Think about it…
The author spoke about the dividing of our thinking into subsystems. He described that there was two subsystems that exist. The first subsystem was type one thinking.This thinking consist of being able to think through a thing with little to no effort. On the other hand there is type two thinking, which requires you to put a good bit of thought and process into a situation. Both type one and type two can be beneficial at different times.
Morning after morning for the last few months my alarm rings at five-thirty. I jump up to the same routine. I make it to my place of business and I complete the same task day to day. There is a method to each thing that I have to do to start the day. Without any thought every method of the days start up is done. I look back on it several hours later not even remembering the steps I took to get to the end results. The effortless response to something I have done over and over is an example of the authors research about one of the subsystems of our thinking.
In my first month of opening I needed a written list or a recipe for my task. I made weak coffee, burned some things, over and under cooked somethings trying to pay attention. I was paying more attention to the process than to the actual product that I wanted to produce. The type two subsystem was operating heavily as I tried to please potential customers. Something had to change or the business would not thrive. I eventually gained the confidence needed to operate in level two type thinking.
In the Bible when Peter was asked to walk out on to the water he started out using type one thinking but quickly caved into type two. He stepped out on to the water on his journey toward the Lord. He asked the Lord to verify that it was indeed him by bidding him out on the water. As Peter begin to walk I can imagine that he started to think about the foundation that he had. He thought about the probability of a person being able to walk on an actual liquid substance. He thought about the possibility of drowning. He even second guessed his ability to swim. I imagine that thoughts like this caused him to turn his sight from the Lord and look back. As soon as he gain those anxious, fearful and doubtful feelings he begin to sink.
As Peter begin to sink he had to switch his thinking back to his original type one thinking. In other words, Peter had no time to worry he had to walk by faith. Peter had to keep his eyes on the Lord and allow the master to take care of the things that he felt impossible. He had to think in the way that was beneficial to his situation at the moment.
The example of my day to day business thinking and Peters preparation for leadership, highlights that type one thinking works in a plethora of situations. On the contrary type two thinking has proven to be effective as well. Reading a book and writing a blog in a week could be an example of this type two thinking. The method of selecting what you will address and how to deliver it could be a process. This said easy process could also be somewhat difficult for some… Think about it.
Kahnman, Daniel, 1934-author. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
About the Author
Shonell Dillon
A daughter of the KING of kings and the LORD of lords. A lover of LIFE!9 responses to “Think about it…”
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Shonell,
Thanks for your post. I’m curious, what kind of business do you run? In your post you said, “I eventually gained the confidence needed to operate in level two type thinking.” A few questions came to mind.
How did you gain the confidence that you needed?
Did learning confidence help you in other areas as well outside of your business?
Kahnman in his book also talked about “trusting intuition” did intuition play a part in you gaining confidence?
Thanks for taking the time read my post. Currently I am a Psychotherapist and I just opened a coffee shop that serves full breakfast. I will admit my confidence did not start with business it started with faith. I think I just needed to gain that confidence in something that I never did before. As far as intuition the only thing that my gut told me was not to quit and I am glad I did not.
Shonell – I loved your analogy of Peter walking on the water with Kahneman’s type 1 and type 2 thinking. As Peter shifted his gaze back to Jesus, it seems to me that it must have been Jesus’ love and trust that allowed him to feel safety again. What are some practical ways you help your clients foster trust after it has been broken by others?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. It is pretty hard to regain trust Laura. The first thing I do in those situations is to make sure that I am providing a trust worthy space. As we build and work through the situation we identify how that situation is different than other relationships and/or situations.
There is a lot of power in that story and so many messages and lessons to be learned. It appears that you have learned these lessons in real time. I appreciate your humbleness to admit the struggles and mishaps. I am a business owner too and I can totally relate. I have learned my greatest lessons in business from mistakes. It requires that system two thinking that takes the emotion and impulses out of it.
A few questions came to mind when reading your post. How long have you been in business? Is there a way to bring God into your business, even if it is adding something to your system-one automatic routine?
I have been in business as an independent therapist for seven years but recently opened a coffee shop in August of this year. Micheal if it wasn’t for God I would not be in business. Everything that I am is because of God. I actually selected a whole different route but all things work together for the good of them who love GOD!
Hi Shonell
What a great connection between system thinking and the story of Peter walking on water and how our system two thinking can override our system one thinking. This can be a benefit or a detriment (and Peter experienced both).
I’m curious if we know when it is a benefit or a detriment? Perhaps we can only know in reflection. What do you think?
I’m also curious, what prompted you to start a coffee shop?
Thanks for reading my post. Chad , I am still trying to figure it out how I was prompted to start a coffee shop. I think that the coffee shop is an extension of my work as therapist. I do love coffee though.
Shonell,
Connecting the two types of thinking to the scriptures was very helpful as it provided a vivid example of applicability.
And I do agree that both types of thinking can be utilized.
Praying for your continued success and refreshing from the tiredness.