Less Thoughts, More Insights

When was the last time you experienced the “aha” moment?

If you asked me this a year ago, I’d tell you about the ha-ha moment I’m about to have for such a silly question

What do you mean an aha moment? 🙄

I never really had insights.

I was plagued with thoughts and worry.

Every. Single. Day.

I thought multitasking was a skill I could master.

But it was just an excuse to do everything all at once because I couldn’t focus on any one thing.

I went through 20+ years of not having any impactful insights.

I had some here and there — novel ideas — while planning a party, trying to find ways to get out of a deadline, looking to sell to more customers at work.

But they were not the kind of insights that changed the trajectory of my life.

And I was fine. I was living my life like everybody else.

Normal is good, right?

But then I would go to bed at night with a weird feeling.

I’d hear a voice asking:

• is this all you want?

• are you living up to your potential?

• when will there be more?

Not a loud voice.

Just an annoying distant sound that you can barely hear and can’t tell where it’s coming from. So you put on some music or think about other things, and you fall asleep.

That was me for 3650 nights.

And I suspect it’s you too.

And hundreds of thousands of people living in modern society.

Why is that?

Could it have something to do with:

• religion

• hustle culture

• advertisements

• main stream media

• pharmaceutical companies?

Before we open this giant can of worms, let’s try to have an insight about insights.

What are they? How are they generated?

This is a very fascinating topic to me.

Scientists have insights.

Engineers have insights.

Researchers have insights.

Their insights change the course of human evolution

Yet few appreciate the nature of insights.

Where do they come from?

How can they be replicated?

There is this thing, as intangible as it is real, that turns ordinary knowledge into a stroke of genius.

That changes understanding, art and history as we know it.

And nobody is talking about them (!!)

Am I mad or is the world?

The difference between thoughts and insights are very simple

Thoughts are everything that goes through your mind from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep.

Insights are:

• Dots suddenly connecting in your mind

• A spontaneous understanding of solving a difficult problem — the “aha” moment

• A penetrating observation that comes from a new perspective

• The act of seeing the nature of things intuitively

The difference between thoughts vs insights is analogous to knowledge vs understanding.

I like to think of thoughts as strands of straws in a pile of hay.

They’re countless.

Insights are the twisting of these straws together to form a twine.

The better you are at twisting these straws, the more practical uses you have out of them.

Before we get twisting, you notice I had certain words bolded above to get you thinking:

Is the current state of our society conductive to having new insights?

Is there anything sudden, spontaneous or intuitive about your daily life?

Modern religion gives black and white answers to every life-long question worth pondering

Advertisement is a multi-trillion dollar business that runs research and think-tanks to shape your opinion about everything

Social media leverages your emotional response to pull on your levers to get your attention

Pharmaceutical company coerces care-givers into prescribing mind-numbing medications to anyone with too many thoughts and no idea how to deal with them.

Hustle culture glorifies sleeping for 3 hours a night until success comes

(it’s possible. But your sanity, health and zest for life will be long gone)

The list goes on. But you get the point.

This is the kind of environment that breeds mindlessness and laziness.

A mass production of sleep walkers.

So the first step into having impactful insights is to understand that your ‘normal’ environment is counterproductive to generating them

Insightful people ask questions.

They challenge the status quo.

They don’t accept answers like “such is life”

Insights come when they’re

• at rest

• deeply curious

• questioning assumptions

• not engaged in external tasks

• less emotional and more open-minded

I wasn’t aware that the shift in my lifestyle was exactly what I needed to start having more impactful insights

But as I began to value my creative work more by devaluing the hours I sit at my desk, I started to have more impactful work.

As I began to prioritize chasing my curiosity instead of “goals” (there is an art to making goals that are achievable, and I’ll share them in a future letter so stay tune), I started to see a clear path to my one true goal.

This is how you can do the same:

1. Write down three questions that will either: make an impact in your life or gets you deeply excited.
   
   You don’t need to have the answers right away. But they should always be in the back of your mind.
   
   Your brain loves puzzle. It will begin to notice things that help you solve them.

2. Do you homework. This means consuming medium to long form content that is in alignment with what you’re curious about (books, podcasts, youtube videos, newsletters).
   
   Long-form content is non-negotiable. It provides detailed explanation, analogies, metaphors, and stories that help your brain digest information on a deeper level.
   

   Deep understanding facilitates insights
   

3. Set time aside for contemplation. I recommend at least 1–2 hours a week. At least 30 minutes at a time.
   

   This means disengage from any external task that requires your focus.
   

   You can go on long walks, drive, draw, meditate or just lay in bed and do absolutely nothing.
   

   I do a mix of each throughout the week.

Once you turn these into regular habits, you will begin to notice your brain becoming a lot less cluttered.

You will begin to pick up information that ONLY serves to get you closer to the answers you seek

You will notice connections that you’ve never made before.

Congratulations.

You’re about to unlock exponential growth in any aspect of life you’re interested in.

I hope you’re ready for your life to change.

(Yes. It is that simple. Life doesn’t need to be overcomplicated)

That’s it for now.

Thank you for reading.

If you found this useful, then it is your responsibility to help me grow.

Please go here and give me 50 claps.

(just login with a google account, it’s not that hard. You know I’m talking to you).

OR share this with someone you know it might help.

Otherwise, see you next week.

Ciao ❤️