Strategy # 5 - Egocentric Thinking
Flickr image by Jubiii
Today's Creative Thought Provoking Strategy deals with our egocentric thinking. Egocentric thinking is thought to be way in which we favor oneself. Well you might say -"What is wrong with thinking highly of yourself?" I too thought the same thing. I was taught to think good of yourself. But like anything we do too much of a good thing, can do us some harm.
Start to observe you egocentric thinking in action by contemplating questions such as these:
- Under what circumstances do I think with bias of myself?
- Do I ever become irritable over small things?
- Did I do or say anything "irrational" to get my way?
- Did I try to impose my will upon others?
- Did I ever fail to speak my mind when I felt strong about something, to later feel resentment?
The key thing to learn from this strategy is to identify your egocentric thinking in action. Once you have identified a few of your patterns you can then replace them with more rational thought through systematic self-reflection. Like: What would a rational person feel in this or that situation?, or What would a person free of major egocentric thinking do?
In the case of egocentric thinking I'm not going to say to remove all egocentric thinking. That would be and feel to odd for an artist. I think we have to tell ourselves that our work is good, or better than others to continue doing what we do. I don't consider this egocentrism, I just call it being confident.
Try it out for yourself. Just be more aware of when the ego might get in the way of your success and learn how to replace this ego with more rational thoughts.
Next ...
My personal video journal on Egocentric Thinking .
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Thanks - Peace & More Love,
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