· 2 min read

You need time to think

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Photo by Elijah Hiett on Unsplash

Difference between thinking and knowledge

There is a difference between acquiring knowledge and thinking.

Our gadgets are such that they remove any need for thinking. We can find all information in minutes.

The problem this leads to is that we always search for a ready-made answer instead of thinking ourselves.

I have seen this during development a lot where some developers would search open-source solutions or paid solutions when in reality creating solutions was a just a few lines of code.

This happens because of not thinking.

Thinking

Thinking means you’ll question things from the first principles. To see if they are valid or not.

Then you scrutinize it.

Why

Individuals search for truth. Groups search for consensus. By always finding information rather than thinking, you increase your chances of being the same as others. Of course, logical facts are undeniable.

If you can think and articulate, you are powerful. You can influence people. People give you money. Ask for your advice.

Learning happens when you compare and contrast. Compare and contrast requires time to think.

Clear thinking also allows you to explain easily.

Your problems get solved when you think.

What you don’t use you lose. So make time to think.

Unprocessed thoughts

Unprocessed thoughts come out as garbage.

Unprocessed thoughts are not well articulated and come out as garbage. 1

If you have unprocessed thoughts you fumble through life. 1

About an hour a day should be good.

But if you haven’t processed your thoughts for long, it may take longer than a hour a day for a few days.

But it is important to remember unless this is absolutely a pain point to not let this be the only thing that’s on your plate. You have things to do and responsibilities to fulfil.

As you grow, the less manual work you have to do. And more decisions you have to make.

It’s better to spend 6 hours sharpening the ace and just spending an hour chopping down a tree than to do the opposite

So you’ll spend more time strategizing and learning rather than doing

Obstacles

Note-taking is problematic. By externalizing everything, you won’t think through well. One should only write what they think about a topic if something is new and carefully thought through.

The greatest obstacle to thinking is we resist boredom. Boredom is important as it sparks creativity.

Footnotes

  1. Jordan Peterson 2


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