Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life?

Can changing your thinking really change your life? Consider this: I’ve studied successful people for forty years, and though the diversity you find among them is astounding, I believe they are all alike in one way: how they think! That is the one thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful.

The good news is that it’s possible to learn how to think like a successful person. But before we can learn from a good thinker, we need to know what they look like.  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.  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 it this way:

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.  I believe that those pieces include eleven skills, which I’ve listed below. After each is a question you can ask yourself to measure your own thinking:

Cultivate Big-Picture Thinking. Am I thinking beyond myself and my world so that I process ideas with a holistic perspective?

Engage in Focused Thinking. Am I dedicated to removing distractions and mental clutter so that I can concentrate with clarity on the real issue?

Harness Creative Thinking. Am I working to break out of my “box,” exploring ideas and options, so I can experience creative breakthrough?

Employ Realistic Thinking. Am I building a solid foundation on facts so that I can think with certainty?

Utilize Strategic Thinking. Am I implementing strategic plans that give me direction for today and increase my potential for tomorrow?

Explore Possibility Thinking. Am I unleashing the enthusiasm of possibility thinking to find solutions for even seemingly impossible problems?

Learn from Reflective Thinking. Am I regularly revisiting the past to gain a true perspective and think with understanding?

Question Popular Thinking. Am I consciously rejecting the limitations of common thinking in order to accomplish uncommon results?

Benefit from Shared Thinking. Am I consistently searching the minds of others to think “over my head” and achieve compounding results?

Practice Unselfish Thinking. Am I continually considering others and their journey in order to think with maximum collaboration?

Rely on Bottom-Line Thinking. Do I stay focused on the bottom line so that I can gain the maximum return and reap the full potential of my thinking?

Based on your answers to the questions, where are you strongest? In what kind of thinking do you need to grow? Develop in any of those areas, and you’ll become a better thinker. Master all that you can - especially the process of shared thinking, which helps you compensate for your weak areas - and your life will change.

Leading Decisions

If you watch the news, it seems like every time we turn around, a new crisis appears. In times like these, good leadership is especially critical. Here are the top five types of tough choices good leaders make during tough times:

Courageous decisions. A leader has to be willing to stand up to all competing agendas and do what must be done.

Priority decisions. What must be done first? The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto once said, "If you're Noah, and your ark is about to sink, look for the elephants first, because you can throw over a bunch of cats and dogs and squirrels and everything else that is just a small animal - and your ark will keep sinking. But if you can find one elephant to get overboard, you're in much better shape." If you're a leader, identify your elephants.

Change decisions. Leaders should know when it's time to make a change.

Creative decisions. Think outside of the box. Get every option out on the table. A good leader will be open-minded and explore all options on the spectrum between "change nothing" and "change everything." The right choice usually lies somewhere in the middle.

Support decisions. Leaders are responsible for having the right people on the team and making sure they are in the right places. In their book, The Wisdom of Teams, Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith write, Team leaders genuinely believe that they do not have all the answers-so they do not insist on providing them. They believe they do not need to make all key decisions-so they do not do so. They believe they cannot succeed without the combined contributions of all the other members of the team to a common end-so they avoid any action that might constrain inputs or intimidate anyone on the team. Ego is not their predominant concern.

Leaders are not MADE in a crisis. Leaders are REVEALED in a crisis. It's easy to steer a ship in calm waters. Only the turbulence of a storm shows a captain's true skill. If your organization is facing a storm, take the wheel and make the decisions that only a leader can make.