If we are going to change our behavior and performance, the first thing we have to do is change the way we think.
The absolute most important skill is the ability to think.
In order to maximize our potential in building relationships, problem-solving, leading and communicating it is imperative to create a foundation of unique thinking. Creating a strategy to enhance our capability to think enables us to simplify our life while decluttering the mental thought process.
We must consistently and diligently commit to building a portfolio of supportive, authentic and genuine allies who can teach you how to think instead of what to think. Because when you are around people who teach you how to think, it lessens the danger and temptation of surrendering your unique narrative and who you are.
I have accumulated a certain level of thought currency over my eighty-year journey. However, the world is being reshaped faster than we can reshape ourselves. In order to stay relevant in the 21st century, I have had to “unlearn to learn.” Ways of thinking and living when I was 30, 40 and 50 years old is not always impeccable for today’s ever-changing and technologically driven times. We must continue to learn to see both the old and new at the same time.
The “unlearning to learn” process allows for a cleansing of the mind to transpire. Old habits of thinking that are no longer serving our growth and development are removed so space can be made for new discoveries and ways of thinking to flow into our consciousness.
There is always a price you have to pay directly or indirectly as you grow. Implementing the following twenty ways of thinking into my daily living has enabled me to consciously focus on what doors to open, and what doors to close while having a greater influence over the details in my life.
1. I am getting older, but I am not old.
2. My two choices every day are to be happy or be very happy.
3. Calculate the use of my energy, time and environment on a daily bases.
4. Reinvent myself every five years.
5. Embrace a growth mindset, avoid a fixed mindset.
6. If you have a choice between being kind or being right, choose kindness. Attempting to be right all the time is a disease.
7. The quality of my life will primarily be determined by whom I elect to spend my time with.
8. “No” is a sentence as well as an energy and time saver.
9. Reading a book is as necessary as breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping and thinking.
10. Remove “can’t” and “impossible” from my daily conversations and thinking.
11. You cannot live a pain-free life.
12. Each of us is responsible for our own happiness.
13. You have to give love, to receive love.
14. Have at least two real conversations each day.
15. It’s not about what I have learned. It’s about what I do with what I have learned.
16. Welcome Questions. Love Questions. Ask Questions. Learn From Questions.
17. Live life strategically and with few regrets.
18. Daily Question: What did I do today to make myself a better person than yesterday?
19. To live an authentic life you need to know why you are here, and what you stand for.
20. Be certain to die empty.
