“IT’S THE THINKING, SILLY”

“It’s the economy, stupid!” was the winning slogan that played a big role in getting Bill Clinton elected as president. James Carvell, one of his political advisers came up with it and, once they found that it won the minds and hearts of people, they invested millions of dollars into spreading it like a thought-virus. And it worked. It worked to focus on a simple and dominating idea—the problem is the economy and the person who seems to be able to do the best with the economy has an upper hand.

That gave me an idea the other day. I was asked numerous questions about the Thinking for Humans trainings. In response I reiterated a number of the things which I normally say to drive home the importance of thinking—about how critical thinking is in our lives:

• The Quality of your Thinking is the Quality of your Life.

• To become a millionaire or an expert in any area, you have to think like a millionaire.

• Everything about your—your identity, emotions, values, lifestyle, etc.—is a function of your thinking.

• “As you think, so you are.”

• What makes successful people unique: They think differently from how others think.

At that point I was asked about a number of specific areas— wealth creation, health, fitness, school, learning, leadership, etc. And after again and again emphasizing that it all comes down to how you are thinking, I realized that I could phrase it in this challenging way: “It’s the Thinking, Stupid!” or to be kinder, “It’s the Thinking, Silly!”

The purpose of the phrase is not to do name calling, but to point out something that is so obvious. In Bill Clinton’s case, “It is the economy.” For me, “It is the thinking!” What most fundamentally distinguishes human beings from animals is thinking—we can truly and actually ‘think.’ We can ‘entertain an idea in our mind to understand it for the purpose of acting upon it.” And further, we can think-about-our-thinking. When we do that it means we can now choose not only what to think but how to think. And that meta-thinking puts us in charge of the process so that we can keep learning how to enhance our thinking and develop better ways to think. How incredible is that?

Shakespeare in Hamlet succinctly described the creative power of thinking when he wrote “...for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” By thinking, you invent what for you is either good or bad, what is fearful or exciting, what is a value or a disvalue, something to love or hate. By your thinking, you create all of the constructs which you hold in mind about yourself, others, life, work, fun, exercise, food, etc.

Thinking is your inner creative power that makes or breaks things. It is your most fundamental power ... yet a power that has to be developed and trained. Untrained, thinking is utterly dangerous to your health and well-being. Untrained, you will think yourself into all sorts of problems and prisons. Untrained, you will use the childish cognitive distortions, not even realizing the misery for yourself and others which you are constructing. That makes untrained thinking really, really dangerous, doesn’t it?

One of the most amazing things about thinking, and something that is mostly completely unknown, is that everything human depends on the quality of our thinking. And what are all of these “things human?” Well, everything that we construct as part of our human adventure— our values, beliefs, understandings, knowledge, science, civilization, schools, religion, relationships, communication, organizations, leadership, management, ethics, and the list goes on and on. Everything human is derived from what and how we think.

Therefore we can have no better lives, relationships, work, productivity, efficiency, homes, schools, government, world, than our thinking allows. Limit the thinking, we limit the quality of our lives. Downgrade our thinking, and we downgrade the very essence of our humanity. Perhaps now you are catching the power of that shocking declaration, “It’s the thinking, stupid!” To the extent that we do not pay attention to our thinking—to that extent we do not pay attention to the greatest leverage we have in changing our lives for the better and changing the world for the better.

“It’s the thinking, stupid or silly!” alerts us to the critical importance of thinking and the need for The Art of Clear Precise Thinking. It shouts out loud about the importance of training in thinking skills. And where can you get that kind of training? Neuro-Semantics! And especially in Thinking for Humans which is Brain Camp I.