Title: Think Straight
Author: Darius Foroux
Published: 2017
Genre: Non-fiction, Self-help
BookMarks
The book keeps it short providing a mix of ideas on thinking straight, focusing on whats important and touching upon the philosophy of pragmatism. Although the book hardly goes in-depth on any theme there were a few ideas which I liked, . Here are some key takeaways.
Cogito Ergo Sum - I think therefore I am. Hence thoughts should serve a useful purpose. That’s why it is critical to control your thoughts or rather decide what to think. Certainly not an easy ask, given the way our thoughts have tendency to run all over. But "watching" them and deliberately making yourself focus can be good starting point. Achieving this is not easy but one can always start.
Getting a clear purpose out of the chaos of thoughts cluttering the mind should be the chief goal. After all, the quality of our thoughts determines our decisions and subsequently our actions. The author suggests to focus on useful thoughts which he has categorized into (a) Thinking about how you can solve problems and (b) Understanding knowledge for improving your life, career, work, relationships, etc.
While not easy, the author has given some actionable points which need to be reinforced.
- Before making any decision/commitment take time to think. (Very useful in chess.com games where you have a day to make a move)
- Read & take notes. Also keeping a journal of thoughts and going back to them. After all what is not written is forgotten.
- When the learning hits a wall, take a break, recharge and come back to the task.
- Visualizing ideas before detailing them out.
- Learning to relax. Something which most of us forget.
- The choice of "this or that" vs "this and that".
- Look back, learn and move forward (don't live in the past)
- At the end of the day, thinking by itself is useless without action. But actions must follow thoughts.
And finally finding inner calm or as Master Shifu would say "inner peace"
Overall an interesting book from which a few ideas resonated well.
Previously on BookMarks: Biting the Bullet
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