Master coach instructor, creator of Metacognitive Programming, a coaching and therapeutic technique. Founder and CEO of Think Meta.
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Throughout our lives, we are taught many different things and acquire many different skills. Undoubtedly, we benefit from this learning. Yet it is astonishing that only a few have ever been taught how to actually think better.
"Thinking better" means thinking bigger or having faster access to your own memory. The ability to memorize new information and recall old information quickly is vital for us. After all, we live in a world where things happen and change fast.
If we use our web browsers, we can stumble upon many different tips aimed to help one improve one's memory. These tips tend to fall into three main categories:
1. Better Eating Habits: As an example, studies on both rodents and human subjects suggest that diets high in saturated fats and refined sugars can impair our memory and overall cognitive functioning. So those wanting to improve both are advised to minimize these elements and eat less processed food.
2. Movement: Even simple physical activity that is easily incorporated into everyday life is shown to improve our memory. Working out substantially benefits overall functioning. Your body and mind will thank you, regardless of the kind of movement you opt for, from cardio and strength training to flexibility training.
3. Sleep And Daylight: Consolidative sleep benefits our learning and memory, while natural light, through its impact on circadian rhythm, affects our memory, attention and executive functions.
However, the more exciting category for me is the breadth of mind: The ability to think like no one thinks. Unite thoughts that rarely unite. Think outside the box. That is, essentially, the definition of "broad thinking" for me.
To have broad or horizontal thinking, you must be interested in various areas. Otherwise, you will have nothing to combine into your insights. Some of us are inherently curious, and striving toward diverse knowledge always feels natural to us. However, there are those to whom this interest in disparate fields is foreign. Luckily, broad thinking is a skill, which means that although we might be more or less predisposed to it, we can all eventually learn to think more broadly, more creatively.
How? The answer lies in reducing the control of the ego.
The ego is not a separate entity but a part of us. It acts as a controller, ensuring that our desires, wishes and decisions align with reality. In other words, it prevents us from being entirely driven by our impulses. The ego makes us different from other animals. It makes us rational. Yet our ego does not allow us to break away from animals too much.
Our ego thinks linearly. As a result, it can directly hinder our ability to think broadly, making us more similar to animals than we might think. Once again, our ego is neither our enemy nor our friend. It is just there, like our hands are.
We do not want to kill the ego. Instead, we only want to loosen its control over us and our thinking. How can we do so?
Control can be quickly weakened in a couple of ways: by an overload of attention or neurochemically. Drugs, such as psychedelics or even anesthesia, might do the work. However, no one would recommend using these daily to improve your thinking.
So let us focus on the other, less controversial and more accessible way: attention overload. You can overload your attention through the body. When our body experiences many physical sensations simultaneously, our ego shuts down. And when the ego shuts down in a safe space, we enter a state of flow.
For those unfamiliar with the term, flow is a state in which we do not feel ourselves, time or effort. One can achieve it through very different activities, assuming that activity matches our skill level. When in a state of flow, we are only focused on the activity. Think of a climber. The climber focuses on the rock and their next move. They do not self-reflect—do not think about their feelings and behaviors and the reasons behind these. Their body is active; their brain as well. But their mind is quiet. The climber is free from distractions. In such a safe space, their ego shuts down. It is as if the brain has no capacity for anything beyond the next move.
Repeatedly experiencing the state of flow shuts our ego down, allowing us to think more broadly and live more freely. Now, while one can achieve flow through means other than activating our body, I prefer that way as it is easy, meaning that anyone can do it. You do not have to be a professional climber. Some people enter a state of flow while jogging or even walking.
In my experience, sensations produced by yoga, massages, stretching, cold showers and long baths can all help put the ego at bay. In fact, almost anything that overloads the body without posing a threat to life can do the work.
To sum up, thinking better is a skill that can be practiced in many different ways. In addition to the common ways, such as exercising, sleeping well and eating healthy, I encourage those reading this to be curious. Read a lot, and read on diverse topics. Finally, loosen the control over your ego. Once you do this, your thinking will become less linear and your brain will become better able to combine the most diverse information into unique insights. You will become a "broad thinker."
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