LET'S THINK THAT THROUGH

“LET’S THINK THAT THROUGH”

At the end of Strategic Thinking (2025), I wrote about thinking something through.  “If you do not give the action steps of WFO #7 much thought, then they will not be on your mind, then you won’t plan for them.  And if you don’t plan ... you will more than likely forget them.” (p.  190).  How about that as a strategy for how to not succeed in reaching your desired outcome!  It is a strategy for not thinking something through.

When it comes to thinking, one of the ways that most people are not great thinkers, and that they find thinking hard so they then avoid the effort involved in thinking, is that they “do not think things through.”  I speak about this from personal experience.  How many times have I put my palm to forehead and asked, “What of was I thinking?”  Of course the answer is, “I wasn’t.”  Or at least, I did not think something through.  How about you?

To our friends and loved ones, we often say and recommend that they “think things through.”  When was the last time you said that?  When was the last time someone said that to you?  It is a fairly common thing to say.  Yet, what do we really mean when we say that?  What does thinking something through mean?

We know what ‘thinking’ means.  What then does thinking thrugh something mean?  The challenge here lies in how the word through is used.  The dictionary suggests it is used in a great many ways.

Through: to in one side and out the other; among or between, by way of, by means of, from the beginning to the end (completely), up to and including, to a conclusion or an accomplishment.

To think something through then can mean starting with a subject (the beginning of it) and continuing until you get to the end of the subject.  If it has sides, then ‘in one side and out the other.” It could refer to how you are thinking to accomplish something—the means that you will use.  If so, then it refers to your strategy for accomplishing something; your strategy for how you will ‘think it through’ to that outcome.  It could refer to some thinking conclusion that you have drawn.  That’s a lot of possibilities!

Let’s now get our heads out of the dictionary and put them back in reality.  When you say think it through, what are you asking?

·                Take your idea, decision, or action and think about it to the end—all that you need to do to reach to your goal.  On the surface it may sound like a great idea, the question is, will doing all of that actually achieve your goal?

·                Take your idea and think about it beyond the end to the consequences that may follow.  As you do, is it still a good idea?  What about unintended consequences?  Any of those?  What about delayed consequences?

·                Take your idea and think about how well it is based and grounded in sensory information.  Is it well grounded?  Do the facts support it?

·                As you consider your idea, think with regard to all of the processes which are required for it to work.  What are all of the processes which you will be required to do?  Are you up for all of that?  Do you have the required knowledge?  The required skills? 

·                As you think about that decision, where could it go south?  What problems could arise?  If X-problem arose, what contingencies do you need to consider?

·                Take your idea and think through all of the higher frames which are needed.  Do you know the higher frames?  The contexts in which it works and those in which it does not work?  Do you have the beliefs, values, understandings, imaginations, etc. (meta-level landmarks) which you will need?

·                Take your idea and think through the eology.  Is this idea and all that it entails good for you?  Do you have the time, energy, and willingness for it?  Will it mess up anything in your finances, relationships, health, fitness, etc.?

When I consider all of the problems that I’ve had (and created) over the years of my life—a great many of them arose simply due to not thinking things through.  If only I had spent a little bit of time thinking, especially thinking in the presence of someone who could have guided my thinking I probably could have prevented maybe 50% of my problems.  How about you?

And why did I not think things through?  Probably I was too busy rushing forward trying to achieve  my goals.  Or I was blind to possible problems that could arise.  Or I was so caught up in the day-by-day activities that I excused myself thinking, “I’m too busy; I have no time to think.”   Thinking things through is an essential part of good thinking.  Yes, it takes some time.  Yes, it can involve effort and mental strain.  Yes, you may not have all the information you need and have to do some study.  Yet thinking things through is crucial if you’re going to be an excellent strategic thinker.

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