Thinking for yourself
Many of us have fallen into the trap of letting others think for us, letting the media think for us, our friends. And for good reason—it’s tribal, baked in our genes. We have a deep-rooted fear of being outcast from the group because it used to be a matter of survival for the old hunter-gatherers, yet we still operate in today’s world running that caveman software.
To be creative in a world dominated by groupthink, we have to recognize when we’re captured by it and break out. I’m not talking about the faux pas of being contrarian for contrarian's sake like a lot of people I know (many of them investors). I’m talking about getting to a place where you're able to know how other opinions affect you, internalizing them, and then coming to a conclusion based on your own insights, thoughts, feelings, experiences.
We’re constantly inculcated by stuff on the internet, and by our friends and family. Groupthink is infectious like a cancer. But thinking for yourself isn’t hard per se. The hard part is tuning out the world.
How to get better at thinking for yourself:
Read widely; and don’t consume the books everyone else reads or recommends. Or if you don’t read, consume blog posts and content that aren’t popular. This goes with any type of media like news, movies, and music.
Go on walks or get out in nature; walks/hikes will help to declutter your mind and get the dot-connectors working. You’ll start to see patterns in your own thinking and the thinking of others.
Social media fasts; deleting the TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram apps off your phone. Our phones are mirrors and we start to mirror each other. Ideas good and bad spread like wildfire.
Practice speaking up; especially in micro conversations online, like a response to a LinkedIn or Twitter post, and just start inching in your opinions. This muscle can be built up over time. So work it, baby.
Mindfulness; I've written extensively about this—mindfulness is nothing magical… it’s just noticing the noticing, noticing your own thoughts and being mindful of everything in your conscious awareness.
Try these out, and hope they work. Don’t take my word for it.
Once you have liberated your mind there is no end to what you can achieve. Most people are consumers and lazy to think for themselves. I see it daily and it is both sad and frustrating. Enjoyed the post 👏
trying to put this in the perspective of kids growing up. and my first thought was: they might practice this 'naturally'. and the way we currently educate them is rather pushing them to 'groupthink' 🤔