Think Straight: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

Knowing yourself is step one. Step two is acting on that knowledge.

At the end of the day, thinking by itself is useless without action.

train your mind just like you train your body to keep fit.

Remember: The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives. And our decisions are a result of our thoughts.

I challenge you, try it for a day. Every two hours or so, sit down and write about what you’re thinking at that very moment. Just don’t get scared of yourself. Most of our thoughts make no sense at all.

I’ve often been too hard on myself because I didn’t have an instant answer to my personal problems. That doesn’t make you dumb. It makes you human.

Derek Sivers, one of my favorite thinkers, says he’s a slow thinker: “It’s a common belief that your first reaction is the most honest, but I disagree. Your first reaction is usually outdated. Either it’s an answer you came up with long ago and now use instead of thinking, or it’s triggering a knee-jerk emotional response to something that happened long ago.

Whatever you do, never waste your thoughts on other people’s ill-informed opinions and guesses.

If we want to think straight at all times, we must stay grounded, look at facts, listen to other people’s perspectives, and only then draw practical conclusions.

I'd rather eat rice and beans so I can do the things that I love instead of having a job that makes me miserable, but pays well. At the end of the day, this is your life and the only way you can live with yourself is to follow your strongest desires. Just make sure you think straight so you eventually act on those thoughts

the only reason I think is that I want to do more with my life. I like to get more out of it because it gives me satisfaction.

Thoughts should serve a useful purpose. If they don’t, they’re useless.

you don’t regret what you did in life, you regret what you didn’t do.

I’ve used nothing but my thoughts to live a happier, healthier, wealthier, and more meaningful life.

No matter what you experience in life, and no matter what happens to you, your mind should stay calm under all circumstances

What I’m trying to say is that when someone asks you a question, it’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” You can also say that to yourself. I’ve often been too hard on myself because I didn’t have an instant answer to my personal problems. That doesn’t make you dumb. It makes you human.

When you stop doing things the way they’re done, you’ll start doing things how you get it done.

unless you’re reflecting on a past decision or mistake you made. In the case of reflection, you’re doing something useful. But other than that, every thought about the past serves no purpose. From that point of view, it’s useless.

You only have to be aware of your thoughts. Acknowledge them. But never blame yourself or say, “Why do I have these thoughts?” No one has the answer to that. It’s better to be aware of your thoughts and decide what you will ignore, and what you will give importance to.

The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.

There are no facts, only interpretations.

No wonder, you’re making decisions based on familiarity. But who says that familiarity is always a good thing? It’s good for certainty. But to achieve a breakthrough, you need something different.

Remember: Money is a replaceable resource. When you’re out of it, you can earn it back. You can’t say the same for time. Don’t spend too much time thinking about money.

The life of wisdom is a life of reason. It is important to learn how to think clearly. Clear thinking is not a haphazard enterprise. It requires proper training.

If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” ― William James

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” Thinking is not only hard—it’s the single most important thing in life. Remember: The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives.

When Nietzsche said that there are no facts, he meant that we, as human beings, ultimately rely on our interpretations of reality. There’s no way to confirm reality objectively. That doesn’t mean nothing is real and that we’re all living in a big dream. We just have to realize that facts are not the same thing as the truth.