To win you must apply your brains to thinking. Those who find better and cheaper ways of doing things have better chances of winning.
Anchor your thinking to good values. Ethical values, like religious values, provide a good foundation for leadership and uprightness. On the other hand, the absence of values is not good. You don’t want a great scientist thinker who lacks morals and values to guide his or her conduct. Imagine a scientist using his or her brainpower to modify human genes with those of animals in a way the outcome is something not human and not animal! Today, we have technology ethics as well as science ethicists to provide for ethics in technology and science, to mention but two.
Winners are disciplined. Good habits like prayer help man to be humble. To accept that we do not have all answers to everything in the world and universe. For long, man has tried to go to outer planets to try to discover new lands. To discover whether there exists other life out there. The more man attempts to discover ‘new lands’ and planets, the more we appreciate William A. Dembski’s intelligent design, which is further supported by theologian William Paley, who in 1802 proposed his “watchmaker” thesis – that support argument for the existence of God and the intelligent design of the universe. There are so many things in the world which today’s man is not yet brilliant enough to discover. Only the future generation shall have enough information and awareness to discover and apply. Maybe in the future, it shall be possible to extend life to say 500 years. But this discovery is out of reach of today’s generation. Also, man as a thing is allowed to innovate what is possible. If a man lived for more than 500 years, then the world would be too populated to support all humans!
The intelligence design means a man must die to allow new life.
A man was designed to have more reasoning over other creatures. Man has used his brains to make the world a better place to live. However, the same man has continued to disorganize the world through wars, diseases and deadly innovations.
To win, you need smartness to deal with all matters of politics; smartness to deal with money. And how to think correctly. The first step is the right thinking. You must have a method of thinking correctly. It is through thinking that we progress.
The bird’s nest has been looking the same for so many years. How come to date, the way the bird’s nest is built does not change? It is because the birds do not deliberately think about how to improve.
One of the reasons why Africa is not highly developed is we do not apply ourselves to critical thinking on how to overcome current challenges with novel solutions that are relevant to us. We do not deliberately think to improve our current conditions.
We just focus on worrying. Just thinking of someone to hand over to us a solution. Yet such solutions are not made with us in mind. We know that worry does not help. It just takes the same mental energy we need to think, yet it adds no value. However, thinking about how to improve helps us grow. You must continuously think to improve your life. How to be better. How to win. Always have the right way of thinking.
There are five types of thinking.
Logical thinking. You must have logic in your outlook on life. Logic thinking is used most especially in math challenges. We can use logic to learn anything. If the coronavirus is killing people through physical contact, you can think logically that if you avoid body to body contact, you could reduce the spread. However, if you do not keep a distance, you will be infected.
Scientific thinking. Scientific laws do not change with time. For example, the Sun rises from the East and sets in the West. This is a scientific law. The Sun will always rise from the East. To win, you must have a collection of so many scientific laws in your mind so that when faced with a challenge, you apply the law. Science will tell you that a virus is tiny, you cannot see it. However, if you touch surfaces where the virus is, it will infect you. But if you wash your hands well with soap, you are likely to kill it.
That is scientific reasoning.
If you don’t eat well consistently you will become malnourished and reduce your life span. That is scientific thinking. The better way is to eat a balanced diet and exercise and have regular medical checkups if you can afford it. When you apply scientific principles,you win. It is that simple. There is nothing special about that. All you need is to read scientific literature and follow the guidelines supported by scientific discoveries.
Critical thinking. You must be able to do an objective analysis. Usually, we are critical of others. It is not a good habit to be prejudicial. Look at your self critically. When you have a skill of understanding and reading context, you win. Before writing an article, research about the subject. Support your work with facts and data.
If the person you have empowered to lead you as a community, gives you directives, to stay at home. Ask yourself why? That is why timely laws do not require much effort to enforce. They are called commonsense laws.
If your wife says that she will not be cooking, but you will go out for dinner, think critically why that is happening. Think. Maybe she wants to change the meal and environment. Use your brains to think critically about everything that happens by asking why? The why invites you to think critically.
Strategic thinking. If one is supposed to defeat an enemy, the question is how you win the enemy. If you want to win, we must master strategic thinking. No strategy is successful until you attain your objectives. Right thinking should be a habit in your life.
If you have targets to achieve, you must think about options to achieve it. If you have a challenge, you must think of alternatives to solve it. That is called strategic thinking. People who do not think strategically never win.
Now is the time to think about the after-effects of #covid19. How to solve it once and for all. A challenge helps us ask the right questions. How can Africa become a global leader without innovations? Without thinking about a race to the moon. Without having own satellites.Without working as a team to win. African countries continue to be divided yet countries like China, the USA, Europe, etc. continue to work as a team in research and innovations. Those who win have the advantage of new discoveries.
However much you know, always pray to think well.
Use this Easter holiday to reflect on the challenges of today and how to come out of them.
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2020. All rights reserved.
