Are We Thinking Enough _ Think Again By Adam Grant

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I know, I am right, I’ve set my plans out for the future, I am so glad that I’ve foreclosed my goals so early, and so on. A wunderkind kid might have these kinds of conviction about the life. No wonder people are stressed, and are facing crisis at various stages of life; because, life has a tendency to rock people to the bottom no matter how convinced they are about themselves. The prime thought of having set everything out doesn’t give us space for rethinking our convictions, opinions, and priorities. We are limited to our past convictions, and there is high probability that we might get frustrated at our predicament years after setting out everything out. I, personally, am facing such a dilemma in my life having chosen a preset career path which I am having doubts and concerns over years after such decision. Times are changing rapidly and the decision that we find best might not be so good down the line, and we must revisit our decisions no matter how difficult it seems, how attached we are to our past convictions, and no matter how dark the future seems. We are so intertwined with our past self that we fail to see the present and make prudent decisions for the future.

It’s the most difficult task to shatter our existing pool of knowledge let alone our own decisions and convictions even if we are aware that breaking down past beliefs and decision are beneficial to us. It’s like doubting ourselves which might lower our self esteem and lower our self belief; thus, we are afraid to rethink most of the time yet we can easily pinpoint flaws in other people’s decision and advice fluently on how they should proceed ahead. To shed light on this matter, Adam Grant has done extensive research and come up with the book Think Again with an aim that we might read it, and apply his findings in our personal lives as well. I’ve read almost all the books previously written by him and found that he does his homework so well that it’s impossible to counter his findings with the level of conviction backed by the evidences and empirical data to support our claim.

I’ve found the book inquisitively interesting, and the various encounters the authors have mentioned relatable. Further, the depth of research and findings that Grant has mentioned are all valid as well as practicable. Not only that, he concludes the book by saying that it’s against the book to make any conclusion, and thus he’s left the conclusion part leaving readers to make conclusions of their own. However, for desperate people with lack of creativity to solve their own life problems must refrain themselves from reading the book as it might stir whatever droplets of hope they have left in them. It’s not a how to manual, and no one can prepare how to manual for our own problems. One can only suggest few things; however, it is up to us to come up with customized solutions ourselves for our problems. Eastern philosophy and spirituality also presses the fact that it’s only by going deep within, we can free ourselves from all of our problems. Every teacher, preacher, philosopher, and sages have one thing in common i.e. we, and only we can solve our problems. Other people might console us, show compassion to us, provide some tools for helping ourselves; however, only we can help ourselves.

….it’s not so much changing your answer that improves your score as considering whether you should change it….

…..the problem is that we live in a rapidly changing world, where we need to spend as much time rethinking as we do thinking…..

…..research reveals that the higher you score on an IQ test, the more likely you are to fall for stereotypes, because you’re faster at recognizing patterns……

……if we’re insecure, we make fun of others. If we’re comfortable being wrong, we’re not afraid to poke fun at ourselves…..

…..new ways of thinking often spring from old bonds…..

……relationship conflict is generally bad for performance, but some task conflict can be beneficial: it’s been linked to higher creativity and smarter choices…….

…..listening is a way of offering others our scarcest, most precious gift: our attention…..

……research suggests that many writers fall into the same trap, caught up in trying to “maintain a consistent narrative rather than an accurate record.”….

……I believe that good teachers introduce new thoughts, but great teachers introduce new ways of thinking…..

…..there’s a fine line between heroic persistence and foolish stubbornness…..

…..“I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child,” Michelle Obama writes. “What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.”…

……we foreclose on all kinds of life plans. Once you’ve committed to one, it becomes part of your identity, making it difficult to de-escalate….

Yet, I am making here a conclusion that reading this book has far more pros than cons, and we must give it a try at least once. However, as I always used to say to myself and others as well that it is up to us to take something as we want to take for our own sake. People think there are shortcuts to everything, and try to find them forgetting that it took us years just to be able to walk steadily; isn’t it foolish to think that there are shortcuts for every endeavors we take? Isn’t it our Dharma to try things with passion at first and stop frequently to see whether we are making progress not only in the endeavors but on our lifestyle and overall happiness? Let’s think frequently about whatever we are doing in our lives, and assess whether it is as we’ve hoped it would be or not.

Rating: 4.5/5