Think More, Do More, and Talk Less

Think three times as much, do twice as much, and talk half as much. The world is already too full of narrow-minded people who talk about others without thinking, people who say a lot but do little. So go against the current and be wiser, more cautious, and freer from prejudice.

The thing is, if it’s a really complicated situation, it’s harder to be more flexible in your thought patterns. In fact, one of the most interesting things you can learn from the cognitive-behavioral approach is that problems don’t exactly arise from complicated situations themselves. The way you think about them and interpret your reality can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Every day, we make a lot of decisions, and we end up regretting many of them. We instantly ask ourselves why we did what we did, why we hadn’t thought about it a little more first. The same thing happens with many of the words we speak. Sometimes we talk without thinking, and we allow our anger, fear, and spite to speak for us.

This is something that we’ve all experienced, and we all wonder why it happens. Why are we so fallible when we need reason the most? Instead of obsessing over self-control, we should look through the perspective of calm, emotional intelligence, reason, and personal responsibility.

Stop, feel, think, and be aware

What does it mean to think three times as much, do twice as much, and talk half as much? Does it mean that we should think about every single decision we make as much as we can and talk as little as possible? Not at all. It doesn’t mean going through life rationalizing every single action, emotion, or desire in rigorous silence. It involves promoting a tremendously simple sequence of actions.

1. Learn to listen to yourself.
2. Act according to your thoughts and emotions.
3. Talk just enough and in line with your true self.

In addition, some people get carried away by their automatic thoughts when they act. Their decisions are often conditioned by distorted views and biased emotions. These limiting attitudes result in the loss of infinite opportunities, and create frustration and suffering.

We don’t usually realize it, but we all get carried away by the same things. They’re rooted in the unconscious, which is full of prejudice. “It’s better if I avoid this person, because they remind me of my ex,” “it’s better to say no to this project because if it didn’t go well for me before, now it’ll be even worse.”  We make arbitrary value judgments without passing them through any filters or developing our awareness. This is not how it should be.

Everything that happens in our daily lives is subject to interpretation from multiple points of view. It’s important to find the one that aligns most with ourselves in a healthy and constructive way. Without bias, without closing doors, and without becoming our own worst enemies.

Below, we’ll tell you how to do this.

Think and decide better

Breathe, think, feel, decide, act. This is a simple sequence that you should integrate into your daily life. However, the problem is that “we never have time for ourselves.” Our lives and our obligations drag us along in their high-speed trains, which causes us to make decisions on autopilot.

This isn’t logical. If we don’t have time to think and make better decisions, what have we become? We have to employ the appropriate strategies in order to change this.

Strategies to think and decide better

You must know more than one person who talks without thinking. These people act without considering the consequences of their actions, and sometimes they don’t even care. It shows responsibility and respect, for ourselves and others, to act without causing harm and think before we decide.

• Don’t obsess over what you “should” do (I should have done this, I should have said that, I should be smarter and more decisive…). Enough with the complaining. The best time to improve yourself is always now.
• Turn off your ego. Don’t think you’re infallible. Think, act, and speak with humility.
• It’s not enough to just think before you act. You have to learn to feel, to listen calmly to your emotions. 
• Be intuitive when it comes to noticing your prejudices. We all develop irrational thoughts that we have to deconstruct and rationalize.
• Connect your interior with the outside world so that every decision you make, even if it’s risky, is in harmony with your personality and needs.

Remember that there are no better or worse decisions. You just have to act according to your values and roots. This is something that you’ll only achieve if you know how to listen to yourself, love yourself, and respect yourself a little more.