How to think clearly
6 ways to think clearly and become smarter
There are many routine things we do in our lives without any clear idea and thinking. Often these things do not demand any planning or understanding since these are so common that they can be performed without any conscious thought. But as these are common and do not require consciousness and active involvement of our brain, these keep us common in thinking and progressing like billions of others. So, for success and progress, we need to think beyond routine ideas and activities. But when we think out of the box it may give us a foggy understanding of the matter in hand. What makes you outshine others in any field or business is the ability to think clearly.
Clear thinking makes things simple but simplicity itself is not so simple to be achieved.
It needs consistent conscious work and honing when we try doing something other than our routine or when we put efforts to extend our habitual activities. Learning how to think clearly may help us to deal with surprises and coincidences which come our way in our life. Every time, when we add something new to our routine it takes effort. It might be an addition to business, job, skill or any profession we always have to have clear thinking for getting quick and positive results.
How to achieve clear thinking and unfoggy focus?
Here are 6 ways to develop much-needed clarity and focus for thriving in life.
- Question your aim, strategy, and ability
Initiate the journey of clear thinking by questioning your aim, strategy, and ability. Always before doing, writing, or speaking something raise questions to yourself and try to give justified and somewhat logical answers to them which may include:
a) Why are you doing something? This question demands your understanding of the goal.
b) How would you do that? It specifies your plan and strategy.
c) What are you doing? It explains your sense of knowledge, action, and context of the surroundings.
All these questions require practical, applicable, and achievable answers. For instance, if someone is planning to reduce 10 or 15 pounds weight in a day through exercise or a diet plan it might be fabulous to think but humanly it’s not possible to accomplish this healthy goal in a day. When we can’t achieve such unsound ideas and plans practically we may find ourselves dispirited. These bad experiences may give us the foggy idea that we can not achieve anything in our life and marginalize our brain to think big. Therefore, question yourself and place your answers logically for thinking clarity.
2. Stay realistic and truthful to yourself
Don’t overstate or understate anything, always stay true to yourself. Because
you are the first and the last person who knows you the most.
Our emotions and feelings in various unpleasant or delightful conditions compel us to think and state something that is not true or justified. When we unjustly perceive or think greater or lesser than our knowledge, skill, ability, or plan it may hamper our clear thinking. So, it is necessary to be realistic with oneself for clear thinking.
3. Discuss and dispute clearly
Build the habit of expressing even your insignificant thoughts or ideas with others clearly. Discussing your ideas with others and receiving counter-responses may help you to refine your thinking. Otherwise, keep thinking without expression may mislead you to assume yourself falsely correct or incorrect. Discussions and disputes lead us to clear thinking about any matter at hand. So, think and speak clearly and logically.
4. Try to connect events with the ideas
Thinking is a mental process for forming concepts or ideas. Generally, Ideas are less attractive and less interesting than events. We are prone to discuss events and day-to-day routine. Ideas are abstract and we feel difficulty in connecting various elements of an idea. So, we don’t feel like doing this boring activity and leave any thinking process or idea on the embryonic stage which stays in mind ambiguous and unclear. For clear thinking, we should try to build a connection with the context or events happening around us. For instance, when we are in the garden, park, or market, etc we should try to involve our complete senses for absorbing maximum events happening around us. It would build a vibrant map of information in our brain for creating a clear-thinking.
5. Limit your desires after maturing clear thinking
Once we have obtained the required knowledge and have made a well-thought-out idea for action try to limit new desires and amateur thinking. Since these random new desires and ideas can build up baseless pressure and confusion. It would cause distraction and haze earlier achieved clear thinking. These distractions might emerge internally or out of the external opinions of the people. As Oscar Wilde said, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
Others’ thoughts, opinions, and passions are not even theirs. They borrow them from others and lend them to others.
6. Think specific and think to act
Whenever you plan any action make a to-do-list. Make sure to keep your list precise and realistic. Rather than putting something big and unclear on your list like “building a house,” use smaller and more immediately attainable goals like “constructing a single room” and so on. Try to put the most significant or urgent matters at the top of your list. After placing your items on the list go for action accordingly. It would improve your thought process because practicing your idea or thinking would involve all your senses. You may overcome flaws in your thinking by physical involvement in that matter for getting more clarity.
In addition to the above-mentioned ways, clear thinking can be achieved and maintained through good health by taking exercise, good food, solitude, and meditation. All these good and healthy habits and activities would help you to enhance your focus and clarity. These would give you peace of mind for thinking clearly under any critical and demanding situation.
If you have any of your own experience and tips on thinking more clearly, I’d love to hear them!