Riding thoughts - Becoming Right

A lot of what I write about is from my own experience. I don't spend a lot of time repeating the words and ideas of others. Of course, I am not deaf to other's words, it is just that I choose to do my own thinking rather than repeating someone else's. This often leaves me in the predicament that the words I say have already been said and often, the words I say are just stupid and uninformed.

Many people would rather import answers and be right, than give it a shot and run the possibility of being wrong. Especially, if the answers are already known and available. I take this approach too under certain conditions.

• If the information needed is critical
• If it is time sensitive
• When there are risks to others
• When the price of being wrong is too high to cover

Outside of these conditions, I am willing to give it a go, think things through, try it myself. The reason I am willing to be wrong when there are right answers available because being right is the end of a process. It is perhaps poorly named, becoming right may be a better term as there are very few ends to the chain.

And good process requires practice, especially in areas that are not innate. The process of breathing to live generally doesn't require practice but, for a top athlete, it is trained often so breathing effectively becomes automatic. I see thinking in the same way and though I was born with the some level of natural ability to think, there is a lot of room for improvement, even if I will never be a 'mentathlete'.

My way to improvement is through exposure, spending time developing process and training skills. This doesn't mean that there is no outside support introduced, it means that the work has to be done. By me. Letting others do the thinking work and using their answers is like cheating on a maths test. Good score, poor skill.

There are many approaches to becoming right and they may change depending on the thinking task. Sometimes, it means getting your hands dirty and actually doing it. Imagine reading every book on surfing technique and knowing it all but never having actually physically surfed. With information in hand, you choose to enter the Pro circuit. How would you expect to perform?

To surf, you will probably spend a lot of time splashing around in the shallows, struggling to paddle past the breakers, unable to time the pop, weight too far forward and dipping the nose, too far back and dumping the tail. But, when all the things come together and you ride a few feet, the ecstatic feeling of victory sweeps over you. No one can do this work for you and in time, standing becomes commonplace, the feeling of victory falls away and is replaced by the energy of the wave as you become serious and sensitive. It becomes very enjoyable.

Thinking can be like that too. Without strong foundations, the mind cannot become serious enough to develop the sensitivity to go deep, push the boundaries of thought out and ride the mental waves. With practice and in time, thinking will be as enjoyable as a Sunday surf in good conditions.

Like anything, you don't want to be absent of practice when it matters; when risks and costs are high. Thinking well when it is critical needs to be like effective breathing. It may still be difficult and burn the mental lungs but the capacity and efficiency provides the framework for survival.

These days, we are surrounded by things that think for us. Schedules, calculators, memos and any fact (or alternative fact) that one requires can be located within the information behemoth that is the internet. It is easy to always feel right with a quick search, a favourable article to back up claims and the world's data literally in the palm of a hand.

But when it matters, when things move fast or heaven forbid, no signal, what will happen? How to act when there is no youtube how-to guide or handy tidbit to support claims? What happens when there is no time to find a pictured meme or gif to use in the place of wit? How clever are we when we have to rely on our own skills and mental faculties?

At those times, we will usually not be right, but having a good process for becoming right may get us through and give us another chance to try again.

Of course, I may be wrong. But that gives me more waves to ride.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]