

 Why we should stop thinking - olidale
http://leostartsup.com/2012/09/why-you-should-stop-thinking/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-you-should-stop-thinking

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olliesaunders
You should think more. You should think less. You should be constantly
thinking. You should never think at all.

It’s not that simple yo.

Maybe the author of this article has a particular person and a particular task
in mind when he says you should think less but, if you take him literally (as
if he is saying all people should think less, all the time), he is definitely
wrong. We didn’t evolve awkwardly large brains because they look nice or
because god likes women to die giving birth.

Here’s are my two most important points: _how much you should think depends on
task at hand_ and _whether you should modify the amount you think depends on
your current habits_. Any person who tells you how much to think and hasn’t
considered these points is talking to the clouds.

Examples:

Yesterday I was transferring computer components between two different cases.
While trying to install the optical drive, without thinking I kept putting the
mounting brackets on the wrong way. Once I was sufficiently frustrated I
actually thought about what I was doing. I realized that there were 8 possible
ways to mount the brackets; only one way was correct; and then, after about 20
seconds of thinking, I learned the correct way and why it was correct. Had I
used those 20 seconds of thinking at the start I could have saved myself 20
minutes of fumbling around. Moral of the story: thinking is good?

Second example. When I come home from the store I have to unpack my shopping
into an inadequately sized fridge. When this problem was novel to me I used to
pontificate about the best packing configuration and create a detailed plan.
When unpacking I would find some things wouldn’t fit and others would have too
much space so the plan needed to be revised. I would also worry about how
difficult it was to retrieve things from the fridge once I’d packed them so I
could find myself standing in front of the fridge for quite some time trying
to make the best possible decisions.

Needless to say, I don’t do this any more. Instead I just start packing the
shopping away and I just try things until its all packed and I don’t worry too
much. I suppose I’m still thinking as I’m doing it but I’m also in a state of
flow. Moral of the story: thinking is bad?

I think the point here has less to do with thinking and everything to do with
control. We are naturally wired to find situations where we are out of control
stressful and so we conclude that more control is always better when actually
getting control of some things is more work than it’s worth.

Perhaps this is a lesson programmers need to learn more than other people. I
used to program for a living and now I work with people a lot more than
computers. I’m still having difficulty getting used to the fact that some of
the people I work with aren’t that bright, or don’t care about doing a good
job, or are used to always getting their own way. If you try to control that,
you go insane.

As a corollary, maybe if you limit your attempts to control to a reasonable
degree and you are able to keep your thinking focused, you should think as
much as possible.

Please criticize what I’ve said here.

~~~
LeonW
This is very interesting and I completely agree with your points made.
Exploring certain new activities and turning them into habits (as mentioned),
whilst staying in an alert thinking state to figure out the issue on
transferring computer components are both vital and important things to do.

What I'd like to pick up on is your last sentence on is "As a corollary, maybe
if you limit your attempts to control to a reasonable degree and you are able
to keep your thinking focused, you should think as much as possible.", which
is what I believe this is all about.

When we aren't trying to figure out problems on transferring computer
components, but when we are waking up and brushing our teeth, walking to the
store, eating lunch, driving home, those are the moments were we tend to still
think, when it isn't necessary. Eckhart Tolle put it this way:

"Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific
task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say
about 80 to 90 percent of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and
useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of
it is also harmful. Observer you rmind and you will find this to be true. It
causes a serious leakage of vital energy. This kind of compulsive thinking is
actually an addiction." (p. 19, The Power Of Now)

Looking back, "Why you should give up thinking 80-90% of your thoughts" as the
title would probably help to clarify. Let me know if that makes any more sense
to bring it into perspective.

~~~
espeed
Thanks for the Tolle quote. I have been working on this and just picked up a
copy of "Mindfulness in Plain English." I'm trying to quite a noisy brain.
When you don't unplug, you never clear your head, and this can build up
anxiety.

~~~
LeonW
Ahh, "quieting the noisy brain", that is a choice of words that couldn't
describe it any better. Indeed, if you don't unplug and find "gaps" between
your thinking, that you make larger and larger, until thinking is only a tiny
chunk of your day, it is very hard to practice mindfulness. Will pick up this
book, sounds intriguing!

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nathan_f77
I strongly disagree with this article.

I remember reading a story about some speaker (maybe Malcolm Gladwell?) who
convinced business executives to just stop thinking, and make snap decisions
from their gut feelings. However, it turned out to be terrible advice, and
their businesses went downhill. (Sorry I can't provide citations.)

I saw Men in Black 3 tonight. There's a scene where Agent K decides to stop
worrying about their problem, and just go and eat pie. They took a moment to
think and talk about unrelated things, and J had an epiphany that solved their
problem. As a programmer, I love being 'in the zone', when the hours feel like
minutes. But sometimes I get stuck on a problem, and stepping away from the
keyboard gives my brain a chance to regroup. More often than not, the solution
just pops into my head while I'm thinking about something else.

If anything, I think entrepreneurs should try to spend _more_ time thinking.
If you want to know what your customers want, you need to listen to them.
Listening is defined as 'giving one's attention', and attention requires
__thinking __about what they're trying to tell you.

Anyway, I think you need to strike the balance that works for you. That might
be anywhere between 'just doing things and failing a lot', and 'over-analyzing
every decision', but both extremes can be dangerous.

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D_Alex
From <http://lesswrong.com/lw/tz/my_best_and_worst_mistake/>, a quote that I
spent a long time thinking about:

"As a general idea, high level intellectual exploration should consume
substantially more time than goal-directed action, but there are few social
encouragements to behave in this manner so the only people who do so are
essentially those who are addicted to such intellectual exploration and have
no propensity or willingness to take action at all."

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lagom
I think the contrast between mindfulness and mindlessness is more apt than
that of thinking and non-thinking. I consider his call to non-thinking to be
more hyperbolic than anything else. I believe the primary goal is really that
of focus without distracting thoughts, and non-thinking is a way to practice
observing the present without being consumed by the stream of thoughts.

In this sense, mindlessness refers to states where one's mind is wandering or
unfocused from the present task. Obviously non-thinking is not practical for
all activities, but mindfulness includes both non-thinking observation and
focused thinking when necessary. Many people associate non-thinking with
aimless mind-wandering, which is certainly not the original message of this
article. On the contrary, the article is referring to non-thinking as simple
observation without judgment or distractions from the mind. Non-thinking,
along with meditation, is more of a practice for the application of
mindfulness in day-to-day life.

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espeed
It does take a while to build understanding. Maybe the reason many people's
understanding is so "fragile", as Feynman observed
([http://books.google.com/books?id=7papZR4oVssC&lpg=PP1...](http://books.google.com/books?id=7papZR4oVssC&lpg=PP1&ots=esR08asR_V&dq=surely%20you%20must%20be%20joking%20mr%20feynman&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q=fragile&f=false)),
is because they don't spend enough time building it and so they only have
surface-level understanding.

But once you get over the initial hump in whatever area you are digging in to,
once you've explored it from every angle, you'll be able to move faster and
make better decisions.

Rich Hickey spent a year researching and building his understanding before
writing Clojure, and another before Datomic. This practice would seem to go
against the lean startup methodology, but maybe we shouldn't be starting a
startup until we have done this for the technologies we are using.

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loceng
You need to learn a balance that works for you. I have gone through long
periods of hyper-thinking and it wasn't healthy overall, though I figured out
a lot and I came through the other end; I have cycles like this and every time
I am better prepared and it goes better each time. What I found helped the
most is becoming better organized, feeling more comfortable with your
organization - and this really starts with discipline, routine of discipline
and of taking care of yourself and particularly of doing 'grounding'
activities (that take you out of your head).

I wrote more thoughts on this a little while back ...
<http://mattamyers.tumblr.com/post/23794547268/routine/>

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autophil
Well, it must be working for the guys at Buffer because it's brilliant
software. I use it for my clients and my own projects.

Buffer is to social media as MailChimp is to email marketing. It's that good.
Keep it up!

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nileshtrivedi
Relevant XKCD: <https://xkcd.com/232/>

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jinfiesto
Hmmm. While I agree with the article to a point, I'm not sure it's really a
good idea to just stop thinking. I'm a practicing Buddhist, and so it's
important for me to meditate and try to spend time being "in the moment." That
being said, when everything is going well, that sort of "opening the hand of
thought" state is just what my brain defaults to. Instead of woolgathering, I
just pseudo-meditate. Thinking is important. We definitely shouldn't stop
doing it. On the other hand, certain kinds of thinking are not important. It's
probably good if we stop doing those kinds of thinking.

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michaelfeathers
The author uses the word "presence" instead of "present" a number of times
(i.e., A state of experiencing the presence). Made me think it was going to be
religious article.

~~~
LeonW
thanks for the heads up, removed the confusion and exchanged with "present
moment".

~~~
michaelfeathers
no prob

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stefek99
"Don't think. Get your hands dirty. Get stuff done." - right now becomes my
Twitter signature :)

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minm
Probably one of the best article i have read in recent times. I cannot agree
enough. I have been struggling with this problem for last 3 years. It is not
really easy. Trying meditation is a good idea or going to mountains.

I think this problem applies to only certain personality types like ENFP. In
my opinion, Not all may be able to relate to the article.

