Thinking is the new sexy. That sounds strange at first, but it's true. Because thinking is a skill that has been increasingly unlearned over the years, but is becoming essential for the future. So let's go down the rabbit hole called thinking. Do you feel like it? Then let's go.
Who thinks your thoughts?
Who actually thinks your thoughts? If your first impulse now is to answer „Well, me, who else, Ilya?“, then I hope this article has helped you a little with your thoughts. Comfort zone to be able to shake things up. Instead, we want to talk about the supposedly mundane topic of thinking. Especially in my job as a Keynote Speaker I regularly come across this at events and conferences when I listen to presentations by other speakers or colleagues. They fervently demand that we need more forward thinkers, out-of-the-box thinkers, positive thinkers, outside-the-box thinkers, creative thinkers or future thinkers. And my first impulse is always the same: it would be enough for me if people would think at all. Because what is often colloquially referred to as thinking is actually something completely different.
The many myths of communication
What do I mean by that? Perhaps you have heard a lecture, read a book or listened to a podcast on the subject of personal development. It is highly likely that sooner or later you will have come across the example that there was once a study by Mr. Mehrabian who found that the effect of communication depends 7 % on the content, 38 % on the tonality of the voice and 55 % on body language.
And what is the conclusion? Quite simply: the content doesn't really matter, gestures, facial expressions and the voice are much more important. You have probably also heard the statement that humans have two brain hemispheres, the left half of which is responsible for rational, logical and analytical tasks, while the right half takes care of creative, emotional and intuitive things. Or do you know the example of the bumblebee that, according to the laws of aerodynamics, couldn't actually fly, but because it doesn't know that, it just does it anyway? Or how about the famous Yale study from 1957 (often referred to as the Harvard study), according to which 3 % of the students who formulated their goals in writing later accumulated more wealth than the other 97 % combined?
These are just a few of many other examples that all have one thing in common. They are simply not true. They are myths. The interpretation of the Mehrabian study was refuted by its namesake himself, that we have two different brain hemispheres is not correct, the bumblebee thing comes from the world of myths and the Yale study never really existed.
And now we come to the topic of thinking, because there are simply so many keynote speakers, authors or podcasters who seem to have little claim to their own content, preferring instead to copy and parrot stories, examples or supposed studies. They have heard this somewhere, know that they can make a popular point with it and then claim it without any research, but with a lot of fervor and conviction (the Dunning-Kruger effect sends its regards). And that means that they no longer think for themselves, but instead uncritically and unfiltered adopt any content that is available and disseminate it one-to-one without subjecting it to even minimal scrutiny.
Laziness of thought is spreading
„That's all well and good, Ilja, but I'm neither a speaker nor an author, I have a completely different profession, why is that relevant to me now?“ I'm glad you asked, because you can really find the pattern behind these examples everywhere. I'm talking about lazy thinking and the ever-increasing tendency to adopt ready-made content, opinions and narratives and to accept them directly as my own without any critical scrutiny.
Take a look at the feed of your favorite social media platform and you will be amazed at how many articles, pictures, slogans, competitions or messages are shared indiscriminately without any critical filter. My favorite examples are those infamous fake competitions in which Apple is supposedly giving away 500 iPads, you can win a Mercedes GLK or a Sony Playstation. But of course only if you have shared the post with your entire network in good old chain letter style.
And although these types of competitions are known to be nothing more than a huge scam to steal users' data, the supposedly enlightened and so critically thinking masses fall for this type of rip-off time and again, and the posts are often liked and commented on hundreds of thousands of times.
Who actually thinks your thoughts?
But why is that? The reason is as simple as it is alarming. Because many people have become lazy thinkers and no longer bother to think for themselves, preferring instead to leave this process to others. And if you now object that you think all day long, then I would like to ask you the question from the beginning of the article once again:
Who thinks your thoughts?
Are you simply adopting the ideas, opinions and viewpoints of others out of convenience or are your thoughts really the result of an individual, critical and comprehensive process of internal analysis? After all, this is what thinking is all about, namely taking in information and then critically reviewing it by developing it further, rejecting it or combining it with other ideas. A good starting point is always the following question: How do I know that?
Critical thinking: the process of getting to the source of the thought
In order to be able to give an answer, you have to start an internal process that leads you to the core of the information. To explain this, let's take the example of the two hemispheres of the brain, which are responsible for either logic or emotions. This idea sounds so convincing that we are quickly tempted to adopt it unfiltered.
The question „How do I know that?“ now interrupts this impulse and leads you to the source instead. Suddenly you realize that the thought did not originally come from you, but that you read it somewhere. The next question could then be: Who did this statement come from and where was it published? How does this person know this and what verifiable sources did they cite?
By asking questions in this way, you leave the surface and instead work your way down step by step. Until you eventually arrive at a study, an article or other verifiable facts. And that's not always so easy.
Just take the example of the many famous quotes from Steve Jobs, Anthony Hopkins or Albert Einstein that are circulating on the internet. Out of sheer laziness of thought and agreement with the individual statements, it is overlooked that the quotes shared do not come from these people at all. And even if you take the trouble to do some research, you start a quick Google search, which then immediately links to a blog article that also attributes the quote in question to Einstein or Jobs.
The problem is that the blogger didn't think for himself either, but picked up the quote somewhere and then spread it unfiltered. And because the article is at the top of Google, the false information is now spreading like wildfire.
Critical thinking: From the surface to the source
What applies to the written word can also be observed time and again in speeches. I now become extremely wary when I hear one of the favorite phrases of many speakers: „Studies have proven/found/proven that...“. You know that too, don't you? My alarm bells immediately start ringing and I ask myself which study it might be, whether this person's statement is really based on a verifiable source or whether he simply claimed it that way. This critical questioning, this critical scrutiny and the process of questioning yourself from a statement on the surface down to the deeper levels, that's what thinking is all about.
And of course I admit that this is not always easy in a time of ever-increasing information overload. The oversupply of the most diverse messages, ideas, opinions, viewpoints and narratives has made it extremely challenging to maintain an overview. And that is precisely why it is more important than ever before:
Thinking is the new sexy!
Because really thinking in the truest sense of the word has become an exception. Because thinking your own thoughts, comparing them with the most important values, combining them with other information and generating completely new ideas from them has become an absolute exception.
Thinking is the new sexy
This is all the more true because political correctness is becoming more and more prevalent, some things are only said because they are currently en vogue and others are no longer formulated because they run counter to the current zeitgeist. If you want to develop independent thinking as a sexy feature of your personality under these conditions, the following questions are a good starting point:
- Is the idea I'm thinking, the strategy I'm developing or the message I want to send really something that comes from me
- Is it based on my most important Values and does it go hand in hand with my experience?
- Is it really what I think, feel and am convinced of, or have I adopted it unfiltered and unchecked from others because it is currently in vogue or corresponds to the majority opinion?
- Am I just thinking my thoughts because that's what people think and because I want to conform to the majority in my bubble?
Psychologist Solomon Asch discovered that this is not so rare back in 1951 in his famous conformity experiment, in which he showed how peer pressure can influence an individual person to evaluate an obviously false statement as correct. And just so we're clear, I am in no way trying to encourage you to become one of those no-matter-what-it-is-I'm-basically-against-everything whingers. Critical thinking only becomes sexy when you critically question yourself and your individual thought processes and go into every discussion with the willingness to be wrong.
The mindset of critical thinking
But the more you use this Mindset as a basis, the sooner you will develop a kind of inner bullshit filter and realize how much false information is used, how often certain things are simply parroted and how many myths, false facts and fake claims are simply spread indiscriminately and develop in an almost curious way in a kind of domino rally to become the generally accepted truth, although they are not actually the truth at all.
However, there is another factor that is much more important. The more often you base your own decisions, strategies, career, business and life planning on your own ideas, opinions and independent thinking, the more authentic and fulfilling the whole thing will be.
And at the same time, the quality of your own content, your services and communication in general will also increase. Because the more you think for yourself, the more you come into contact with your individual uniqueness. The more you literally become the thinker of your own thoughts, the more valuable your ideas become, your personality becomes sexy and you stand out from the gray mass of conformity.
If in doubt, always ask yourself „How do I know that?“ and then go deeper, ideally to the source. Where do the alleged facts come from? Is it just an opinion or can it be backed up by studies, scientific research or other verifiable figures, data and information? The last point is so essential, because many people often only argue on the basis of opinions, feelings or anecdotal evidence that was once an exception under certain circumstances, but is not generally valid.
Become the thinker of your own thoughts
It would therefore fill my heart with great joy if you would take this article as an opportunity to put your own thought processes and strategies to the test. Of course, this also means critically questioning what I have just tried to convey to you. To ask yourself whether it's all really true and whether you want to adopt it, or whether it might even be complete nonsense.
If you find that out for yourself, then that's perfectly fine. It was much more important to me to challenge you a little, to tickle you and to encourage you not to leave the all-important thinking to other people. And if you want to go down this path, now would be a good time to throw lazy thinking overboard and become a thinker of your own thoughts once and for all. Isn't that right?
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