BECOMING A BETTER THINKER 

1. Expose yourself to good input: Good thinkers always prime 
the pump of ideas. They always look for things to get the thinking 
process started, because what you put in always impacts what comes 
out. Read books, review trade magazines, listen to tapes, and spend 
time with good thinkers.

2. Expose yourself to good thinkers: Spend time with the right 
people. As I worked on this section and bounced my ideas off of 
some key people (so that my thoughts would be stretched), I realized 
something about myself. All of the people in my life whom I consider 
to be close friends or colleagues are thinkers. The writer of Proverbs 
observed that sharp people sharpen one another, just as iron sharpens 
iron. If you want to be a sharp thinker, be around sharp people.

3. Choose to think good thoughts: To become a good thinker, you 
must become intentional about the thinking process. Regularly put 
yourself in the right place to think, shape, stretch, and land your 
thoughts. Make it a priority. Remember, thinking is a discipline.

4. Act on your good thoughts: World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker 
said it all when he remarked, “I can give you a six-word formula for success: 
Think things through—then follow through.”

5. Allow your emotions to create another good thought: To start the 
thinking process, you cannot rely on your feelings. If you wait until you 
feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it. The same 
is true for thinking. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking to do it.

6. Repeat the process: One good thought does not make a good life. 
The people who have one good thought and try to ride it for an entire 
career often end up unhappy or destitute. They are the one-hit wonders, 
the one-book authors, the one-message speakers, the one-time inventors, 
who spend their life struggling to protect or promote their single idea. Success 
comes to those who have an entire mountain of golf that they continually mine, 
not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years.

From John Maxwell's "How Successful People Think"