Innovation and pessimism go hand in hand.

Anytime there’s something new, you’ll surely find cynics who say this is the doom. And it’s not a modern, techno-fueled phenomenon. 146 years ago, on January 25^th, 1879, a newspaper headline in America read, “Do children read too much?”

Books, specifically novels, were accused of corrupting the youth, making them lazy, and creating an overload of information. Sounds familiar, right?

The same concerns we’ve heard about the internet were once echoed for…books.

Now, we’re moving from the internet to the world of AI, but the concerns are the same. 

• Will the next generation even think for themselves? 
• All kids are becoming lazy. 
• No one wants to work hard.
• ChatGPT will replace everyone’s jobs.
• Humans will become meaningless if we let this menace continue.

These concerns are not invalid. If things go rogue, these are all reasonable consequences. But often, things do not go wrong because we have more power over the direction than we think. We can do a lot of things to lead innovation the right way.

In the AI age, strengthening our thinking is the tool that unlocks our power.

Here are four principles that will teach you how:

#1 Questioning:

The greatest thinkers aren’t the ones with all the answers, but the ones with the most important questions.

They are the ones who’ll win in the age of AI. If you look at it closely, AI is replacing those who do repetitive and monotonous work. It’s not replacing our ability to ask important, powerful questions.

That’s important because asking the right questions opens new horizons of ideas and thoughts. But how do you know you’re asking the right questions? I tweeted about it this morning:

“The only filter for your questions should be, “Is this pertinent?” Will it create an impact in my life/work?”
Doesn’t matter if it’s simple, silly, complicated, or boring. If it ticks those boxes, it deserves to be asked.”

Be curious. That’s the one thing you cannot delegate to AI. (And that’s why it’s your superpower.)

#2 Debating:

In recent times, debate and disrespect have become synonymous.

News institutions worldwide search for the next sensational take, and social media apps fire up on polarized opinions and divisive comment sections.

In this noise, we think, “To debate is to tear the other person apart.” It’s like saying, “To bathe is to roll around and get dirty in the mud.”

Debating is not a bad thing. Conflicting opinions don’t call for grabbing the other person by the neck. You can do something else, something radical, something that feels rare in this world.

You can discuss and talk it out. You can separate the person from the opinion. You can humanely acknowledge the differences and try to understand the other side.

Differing opinions will challenge your ego but also make you a better thinker. The choice is yours.

#3 Becoming Egoless:

The biggest barrier to clear, better thinking isn’t a lack of information, but an inflated ego.

When you put feeling right above being right, you let your growth take the hit for a few moments of false glory.

That doesn’t sound like a promising life to me. But I know, saying “Be Egoless” is much easier than doing it. So, here’s how you can create an egoless state in less than a minute, anytime and anywhere.

There’s only one condition: you must be fully honest with yourself. Ready?

Ask yourself, “If a stranger I met on the street was talking this problem out with me, what would I tell them to do, objectively? I don’t have any incentives, emotions, or perspectives attached. What will the best course of action be?”

Ta-da! You’re in an egoless state now.

#4 Reflecting:

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
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—Søren Kierkegaard, 19^th Century Danish Philosopher.

The idea of artificial intelligence might have confused Kierkegaard in the 1830s, but he surely wasn’t confused about the way we think, function, and live.

Our life is an interesting conundrum. We learn most of our lessons in retrospect, but we can only live in now and tomorrow, never yesterday.

That’s why the key to better thinking (and living) is to make retrospective learning intentional. Building a daily, or weekly reflection routine puts in perspective:

• Everything you did right.
• Everything you did wrong.
• The progress you made.
• The progress you could have made.
• Your biggest breakthroughs.Your most difficult challenges.

And everything else that makes you human. You can make better choices today and tomorrow if you double down on what you did right yesterday and improve on what went wrong.

Understand backwards. Live forwards. That’s the secret those pessimists won’t let you in on 🙂