The point of thinking is action. Unless we target an action – decisions! –  all our thinking has zero impact. Focus your mind away from mindlessless and towards decisions.

Thinking is a much revered activity. We do a lot of it. So we should really ask the ask the Question:

What is the point? In other words, what comes out of all this thinking? What should come out of all this thinking?
Take a moment to think about that… 🙂

There are at least three levels to the answer:

• First, thinking leads to understanding. I think about my clients’ problems to understand them better. I think about my hybrid car’s deteriorating battery to understand the process better. I think about neurons in my brain to understand their work better.But is that it? So-what? What will really happen when I understand something better?

• A second effect would be reducing ambiguity. Our brains seem driven towards clarity and certainty, so we try to reduce complexity and ambiguity.Same question then: so-what if we reduce uncertainty and confusion?

• Finally, understanding and clarity should lead to action. Only decisions based on clarity  get executed, the rest becomes just information sitting in our memory for only a short period of time.

Decisions. All the rest of it is just brain signals bouncing around inside our skulls.

I think about my clients’ problems so I can make a decision about it. Something I will research further, discuss with them, or otherwise, just dismiss. Dismiss and stop thinking about it! I think about my car battery because I need to make a decision. To replace or to dump. Otherwise, it’s not quality thinking, it is mindless worrying.

It is my experience that only clarity leads to action. Anytime we are confused, unclear, vague, uncertain, we just sit there. No decisions are made. No action is taken.

Lack of clarity about any part of issue will lead to inaction, procrastination, and then, guilt, shame, and more procrastination.

(Quality) Thinking leads to clarity, and that is the only thing that leads to (quality) decisions. Confident actions.

To see how to get to high-quality, actionable decisions, click here.