Summary of the book "How to Think More Effectively" - By The School of Life

Key Insights in this book:

1. Spend more time analysing your beliefs, principles, and objectives.
2. Recognize that thoughts often emerge in spurts.
3. Keeping your mind off of things can help you discover elusive thoughts.
4. You can discover your genuine desires by using envy.
5. Life is put into perspective when one considers death.
6. Be sceptical of the beliefs you hold.

Why should I care? Boost your capacity for thought.

There are some body functions that occur without conscious thought. For example, you breathe and your hair grows without even thinking about it. The majority of your regular activities, though, involve thinking.

To come up with ideas for the job, assess your relationships, be creative, and have engaging interactions, you need to think. How much time do you devote to attempting to think more clearly? Perhaps not much, if you're like most people.

The good news is that these insights can be beneficial. They outline the essential procedures that can transform ordinary thought into something original, accurate, and meaningful.

You'll discover in these insights why envy may be beneficial, why we come up with great ideas in the shower, and why we should all consider our mortality.

1. Spend more time analysing your beliefs, principles, and objectives.

How well do you prioritise tasks?

Most of us think we're excellent. We want to believe that as rational beings, we focus on the most crucial issues first before moving on to less urgent matters. In other words, we believe that our priorities are largely in line.

However, do they really? Look carefully. Priorities are truly jumbled among many people. We don't spend enough time delving into the real, weighty issues surrounding the significance of our goals, choosing instead to rush headlong into action.

Do you ever wonder if having more money will truly make you happier? Or do you simply aimlessly seek out a higher salary? And have you ever contemplated whether being alone would be preferable to being in comfortable but unsatisfying relationships?

Not everything has to be that way.

Here, the main point is: Spend more time analysing your beliefs, principles, and objectives.

It's simple to declare you'll start carefully considering your goals, but actually doing so might be challenging; this is why you need a plan. The first stage is to become conscious of how much time you spend carrying out your ideas and how much time you spend critically evaluating and strategizing. Try increasing that percentage to 15 or 20 percent if you are now only evaluating and strategizing about 5 percent of the time.

Try to push past your discomfort as your next move. First-order, fundamental questions are difficult to answer since they frequently make us feel unpleasant. There isn't a quick fix for that; all you need to do is practise.

Try to spend more time actually questioning an idea before acting on it right away when it comes to mind. Think deeply on the value, meaning, and ultimate relevance of what you are doing and what you intend to do.

Don't be afraid to let questions like "why," "to what purpose," and "of what importance" prick at your goals. It might sound like a formula for passivity and stagnation, but the alternative — a life spent pursuing plaudits you don't want, wealth you don't need, and platonic as well as romantic relationships that ultimately leave you cold — isn't any better.

Regardless of how long it takes, making the switch from impulsive behaviour to a more critical, evaluative disposition will make your thinking more complex, nuanced, and efficient.

2. Recognize that thoughts often emerge in spurts.

It's simple to assume that the author of a book, speech, or presentation came up with the concepts and the related language in a simple, almost effortless manner when you read, listen to, or watch one of those things. You would assume the writing process was easygoing and uncomplicated because the words seem to flow together without any problems.

This is a false belief. The brain is a temperamental organ; it does not operate continuously for lengthy periods of time. It moves forward in fits and starts, quickly gaining momentum, making an unexpected advancement or an intriguing new link, and then relapsing into inactivity for an extended period of time.

However, this shouldn't demoralise us. In actuality, one of the finest novelists of the 20th century held the same viewpoint.

Here is the main idea: Recognize that thoughts often emerge in spurts.

The multi-volume novel In Search of Lost Time by the French author Marcel Proust is well-known throughout the world. It was written in prose that was more fluid and easygoing than anything his readers had ever read before.

Despite the popularity and admiration Proust received for his writing, it would be incorrect to assume that he was an accomplished writer given his sophisticated prose. In actuality, the opposite was true.

The draughts of Proust's works are replete with alterations of every kind—additions, deletions, notes, and revisions of every kind. He worked on his writing for hours on end, making incremental improvement. This erratic approach to writing wasn't a flaw; rather, it was at the core of Proust's creative process.

We ought to take notes from him. We should embrace our inherent human limits rather than beating ourselves up because our thoughts develop slowly. They can be dealt with but cannot be altered.

The most crucial thing you can do to facilitate the process is to get a notepad and start writing down your thoughts in it. By putting your ideas on paper, you're enabling yourself to revisit them at a later time and providing otherwise fleeting concepts a genuine opportunity to flourish and reach their full potential.

3. Keeping your mind off of things can help you discover elusive thoughts.

It would be pleasant to believe that the more valuable a notion, the more likely it is to firmly establish itself in your mind. Unfortunately, the contrary is frequently true. Your best ideas are frequently the hardest to come by since they are so uncommon and difficult to catch, like butterflies.

You might be familiar with the idea of thoughts as butterflies. Many renowned thinkers have drawn comparisons between insights and avian species. The renowned Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov compared writing to butterfly hunting because both require the writer to lure fluttering thoughts and feelings into the nets of language and conscious awareness.

It is not simple to capture a butterfly, but it is doable. Putting down your net and focusing on anything else is a surprising technique to bring your most elusive thoughts into focus.

The main takeaway from this is that staying busy can help you find elusive ideas.

Although it may sound strange, some forms of low-level distraction, such as combing your hair in the shower or gazing out the window of a train, might help you catch insightful, fleeting thoughts.

Saying that your best ideas frequently occur when your mind is already somewhat occupied may seem illogical. We can't possibly think our best while going through Instagram, can we?

However, you've undoubtedly already become aware of this phenomena. How often have you had brilliant thoughts while rubbing your shoulder in the tub? or while you appear to be operating on autopilot as you drive to work?

Because a half-occupied mind is more open to new and uncomfortable thoughts than a vigilant mind on high alert, these unexpected discoveries happen while you're gently distracted. Ideas that are truly unique will probably startle people and upend the status quo. They might drive you further away from the people you cherish. They might even inspire you to take stock of your life.

This is why these good ideas so frequently seem elusive. They frighten you, and as a result of your shock, you unintentionally scare away a valuable and rare butterfly. But even the most bizarre thought can find a branch to perch on when your mind is just a little bit diverted, long enough for you to take a closer look.

4. You can discover your genuine desires by using envy.

We all experience envy from time to time, but we don't typically like to acknowledge it. We're taught that it's unacceptable to be envious of the success, ability, and fortune of others. After all, good people enjoy seeing other people succeed.

But what if envy has a valuable lesson for you to learn? What if you explored your jealous thoughts and teased out their ramifications rather than suppressing them?

The benefit of envy is that it makes your genuine goals clear. When you see something in someone else that you want but don't have, you feel envious. You can get a little bit closer to realising what it is that you really want out of life by tracing each envious thought back to its origin.

The main point is that envy can reveal your genuine ambitions.

If you could put together a complete picture of the puzzle each time you experience envy, you would discover that you have sketched out the specifics of your ideal existence. Each pang of envy you experience can help you define the relationship you want, the job you want, and even the home you want to live in.

It's vital to study these emotions and grasp what they may teach you rather than avoiding them. Envy has the potential to impair your judgement since it makes you believe that you won't be happy until you get what the person you envy has. That's a deception though; if you dig a little further, you'll see what envy is really good for.

You can get closer to what you want when you examine jealous feelings rather than repressing them. In other words, it's crucial to be specific if you want to learn from envy. You must pinpoint the specific quality that Yvonne at work has that you desire; it is insufficient to simply mention that she makes you feel envious.

Is it her money? Her professional successes? Her in-depth familiarity with specialty coffee? In either case, it's crucial to conduct some research. If you don't, the situation will continue to be too hazy and jumbled to provide any insights, and you'll never learn what your desires may teach you about jealousy.

5. Life is put into perspective when one considers death.

What would you put in a home study or library if you were decorating one? attractive paperweights black leather couches? Or perhaps old prints with gold frames?

A real human skull with a gaping jaw and oblong eye sockets was a fairly common object a few hundred years ago. Quite gory, but that's somewhat of the purpose.

The skull was meant to serve as a reminder to anybody who encountered it that they, too, were mere mortals who would one day amount to little more than a few dusty bones. In other words, the skull's purpose was to make you rethink your existence by forcing you to consider its impending conclusion.

The main takeaway from this is that contemplating death puts life in perspective.

It may sound strange, but contemplating death has two seemingly opposing consequences on how individuals view life. One is to make everything appear extremely serious and significant, and the other is to make everything appear unimportant and trivial. Why is that?

First, considering death heightens the seriousness of events by serving as a reminder that our time on Earth is limited. We frequently act as though our lives will never come to an end by putting things off, pouting, and putting up with unpleasant employment and constrictive relationships.

However, considering mortality reveals to us how foolish such behaviour is. Every moment we spend above ground has worth since our lives are limited. Why squander any more time in an awful job or with a bad partner? Life is worth too much to do that.

On the other hand, death can sometimes make even our most pressing issues appear absolutely inconsequential. Who gives a damn if you didn't get the job? You'll eventually be reduced to a pile of bones anyway. You were rejected by your crush once more? Then what? When you're six feet under, who will care? The intricacies of our journey can seem rather trivial when we consider the final destination that we are all travelling toward.

Chances are that contemplating dying alters your view on things, whether it makes you feel free or melancholy, driven or carefree. Even if you decide against purchasing a human skull, it's still worthwhile to occasionally examine life from a macabre perspective.

6. Be sceptical of the beliefs you hold.

Effective thinkers may not often question their own judgments, which makes sense in some ways. They are skilled at thinking, after all. Why might they be dubious of the findings they draw?

For instance, you may suppose that compelling performers and convincing lawyers both rarely doubt their performances. However, they do so for good reason. Doubt is one of the fundamental components of good thinking. In actuality, the most sceptic minds are frequently the finest.

You can't critically evaluate your own beliefs if you can't imagine ever being wrong. All of your intelligence is useless if you are unable to question your beliefs.

Here is the main idea: Be sceptical of the beliefs you hold.

We all understand what it means to be sceptic: to question conventional wisdom, to seek clarification, and to be wary of straightforward explanations. To be suspicious is to have a curious mind that is constantly asking questions.

You might be surprised to learn that the term "scepticism" originally refers to an ancient Greek school of thought that stressed how little we humans can ever know about the world. Our minds are prone to countless biases, errors, and distortions, as the ancient Skeptics noted. The best course of action is frequently to doubt ourselves.

Effective thinkers are typically easy to spot in everyday situations by the care, nuance, and humility with which they present their arguments. They take the time to step back from emotional and irrational modes of thinking, are aware of the mind's tricks and distortions, evaluate problems from various angles, assess contradicting information.

That's not to say a sceptic shouldn't ever accept a certain point of view; of course they should. However, they are careful, cautious, and exact when they express their thoughts. Thinkers who are sceptical have learned to be wary of broad generalisations and sweeping assertions.

There is one easy step you need to start with in order to become a more critical - and successful - thinker: sincerely entertain the thought that everything you believe might be incorrect.

You don't think so? Good! You have so already reached half way. To think more clearly, you must start to question what you are told. So why are you still waiting?

Final thoughts

It's astonishing what you can do when you change the way you think, is the main message of these insights. That requires considering why you act in a particular way rather than just how; you should constantly take the time to consider your intentions and objectives. Accepting that thought develops erratically and that original ideas are difficult to categorise is also crucial. You can attempt a few strategies to improve your ability to think, including a little self-distraction, tracing the origins of your envy, and considering death. But always maintain your scepticism. In other words, continue to reflect.

Here is some additional useful guidance:

Every so often, push your thoughts to the limit.

When we step outside the parameters of "regular" cognition and allow our imaginations to travel into strange and lovely territory, some of our best ideas happen. Asking hypothetical questions to yourself, such as What would your ideal country look like?, is one approach to promote this kind of thinking. or If you were certain that you wouldn't fail, what would you do with your life? You can open your mind to concepts and opportunities that your regular existence never presents by asking questions like these.