What I've Been Thinking About
🔥 Analogy is the fuel and fire of thinking
This is an interesting term I came across, coined by Hofstadter and Sander.
Our mind is constantly bombarded with varied stimuli with a near-limitless number of interpretations available to us. There is reality and there is our perception of it.
Our brain makes sense of the ceaseless input of reality by triggering analogies to help us arrive at the crux of what's going on.
As we begin to layer these analogies, it allows us to achieve abstract thinking. The vast majority of animals are incapable of thinking in analogies, which keeps their thinking firmly rooted in the world of cause and effect.
In this manner, I think intelligence is related to our ability to rapidly and reliably identify analogies in a given situation. The greater the skill we have with analogies the more intelligent we are. We give people the label of "genius" when they are supremely gifted with making new useful analogies. Every great discovery and innovation requires someone to take what already exists and to connect it in a novel and useful way.
Link Worth Clicking
🧠 Mindset Expert Shows You How to Control Your Negative Thoughts
Sports Illustrated calls Trevor Moawad "the world's best brain trainer." He's worked with many of the world's most elite athletes like Russell Wilson and professional sports teams. I love how he bucks against the trend of positive thinking and instead focuses on neutral thinking. A foundation for world-class performance can be achieved by neutralizing your negative thoughts.
“If someone says something out loud, it’s ten times more powerful than if they think it.”
“Negativity is a multiple of four to seven times more powerful than positivity. So think about that. If I say something out loud, it’s 10x. If it’s negative, it’s four to seven times more powerful. So when I say negative things out loud, it’s 40 to 70 times more likely that that will happen--or cause a result that won’t be good for me--than if I just didn’t say anything.”
“If you say stupid shit out loud ultimately you’re predicting and perpetuating exactly what you don’t want to have happen.”