The Bold | Agatha Understood How To Think
Seventy years ago, one of the most successful authors of all time, Agatha Christie, confided to the New York Times that she got her best ideas while soaking, undisturbed, in a footed bathtub, while munching apples. The delightful image of a row of apple cores ringing the tub scarcely seems to explain the literary prowess of an author whose books have sold over two billion copies, a sales rate for English language books surpassed only by the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.
Agatha Christie knew how to think.
We think all day long because, awake or asleep, our brains can’t help it. Refining that free flow of random moments into deep, focused, productive thinking is an art and a practice. Elements like environment, conditions, and enhancements encourage or disrupt fruitful thought. Understanding our specific thinking needs and developing a personal thinking plan allows us to generate the conditions for important thinking and avoid the distractions that would otherwise win by default.
You may not respond to an apple bath as Agatha did, but you can design your thinking plan to invite generative thought.
The Whisper | With a Little Thought We Can Think Better
“I’ll have to think about that,” the client said as the implications of an ah-ha moment began to settle in. The question she thought she was answering had just shifted in a new direction, and she knew that she needed to consider the implications of the shift and to design a response. She just wanted to think.
The responding question, then, is, “How are you going to think about this?” Not when. Not what. How.
We are not taught to think. Or, at least, we are not encouraged to earn the conditions under which we do our best thinking. While some of the elements that support generative thought are common, many are specific and personal. It is important to figure out the conditions specific to your thinking style.
Because thought is automatic, we can assume that it will always serve us. We can, however, enhance the thinking experience by understanding our particular needs and preferences. This is how we design a personal thinking plan. The physical, auditory, social, sensory, and mental elements of our experience can support or distract.
First, you set aside time. Then you select the elements that make the most of that time.
Where to Start
Think of a time when you generated a great idea. What were the conditions that supported that thought? Notice the circumstances that surround that thought. These are clues to use as you design your thinking plan.
Sherlock (in the BBC TV series) had his mind palace. Agatha Christie had her apple baths. Your first-grade teacher encouraged you to put on your thinking cap. You can have your thinking plan.
The Elements of Thinking
Sound | The Soundscape that Supports Thought
Recent studies ¹ found that the roughly 70 decibel low murmur of other voices in a coffee shop is the most conducive sound environment for focused work. It features the comforting hum of activity without the distraction of distinct conversations.
As you consider what sounds support your thinking, we want to explore the soundscape that is friendly to your focus.
Perhaps you prefer silence or natural noises like birdsong, wind, or wave. If you choose music, consider the volume and tempo. Many find lyrics distracting so instrumental music might be a good choice.
To Consider:
- Apps like Endel and Coffivity deliver optimized sound experiences
- Play videos that feature natural soundscapes. Layering a few videos of the ocean, playing them on multiple tabs at the same time, for instance, can deliver a more realistic, dynamic soundscape.
- Curate a playlist of music that works for you and regularly purge any music that no longer serves
Environment | The Elements of a Focus Friendly Space
The surroundings can have an impact on focus. Indoor environments offer solitude and climate control. Outdoor environments boast fresh air and inspiring vistas.
Crowded spaces like parks and city streets offer a certain anonymity that many people find soothing. Solitary spaces like private balconies, remote locations, or your own office with the door shut guard against distraction.
The temperature may be soothing, cozy, stimulating, or comfortably neutral.
Strong sunlight and brightly lit spaces may infuse positive moods. Shady, darker spaces may cool agitation.
Choosing the elements of a focus-friendly environment can bolster your focus and support your thinking.
To Consider:
As you design your thinking plan, notice how different environments impact your focus. Ask yourself these questions:
- How distracted was I by this environment?
- What complemented my focus in this environment?
- What were the components of this environment that I would like to replicate for focused thought sessions?
Movement | The Pace and Kinetics of Thought
Tibetan monks sit for hours in stillness. Athletes speak of the heightened state of the runner’s high. The physical experience that accompanies thought can have an impact on the quality of your ideas.
Some prefer to be completely still so that no physical sensations or efforts distract from their thinking. Stillness can also cause some to become antsy. Restlessness might be a distraction.
Those who prefer movement advocate light activity like stretching or walking. Many extol the invigorating movement and varied scenery of a good walk. Gentle yoga, dance, or other rhythmic movement might also serve to feed focus.
To Consider:
- Mindfulness apps like Calm, Headspace, and Insight Timer offer guided practices that incorporate movement. While these are intended for meditation, they can offer clues about how movement might be employed to heighten focus.
Capture
We are engaging in generative thinking to foster the development of ideas, solutions, creations, or insights. Often, when the lightning of a great idea strikes, we are convinced that we will remember the details. How could we forget such a brilliant thought? Then, later, when we try to reconstruct it (if we even remember we had it), the details have fled.
A method for idea capture is a vital part of a thinking plan. It might also be a component of the actual thinking as well. As we write, sketch, diagram, and connect our thoughts visually, we are engaging in a specific form of tangible thinking.
Cocktail napkins, sticky notes, note-taking software, and whiteboards all stand ready to assist. Decisions need to be made about the use of dictation and AI summary services.
If you choose to think without the burden of concurrent capture, it will be beneficial to design a plan for capture after the fact by allowing time and setting intention to process your thoughts into notes or other outputs.
To Consider:
- Tools like Notion, Evernote, or Obsidian facilitate gathering and organizing notes.
Companionship
Consider the support you need to test your thinking. This assistance might provide critical insights to frame your efforts before you engage your thinking plan. It might be the companion who works with you to think through. Or it might be the partner who provides feedback and inquiry after you have developed your idea.
AI can provide interesting and useful opportunities to explore. Care must be exercised to avoid the pitfall of the platform’s inherent design. Beware of the chatbot’s programmed affirmation because it will feed, not challenge, your bias. And remember that the large language models excel at delivering information about what everyone else says, does, believes, or knows. Generating novel, innovative thought is your job.
The same care should be applied to companions with heartbeats as well. Even the people who know us best and love us most can carry a quiet bias in what they see and advise, sometimes without realizing it, because they have a real stake in how our choices turn out. That does not make their insight untrustworthy, but it does mean we should consider their position so we can take what helps and gently set aside what does not.
A coach offers a unique thinking partnership: someone who is personally invested in your clarity, but not personally invested in a specific outcome. Unlike AI, a coach is not designed to affirm, predict, or remix the average opinion, and unlike friends and family, a coach is not filtering insight through shared history, fear, hope, or hidden stakes. A coach can hold steady attention, ask better questions, reflect patterns back without agenda, and help you test assumptions in a way that strengthens your own judgment, so your thinking stays both supported and truly yours.
Your Thinking Plan
If you want to design a thinking plan that fits the way you actually think, reach out to me. I partner with clients to build a plan you can use again and again, so your thinking gets clearer, more deliberate, and more your own.
For clients who want sustained change, I offer longer coaching engagements. We partner over time to strengthen discernment, deepen reflection, and develop a repeatable way of thinking well.
By considering the elements that support or undermine thinking, a thinking plan can reveal the auditory, environmental, physical, social, and logistical circumstances and tools that will support generative, creative, powerful thinking.
________
Footnote:
- Ravi Mehta, Rui (Juliet) Zhu, and Amar Cheema, “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 4 (2012): 784–799, https://doi.org/10.1086/665048; Geraint Rees and Nilli Lavie, “Perceptual Load Theory: Effects of Cognitive Load on Attention and Distraction,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 37, no. 5 (2011): 1479–1493, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022400; Nick Perham and Harriet Currie, “Does Listening to Preferred Music Improve Reading Comprehension Performance?” Applied Cognitive Psychology 28, no. 2 (2014): 279–284, https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2994.
Leave a Reply