Why Thinking Is Still the Most Underrated Skill in this World
In spite of knowing that some of the most successful people engage in it.
When first time I read about Bill Gates going on a two weeks vacation every year to wear his thinking hat, I was like how does he do that and why would he?
Can you imagine yourself sitting in an isolated place with just a few books for a couple of weeks and no one else to talk to?
You are just thinking, and doing nothing else there.
It’s a big thing considering the fact that most people can’t sit with their thoughts for a few seconds and here is this guy deliberately making that effort to sit with his thoughts for a couple of weeks.
And he is not the only one to do so.
A lot of other successful people do these activities in various other forms and that tells us that long-term success has got something to do with thinking but still this world hasn’t given thinking as a skill it’s due.
It mostly challenges the status quo
Thinking is all about putting the things being done in the back seat, adjusting your focus, removing the fog surrounding your mind, and seeing the things around us as an outsider.
And when that happens most often the result is that it challenges the things getting done and the ways in which these are getting done.
Because all of us are functioning with whatever this world has taught us, and that’s what looks like the right thing to do.
But when you sit aside and think rationally, a lot of this stuff wouldn’t make sense.
Because whatever right or wrong we see in front of our eyes is man-made and that can be changed.
It all depends on what scenario and what side we are on, and the definition of right and wrong changes.
A person wearing masks used to be called stupid or suspicious a couple of years ago;
Now, in a lot of countries, the person who is not wearing masks is given these adjectives.
This world works in its own comfort and when you think and come out with anything new and contradictory, it doesn’t like it.
That’s why from time immortal, thinkers are the ones who have been labeled as mad, threatening to society but these are the ones who have changed and improved the course of this world.
No work seems to be getting done
The sapiens have been on this planet for somewhere around 70000 years as mentioned in the book “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari.
And ever since, they are used to doing the manual work for getting things done.
They build things, they move things, and they destroy things.
All that is visible to the eyes so one can make out that some work is being done.
But thinking?
This thing goes on within one’s mind that no one can see, then how do we make sure that any work is being done.
Our subconscious mind is wired from generations to equate work with any movement, creation, or, destruction, and this silly thinking thing doesn’t look like some work.
You can’ measure the quality of thinking one has
There is no set benchmark to measure the quality of thinking one has.
You don’t have set parameters to rate the thinking like other skills have and even if this has to be judged, it will depend upon the quality of thinking the observer has.
Same thinking may appear to be game-changing to an observer while it may seem threatening to the world to the other observer.
People don’t have the patience anymore
When everything is available at a click nowadays, who would give importance to a skill which is time-consuming?
No one wants to stop and think and decide whether what we are doing is right or wrong.
Why would one sit and think and come to a conclusion about what is right and wrong when he can just click a few links and get multiple opinions to decide about what is right and wrong.
For thinking clearly, you need to have time but we are always busy.
For thinking clearly, you need to have space, but we are always surrounded.
For thinking clearly, you need to find your place but who wants to sit alone.
All of this stuff needs patience on one’s part cause it takes time to do this stuff but when everything is moving around in a jiffy, who has the patience to sit back, relax and think.
No surety of a solution
Thinking never guarantees a solution to a problem.
You might be thinking for a couple of months and nothing seems to be getting done and suddenly everything is solved.
It depends upon a number of factors and some of them are:
a) the quality of thoughts,
b) the level of knowledge one has about a subject,
c) how much interest one is taking in that problem,
d) what is his perception of that problem,
e) from what angle one is approaching that problem,
and it’s not a given that all these factors would work together all the time.
So, whenever, and if that happens, and these factors put the effort in the right direction with a few other invisible factors in your process, then you might get a solution, and if not, then the entire process may look like a waste of time.
Final Thoughts
This world stands on the shoulders of the people who took time to think about what course this world was taking, understood the reasons for it, and expressed their views on it.
Some of them, found a few solutions for the problems this world was facing, worked on them and made the lives of the billions and their generations easier.
But, all of that happened because they took out time from their routine life to pause and think about what could be done to improve our lives, and where are we going wrong.
Some of them got their dues immediately, while a few were punished then but celebrated later on.
And even after seeing results over generations, this world has still not appreciated the ability thinking has to improve the quality of life we have on this planet.
But, that has neither deterred the thinkers in the earlier generations to contribute in the way they do nor it would deter the future ones.
This world is wired to take the most helping people for granted so if it’s taking these thinkers and their life-changing skills like that, it’s okay.
They are rewarded in ways this world can never do, cause its a pact between them and the universe, this world is just a receiver in this process.
