Think Archives - Page 5 of 5 - Scott's Thinking

You Always Have A Choice

Posted on January 17, 2020

No matter what the situation, you always have a choice. Now the best choice, from your perspective, may be obvious, or the idea of one of the choices may be revolting or incomprehensible, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have a choice. It simply means you have a preference for one of the options and are not interested in the other option.

Sometimes we hear the words, “I don’t have a choice”, or, “I didn’t have a choice”. It may feel, or seem, like our choices are limited to one, but it isn’t actually true. It’s just a story you tell yourself, and others, to try to rationalise or justify your decision and action.

For people who don’t like to take personal responsibility, who are often looking for someone else to blame, these kind of comments are perfect. They feel they can be absolved, as they didn’t have a choice. “The devil made me do it”, is a classic excuse to try to escape personal responsibility.

If you find yourself challenging the above idea, that we always have a choice, you may find success, and joy, are more elusive than you had hoped.

Goals, Results & New Thinking

Habit Forming

Posted on January 14, 2020

Constant repetition is required until you reprogram your mind and body with the desired habit (remember your times tables). There are no set number of days to create a habit. It can take some people 15 years to say goodby to cigarettes and only a few days to start going to a new place of work.

If you want to create a new habit, do the thing you should do, but maybe don’t want to do, everyday, until it’s a habit. You’ll know it’s a habit when you no longer think about doing it, it just happens.

Be focused, make it important enough (like a new place of work) and it will be a habit very quickly.

You’ll soon start doing the thought or activity out of habit and start to realise, and focus on, the benefits you are getting. That’s when you will want to really make this new habit stick and not fall back into that old habit.

Call it ‘crossing the threshold’.

It gets easier from there to make this growing habit into a permanent one.

Go try it.

Think About It

You’re being brainwashed

Posted on January 13, 2020

Call it brainwashing or programming. Even influencing, education, training or encouraging.

We all choose to allow others to fill our minds with thoughts and ideas which lead to our basic, individual philosophy, which then leads to plans and actions.

We choose to tune in or tune out, to something or someone, at every second of the day. You’re listening to, or tuned into, your friends, radio, spouse, news outlet, social media feeds, your own mind and thoughts, children, parents, journalists, entertainers and tv.

Hence, we are all being brainwashed by others if we don’t stop and think about what we are letting our minds consume. Just as with food, our consumption habits will catch up with us and it will be obvious to others and eventually ourselves.

We tend to adopt the message and philosophy of the content creator, or we move on to something that appeals to us more in that moment. We will return to the content, and the content creator, that we enjoy, agree with, or that makes us feel comfortable, thereby reinforcing their message and adopting it within ourselves.

Of course if we don’t like certain content or the creator, or if we stop, think and recognise that it is not good for us, we can choose to simply ignore it. That’s right: it’s a choice.

Is all of your mental consumption making you a better, happier person, or should you consider switching out some content creators?

Think About It

Mind Power – Take Back Control

Posted on January 11, 2020

Many people tend to live on autopilot. It’s simple and easy. Consistent and comfortable. But it’s not ideal when you want to change something in your life.

You need to stop and think. Yes, think. You’ve got to switch off the autopilot and switch on the manual control.

You will have to puzzle over the item. See it from different perspectives, not just your usual one. And, it’s hard work if you are not in the habit of doing this. But it does get easier the more you do it and train your brain.

Relax. Try to see how things could be different if your thoughts shifted a little.

You’re in control.

Enjoy that feeling.