Improve how fast you think by 44%
May 22, 2008
Recently I surveyed my Graduate students at the
I asked each of my students in an elective subject called Marketing Creativity to rate how fast they were as a thinker at the beginning of the course on a ten point scale (1 being very slow, 10 extremely fast). Their average score was 4.61. This was a surprising low result in itself but perhaps they have not been encouraged to think quickly in a post graduate education experience. By comparison a group of small business owners self-scored themselves at 6.2. Which is expected (I believe) given the fast-paced world a small business competes in. In another comparison a group of facilitators scored themselves 6.5 on average. These scores also suggest that people reconise that there is room for improvement!
After approximately five hours (i.e. ten sessions of 30 minutes) of rather haphazard training by me in speed thinking I asked the students again and their score on average increased to 6.63–an increase of 44%!
I put the increase down to three main factors. Simply by talking about Speed Thinking raised student’s consciousness of it. Secondly they became more confident in it because they would practice it week in, week out. And thirdly I gave them a range of tools that seemed to increase their speed and confidence.
I also asked the students whether they considered themselves to be an extrovert or an introvert (again on a ten point scale) and found that the extroverts improved by 39% and the introverts by a whopping 51%. My proposition is that extroverts find speed thing easier than introverts because they tend to react quickly to external events rather than the introverts more internal deliberate style. Hence although introverts found the going slightly more uncomfortable they gained the most benefit. This finding will be explored more in the future.
Being able to think quickly in a time-poor world would seem to be an advantage that these students seem to appreciate and enjoy. These results tend to suggest that the pace at which we think can be improved and is not fixed.
I will bring you more results when these come to hand.
Dr. Ken
Want to Feel Better? Then Think Quicker!
April 26, 2008
Think Quicker - Want to Feel Better? Then Think Quicker!
Some fascinating research was conducted by Emily Pronin and Daniel Wegner from Princeton and Harvard University (Psychological Science, Volume 17, Number 9, 2006) which suggested that simply thinking quicker can have a positive impact on your mood.
They conducted research with undergraduates at Princeton University and divide the total students (144) up into four groups.
- Fast thought—elation statements
- Fast thought—depression statements
- Slow thought—elation statements and
- Slow thought—depression statements
They found that regardless of the content of the statements (i.e. either elation or depression statements) the participants who thought quicker felt in a better mood, improved self-esteem, more creative, powerful and energetic.
The research suggests that just as people feel better after aerobic exercise, for example, rapid thinking may induce a similar effect.
‘The results of this experiment suggest the intriguing possibility that during moments when people feel stuck having depressed thoughts, interventions that accelerate the speed of such thoughts may serve to boost feelings of positive affect and energy.’
One of the implications of this research is that if you are feeling a bit down or feel stuck then accelerating your thinking in and of itself can have a positive impact. And further, this has the potential to create a positive expectation cycle: because you know you are thinking quicker and you can feel yourself thinking quicker you will feel better (because you believe feeling better is what happens)! Again it is similar to a work-out session—you know you will feel better after it and when this happens it confirms your expectation.
The message? The end benefits of Speed Thinking I have found are things like new and better ideas and solutions but the process itself can be just as rewarding.
Dr. Ken Hudson, Founder
The Speed Thinking Zone
think quicker , Speed Thinking , Fast Thinking , Speed to Market