Steve - How do you do it? Just how???

[Selmanito]

Hi all,

My question to everyone, and Steve, if hes around and has a free minute in hand, that - HOW do you do it?

How do you come up with this deep level of thinking?

How do you write the articles that manage to help so much somehow?

What can i do, to be able to find answers the way you did? What did you do? Is it really just life experience? and just living it?

Sorry if i sound like a very confused guy, these questions are killing me. I want to also be able to produce such valuable articles on this topic and help people.

[Trezker]

I think it's just a matter of hard work. He works and thinks on these things all the time and if you do that it's hard not to get results.

It's the same with everything in life. Repetition, training and refinement. If you want to learn to play an instrument, all you have to do is to train every day until you learn.
I went from Guitar Hero noob to expert in just a couple of months. If I had put all that time into schoolwork I'd have passed all my courses... I could also have spent all that time learning to play real guitar, I bet I'd be able to play pretty good if I had.

[Akashic_Librarian]

The trick to deep thinking, is to start thinking in the shallow end of the pool.

Its like...swimming! When your 5 - 6 and you first go swimming, your parents don't throw you in the deep-end and start yelling at you to swim do they?

First things first you have to learn to accept the feel of the water, you have to become accustomed to moving differently and balancing in a new way, you have to accept the restrictions to your movements in some ways, but you also hav to understand you have a different sense of freedom.

Then with the help of thers you start to paddle in the shallow water, safe in the knowledge that if worse comes to worse you just take a step back and your safe on terra firma.

Slowly, ever so slowly...you move out into deeper water, now here its just a little bit harder to swim back, and if fact its more beneficial to reach the other side of the pool, than it is to turn back.

Before you know it your in the adult pool, your feet can barely touch the floor in the shallowest part and your expected to have a reasonable degree of competence.

Then your off into the deepest parts, diving to the floor to test you limits, trying different swimming techniques, doing laps over and over.

And then you have Steve who is off somewhere in the Atlantic...most likely walking on the water rather than swimming but...we can't all be Gods on Earth haha

[Lola]

Originally Posted by Akashic_Librarian

Its like...swimming! When your 5 - 6 and you first go swimming, your parents don't throw you in the deep-end and start yelling at you to swim do they?

Hmmm...actually that's exactly what happened. No wonder I'm so warped!

Originally Posted by Selmanito

What can i do, to be able to find answers the way you did? What did you do? Is it really just life experience? and just living it?

I think that's a lot of it. Be observant. Take it all in and trust your thoughts.

[Bodhi]

He doesn't waste his time working for someone else.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Selmanito

Hi all,

My question to everyone, and Steve, if hes around and has a free minute in hand, that - HOW do you do it?

How do you come up with this deep level of thinking?

How do you write the articles that manage to help so much somehow?

What can i do, to be able to find answers the way you did? What did you do? Is it really just life experience? and just living it?

Sorry if i sound like a very confused guy, these questions are killing me. I want to also be able to produce such valuable articles on this topic and help people.

I'm a deep thinker, so I'll share my thoughts. This will be a long post, but it should prove extremely useful. I'm confident that the info I have will prove useful to you.

A few months ago I would have attributed Steve's deep thinking to many things, and while there are some influencing factors (diet, sleep, emotional state, desires, some sort of crazy intuitive link Steve manages to conjure, etc), after reading the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths (N,DYS), I'd say it's all due to his talents.

Steve's talents are:

1. Strategic - good at strategic thinking and planning.
2. Input - can efficiently process and integrate large amounts of information.
3. Learner - good at acquiring new knowledge and skills.
4. Focus - able to concentrate well and tune out distractions.
5. Significance - drawn to work on important things and avoid succumbing to trivialities.

Source: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...our-strengths/

My talents are:

1. Strategic - I focus on the important; in any situation, I observe, process, then act.
2. Learner - I love the process of learning
3. Individualisation - I love to know specifics and figure people out
4. Activator - Although extremely patient, I hate barriers (ie. having to gain knowledge or skill) that block efficient expression
5. Achiever - I always feel I can be doing better and focus on constant improvement

Note that the short descriptions after I name the talent themes (strategic, learner, etc) are personalised for me. N,DYS will give different, more generalised descriptions of them, but what's important is how they all "weave" together to form your unique personality. My talents are somewhat contradictory (ie. I love to learn -- learner -- but I always want to express myself without having to gain excessive skill or knowledge -- activator), but when you blend them together in the right proportions, they make sense.

What does this have to do with deep thinking?

Anyway, as you can see, both Steve and I have talents that are primarily mental (ie. we don't have any that directly involve being good at relating to people) and have to do with how we process information. Steve and I share Strategic as a top talent theme, and also Learner as a general theme. The rest of our themes, while different, lend very well to effectively processing information.

So does this mean that unless you have similar talents, you're doomed to never be a deep thinker?

Not quite. You'll never be as good as Steve and I (and others with similar talents). You'll look at people like us and think, "man, how do they do it?". Our natural way of operation will seem like some sort of supernatural power to you that you can't fathom.

Why some people are just naturally better at some things then others

I experience this when I look at other people who have different talents to me and see their performance. I may understand how they do what they do, but no matter how I try, my natural way of processing information and making decisions is different to theirs, so they'll always have a natural "strength" in their area (ie. I suck at empathy and connecting to people... I can improve, but it's still an alien, unnatural concept to me, relative to my talents).

If you want to become a deep thinker, you need to play from your unique talents, not the talents of Steve, myself, or anyone else. Often people think that certain people are just exceptional, but the reason their exceptional is because they're using their talents, and most people aren't, or are doing so unproductively (eg. you may use a Learner talent to learn to play music when you want to be an entrepreneur. You'd be better off going on a business course or reading business books.)

What happens when you try to be something you're not

I'll share a short story to explain my point.

Years ago I tried to model a friend of mine. He was/is very intelligent, and extremely good at analysis. I wanted this ability, so I tried to think about things more. After a few years I did indeed become more analytical, to the point where even my friend said I was too analytical (ha!), but even then, I was no match for him.

I learned that it wasn't his analysis that impressed me, but his ability to process information. He can look at an environment and absorb about 5x the information I can. I can only focus on one thing at a time, or focus very generally, but he can focus on his entire surroundings and absorb and efficiently process the information within it. Consequently, he's good at things like navigating, remembering obscure locations by memory, etc. I, on the other hand, am not (understatement!).

What I am good at, however, is creativity, concepts, and abstraction. Since my friend is always focused on the real world, he has a lot of trouble with associating concepts creatively. He's ok at this, but compared to what I can do, he's lacking. Interestingly, we both have good memories, it's just that he remembers specifics, while I remember highly generalised concepts. Eg. He'll remember a street name, and I'll remember our general life situation and what issues we were discussing that day while driving down that street.

My point here is that there is something that you are uniquely good at, and you'll get the most success by focusing on that instead of trying to become good at something that isn't natural to you.

What to do from here

My advice to you would be to read the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths. When you buy it they provide you with a code that lets you take the StrengthFinder test, and you'll get a report listing your top 5 talent themes. Be skeptical all you like, but I think you'll find that the results end up summing you up so well that any skepticism will vanish.

I've always intuitively known what I'm good at, but I couldn't really put it in words. The StrengthFinder test results helped with that. The talent labels they use (eg. strategic, learner, etc) aren't important; what's important is what they point to -- the natural inclinations and processing ability they test when you take the StrengthFinder test; the things you know as "you" and are probably so natural to you that you don't even know that you do them, or at least, there are times when you wonder why someone isn't as good at you when it comes to a certain area.

Taking a few steps back and asking why

Dipping into my strategic and individualisation talent, I have to ask you:

• Do you just want to understand how Steve does it (which may be a clue as to what talents you have), or do you want to become a deep thinker yourself?
  
• If so, why do you want to be a deep thinker?

Those are questions to ask yourself.

Try to understand the "why" behind your motivation, and you'll be able to more effectively reach your goal.

Eg. Perhaps I get up one day and don't feel like doing any work. I procrastinate all day, partaking in avoidance activities such as playing video games (or writing forum posts ). If I look to why I'm procrastinating instead of just procrastinating, I'll usually find that I'm avoiding a work project because I think I have to go about it in a way that is boring or tedious to me, when really, there are other ways to go about it.

Knowing why you are doing something will take you off "intuitive auto-pilot" and let you operate more effectively and deliberately; more consciously.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Postscript

To answer your question, "how do[es Steve] write the articles that manage to help so much somehow?"

He does it by the way he processes information (his talents), which he then backs up with specific skills and knowledge. Talents + developed skills and acquired knowledge = a strength. A strength is something you can do consistently well with near perfect performance.

Interestingly, while I have similar talents to Steve, I suck at long term planning. Steve is extremely good at it, because he is able to take in information (his Input talent) and process it (Strategic) while maintaining a strong focus (Focus and Significance).

No matter how much I try to plan like Steve, I still suck. What I am good at, however, is dynamic, in-the-moment planning. I suspect that I'd be better at this then even Steve. There's no doubt Steve would be good at it, but when it comes down to the critical, split second decisions, I'd probably make a few decisions that are just that little bit better then Steve's, because processing information quickly in the moment, while drawing on an archive of highly generalised concepts, is automatic and natural to me.

Interestingly, this doesn't mean that Steve would do worse then me at a certain activity, though. The basic premise here is that so long as each of us play to our talents and that we have the opportunity to do that, we'd both come out equal.

Try to think of things in terms of "am I aligned with and making effective use of my talents?" rather then, "why is Steve so much better then me?". If you ask the former question when trying to think deeply, you'll probably find that deep thinking doesn't make good use of your talents, and that you can probably write articles that are just as helpful as Steve's because maybe you can relate to people better or provide them with emotional support.

In that example, I'm supposing that you have people-oriented talents as opposed to mental-oriented talents. FYI, the reason I use the "relate to people" talents to contrast my mental talents is because there's such a contrast. Eg. I was with my sister the other night and she was in awe at how clearly I could express my ideas while typing something. On the other hand, she's a whole lot better at relating to people then I am. She's much more naturally positive then I am.

I once worked with her for a period of months, and everybody we worked with loved her. My co-workers also liked me, but for completely different reasons, and they probably wouldn't say that they "love" me as they would to my sister since my talents are different. My sister is fun to be around, while people like having me around because I'm efficient and, admittedly, pretty weird to most people (but in an interesting way). If asked, I bet people would have said, "I prefer being around Bruce's sister, but Bruce is better for when we need to get stuff done". Heh.

[Bruce Achterberg]

One final note:

There's an updated version of the StrengthFinder test that you can take with the book, Strengths Finder 2.0, but that book doesn't have all the awesome info N,DYS has. I highly recommend the first book to start with.

[Jcs]

You made me curious. Next time I go to the bookstore I'll need a shopping cart

[Brutha]

No matter how much I try to plan like Steve, I still suck. What I am good at, however, is dynamic, in-the-moment planning. I suspect that I'd be better at this then even Steve.

What makes you think that Steve is rather long term focused instead of making quick decisions (with articles like the 60 second decision method)?

[ticktockclok]

I don't know how Steve exactly does it, but I get my deepest thoughts through freewriting. Essentially, freewriting is the act of writing without editing. You just let whatever is there, in your mind, come out freely. You never really know where you'll go. You might come out with trash, and you might come out with brilliance.

[Savage]

Bruce is right when he says I'm better at long-term strategy than short-term tactics. Long-term planning and vision come naturally to me. When I make big decisions, I automatically think 20+ years ahead. I can't help it. For example, I turn down all kinds of business deals that might generate some short-term cash but which I can see won't have a meaningful impact on a 20-year time horizon. Most projects that won't still matter 20 years out are of little interest to me.

Short-term action and detailed implementation on the timespan of less than a week is much harder for me, requiring a lot of discipline to follow through. I can still do it but it's not a natural talent for me. Simple action habits like getting up at 5am, which I did this morning, often took me years to develop.

[Fullcrum]

You sound like a Rational Temperament (if you're familiar with MBTI - specifically David Keirsey's work). Like me. I'm INTJ.

That's actually really insightful, Steve, because you made me realize why I've been lacking motivation that last few days to do stuff - I've not been looking at the long term (which comes natural to me) due to a misunderstanding about living in The Now.

[Erin Pavlina]

One thing I want to throw in there is that Steve really is a deep thinker. He will literally sit in deep thought and just think about a concept, coming at it from so many angles, without bias or prejudice. I've always been very impressed with his ability and willingness to do that. He's very thorough with his thoughts. He is not impulsive when he is thinking through a concept. Consequently, when he has to explain a concept he's usually pretty adept at answering people's questions because he's already asked them himself.

[Acting Like Godot]

I've done the Gallup Strengthsfinder too. My top five were:

Intellect
Strategic
Learner
Focus
Analytical

I believe that the Gallup Strengthsfinder has some obvious correlations with Myer Briggs. For example, based on Bruce's Gallup profile, I'd say he would show up as an "NT" in Myer Briggs, most likely as an "NTJ", and more likely an "E" than an "I". That is, I would guess that Bruce is probably ENTJ, INTJ, or ENTP.

I've typed Steve via Myer-Briggs as well, and he previously confirmed that I was correct. If I recall correctly, he was ENTJ and ENTP.

In other words, Bruce, Steve and I all belong to the same "NT" family in Myer-Briggs. We think really deep; when we get interested in a topic (whether it's "personal development" or "ancient history" or "Law of Attraction") , we explore it to great lengths; and generally, we are confident and assured (or stubborn) people, because we explore our own thoughts and ideas so thoroughly that by the time we arrive at a conclusion, we are, well, very convinced of it. The other defining characteristic of NT people is that we are "big picture" thinkers. We easily see how apparently different things are all interconnected.

The central idea in the Gallup philosophy is that you're better off cultivating your strengths rather than attempting to cure your weaknesses. In the context of OP, the point is that perhaps you're just not meant to function like Steve. It's not that you are somehow inferior - it's that you have other kinds of strengths (which you wil discover by taking the Gallup Strengthsfinder test) and it's better to emphasise and develop your own strengths, instead of trying to imitate Steve Pavlina (or anyone else).

[Savage]

I was an INTJ many years ago, but at some point I shifted to ENTJ. Maybe I was on the E-I border to begin with, so the change might not have been severe.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I was an INTJ many years ago, but at some point I shifted to ENTJ.

Oh cool, that's where I'm currently at - being an INTJ. I love thinking deeply about stuff too.

[MgC]

I think another worthwhile question to ask yourself is, what are you passionate about? Steve is obviously very passionate about helping others, and doing so he uses his talents of deep thinking, as well as writing and so on. But if you are not passionate, you will lose focus and you will not follow through with your desire to think deeply. Find something that just drives you...something that you could talk about for hours at a time with enthusiasm, and go from there. If it is spirituality, read and study the great thinkers of history, as well as from our time. If you are driven to help people better themselves financially, focus on that. Find what you feel strongly about, and study it and think deeply about it. This will give you the practice that the others are talking about, and it will give you the inspiration you need to think outside the box.
Just allow yourself to find your own path, and don't worry too much about comparing yourself, unless that inspires you. Sometimes when I compare myself to what others are doing it brings me down. All of us are important pieces of this puzzle...especially if we are all the same consiousness anyway, experiencing different aspects of the grand self!

Mg

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by MgC

Steve is obviously very passionate about helping others ...

It is a consequence of his Significance trait .....

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Brutha

What makes you think that Steve is rather long term focused instead of making quick decisions (with articles like the 60 second decision method)?

Steve said it himself, but to answer your question anyway...

I've basically committed to understanding Steve, and I've put a lot of effort into trying to do so, so I'm usually pretty confident with the conclusions I make. Steve has also said that he does this (plans long term), but I didn't just take his word for it. I've rigorously tested what he's said for consistency along with lots and lots of other stuff -- some of it not even directly related to Steve (note: this isn't really something I directly focus on doing; more so something that happens indirectly based on how I think).

Obviously I'm working with a flawed model (Steve's website, etc, only shows "snapshots" of him; Steve could be lying or putting on some fake front -- from what I know about Steve, he's definitely intelligent enough to do that), but I've factored that into my model, so any conclusions I make are tempered by that possibility. (For the record, I don't think Steve is putting on a fake front, but I never rule out the possibility, mainly because I put a lot of trust in what he says and mindlessly believing him could have negative results).

How did I do this? It's not really something I can explain. I know how I developed the mindset (mostly from the environment I grew up in and from playing lots of games when I was younger), but the mindset works automatically. I can't not use the mindset -- even imagining using a different mindset is still filtered through my current one. I'm sure I could change it with a lot of difficulty, but no, I like it just fine.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I would guess that Bruce is probably ENTJ, INTJ, or ENTP.

I've typed Steve via Myer-Briggs as well, and he previously confirmed that I was correct. If I recall correctly, he was ENTJ and ENTP.

In other words, Bruce, Steve and I all belong to the same "NT" family in Myer-Briggs. We think really deep; when we get interested in a topic (whether it's "personal development" or "ancient history" or "Law of Attraction") , we explore it to great lengths; and generally, we are confident and assured (or stubborn) people, because we explore our own thoughts and ideas so thoroughly that by the time we arrive at a conclusion, we are, well, very convinced of it. The other defining characteristic of NT people is that we are "big picture" thinkers. We easily see how apparently different things are all interconnected.

Interestingly, I'm currently as an INFP, according to 2 tests I took. I wrote a detailed post about my results here.

I'll probably be labeled as an ENFP in the near future, but it'd be more accurate to say that I'm an ENFP working from the framework of an INFP, capable of switching to both extremes. (I personally think the "you are either introverted or extroverted" assumption Myers Briggs seems to use is flawed, and Now, Discover Your Strengths makes that same point, but I digress.)

As I explained earlier in the thread, a lot of my talents/personality traits are somewhat contradictory, so that's probably why you couldn't quite put your finger on my exact personality acronym, Acting Like Godot. As such, I have a real hard time taking advice from people because my specific functioning is just so very different to how other people do things. I'm not saying this to brag, either -- it's actually pretty hard being so dissimilar to everyone since nobody understands what the heck I'm going on about half the time.

Soon I'll be getting Strength Finder 2.0 and taking the updated Strength Finder test. I'm really keen to see if any of my top 5 talent themes change. I actually hope they do, since that'll show me some that didn't quite make it into the top 5 but are still a strong part of my talent "tapestry", and I'll be able to give more context to my current talents.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by MgC

I think another worthwhile question to ask yourself is, what are you passionate about? Steve is obviously very passionate about helping others, and doing so he uses his talents of deep thinking, as well as writing and so on. But if you are not passionate, you will lose focus and you will not follow through with your desire to think deeply. Find something that just drives you...something that you could talk about for hours at a time with enthusiasm, and go from there. If it is spirituality, read and study the great thinkers of history, as well as from our time. If you are driven to help people better themselves financially, focus on that. Find what you feel strongly about, and study it and think deeply about it. This will give you the practice that the others are talking about, and it will give you the inspiration you need to think outside the box.

I've been working a lot on the area of passion and talents/strengths lately, so I'll share my findings as it relates to "deep thinking" and what I believe was at the core of Selmanito's post (Selmanito made the thread) -- discovering your (or rather, his) talents/strengths...

Passion, purpose, and being aligned with "spirit" is something I'm currently working on. I've got the intellect talent/strengths stuff down (at least, enough to manipulate them easily enough and do what I need to do), and I'd say my consciousness includes a lot of energy from the "reason" level (I don't think we're really ever on "one" level; I tend to shift around, and while if I'm put under pressure I may go down to a certain level, if I'm in an ideal environment, the reverse is also true and I may start embodying levels such as love, etc).

Anyway, I've personally found that, while knowing your strengths is powerful, it's got nothing to what life's like when you live centered in the moment, using your talents/strengths, and following some sort of intuitive calling (I'd call it "purpose", but I've currently re-assessing my definition of purpose and making it less vague).

But I think I'll stop rambling before I get started since this is new ground for me and nothing I could say is really certain. I dislike expressing things that people may interpret as some sort of "truth" when I see them as mere possibilities or theories.

As Erin and a few of you said earlier, deep-thinker types tend to question things from multiple perspectives until they come out with a really elegant solution. It may not necessarily be a "truth" (ie. something objectively, universally true for everyone), but it probably holds up well enough that the core idea is universally applicable. At least, that's my criteria when I'm thinking. I'm not happy unless my mental model of reality explains what it does and does not work with other people. Unclear, vague thinking isn't tolerated, or at least, the vagueness of a concept it accepted as such and not seen otherwise. This is handy, because it lets you work on other things even when you don't understand something. Otherwise I'd be trying to figure stuff out all the time and never getting anything done.

Speaking of getting things done...

[Rick Abelson]

Originally Posted by Selmanito

Hi all,

My question to everyone, and Steve, if hes around and has a free minute in hand, that - HOW do you do it?

How do you come up with this deep level of thinking?

How do you write the articles that manage to help so much somehow?

What can i do, to be able to find answers the way you did? What did you do? Is it really just life experience? and just living it?

Sorry if i sound like a very confused guy, these questions are killing me. I want to also be able to produce such valuable articles on this topic and help people.

I have just recently joined but I am sure that Steve gets his insight from his reading thousands of books and his thirst for knowledge. The info is available to all of us. I have done the same thing but my advantage in my new blog is that I have lived and experienced a little more than Steve has. I am a new fan and I live by the adage that there is nobody smarter than all of us together.

[Phoenixrising777]

I am very new to this blog and it's forum.

I am also extremely passionate about personal development and have been voraciously reading and experimenting and observing for years.

I find it amazing how people in an honest search for truth and growth end up so close to the same place.

When people talk to you from a true central place in themselves...it talks to that same place inside of others. I call this frequency theory...if you are talking from an territorial animal instictual part of you..that is the level you will be received. That is the area you are initiating a connection with. So much of what we do is a role that has little to do with our true selves. So when people, like Steve from what I am seeing so far, talk to you from the highest truth...it reaches you. It initiates contact with you. It bypasses all frequencies along the way so it overcomes defenses.

Alot of the information Steve presents isn't new. He is very articulate and very intelligent and can add to and correlate ideas in a useful way...but why does it help so much...I would put forward because it comes from his most intimate heart.

It goes along with the maxim that the only safe place is defenseless.

What do you all think of my theory?

[DavidDavidDavid]

Phoenix: yes.

[The David]

That's a good theory. People aren't really that different from each other. We vary slightly but have similar potential(s).

My favorite thing about Steve might be one of the causes for his excessive output of good information. He just doesn't give a damn about what most of us do give one about. He doesn't mind being a little offensive, a little woo-woo, a little hard to understand. Some of us have inhibitions about exploring thoughts and ideas, even in private, but for him, it's no holds barred. He is in a position of power and control because of that. I think this is kind of what Erin was saying.