Thinking is a powerful way to come up with new ideas. It can also help us to solve problems. Some people are even paid to think as part of their jobs. Leadership expert and author John C. Maxwell even wrote a book about how to think, which he called “Thinking for a Change”.

I love the title of this book. You can interpret it in at least two ways. Thinking for a change could mean actually thinking for once. Or it could mean using your thinking to bring about a change in your life.

For this blog article, I am going to share with you the thoughts I came up after reading John C. Maxwell’s “Thinking for a Change” book. I will talk both about actually thinking and about thinking to bring about change in your life.

Actually Thinking For Once

I think that sometimes people forget to think. The stresses and pressures in life have us acting on autopilot and we often act without thinking. This causes us to live reactive lives and we are less effective as a result. But what if we take the time to think and be proactive instead of reacting without thinking?

Being proactive is something that author Stephen Covey teaches. He says that being proactive is the opposite of being reactive. What this means is that you need to pause and think and choose your response to a situation in life instead of reacting without thinking.

The next time you are facing a situation in life, don’t just react and choose your default response. Instead, pause and ponder the situation you are in and choose the right response, which is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind.

Another aspect of actually thinking for once is working to understand a problem before trying to solve it. When faced with a problem in life, thinking through the problem to come up with different solutions is a good approach. Instead of going with the first solution that comes to mind, spend some time thinking through the problem. You may be surprised at what you come up with.

You could also spend some time trying to identify the real problem, or the root cause of the problem. Your initial thoughts about what the problem is could be completely wrong and the real cause of the problem could surprise you.

Thinking To Create Change

Another area where you can leverage the power of thinking is to make changes in your life. If you have an area of your life you are dissatisfied with, spend some time thinking about ways you could change or improve your situation. You could brainstorm ideas for things you could do to bring about that change. You could also write in a journal as you explore your thoughts and think through the problem you are trying to solve.

One thing that John C. Maxwell says is that if you change your thinking, you can change your life. At a minimum, this can mean that you change what you regularly think about from day to day. For example, if you habitually dwell on the negatives in your life, a simple change to focusing on the positive things in your life could drastically improve your attitude and mood every day.

One way to change your thinking is start a daily journaling habit. At the end of every day, sit down with a notebook and pen and capture all the positive things that happened to you during the day. By focusing on the positive, you will end the day on a positive note. If you keep doing this every day, over time you will develop a habit of seeing the positive things in your life and this can change how you think, and it can change what you focus on every day.

Another way to change your thinking is to identify your limiting beliefs and replace them slowly over time with empowering beliefs. If you habitually think negative thoughts that limit you and that leave you feeling inadequate, try changing your thinking. Focus instead on what you do well and on how you can improve. Don’t let your inner critic run your life. Instead, see your potential and think about what you can do with your life instead of focusing on your negative thoughts and self doubt.

One way to defeat limiting beliefs is to think carefully and identify past successes in your life that prove you are a capable person. This will give you evidence to defeat your inner critic. It can also boost your self confidence.

Conclusion

John C. Maxwell wrote the book on thinking: “Thinking for a Change”. The great thing about this title is that it could mean actually thinking for once, or it could mean thinking to create a change in your life. Either way, you are leveraging the power of thinking to improve your life and to make yourself more effective.

I believe in the power of good thinking, and I definitely recommend John C. Maxwell’s book “Thinking for a Change”. It is a good read with a lot of powerful advice about how to be a better thinker. Reading this book could change your life, and as John C. Maxwell says: “Change your thinking, change your life.”