Try New Things

Men can live without air a few minutes, without water for about two weeks, without food for about two months—and without a new thought for years on end.
—Kent Ruth

It has been estimated that the average person thinks between 12,000 and 15,000 thoughts each day, with deeper thinkers thinking as many as 50,000-65,000. It has also been estimated that about 90% of those thoughts are the same ones we had the day before. It is easy to get stuck in a rut, but one of the quickest ways out of the rut defined by few new thoughts is to try something new.

When you do something that you haven’t done before your mind is forced to think in new and creative ways. Problems come up that you have not experienced yet, and you must think about how to solve that problem. Sure, you’ll bring your prior experience with you as you seek the solution, but you’ll do so with fresh insight that you can apply to your old thought patterns, thus thinking even more new thoughts.

That has happened with this blog. I started it to keep me thinking about learning and to encourage myself to explore more about learning as a lifetime endeavor. As a result I have found that I have new ideas for some of my other blogs, and new energy to actually write them down and post them.

Still looking forward to hearing from anyone who has decided to start a blog to document their learning process as they try new things…