circle, and discoveries.

5. Cement Your Learning Through Action:
   - Put insights gained from reflective thinking into action for personal growth and development.
   - Example: Intentionally applying lessons learned, taking actionable steps based on reflections.

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