How to Become a Quick Thinker?

How to Become a Quick Thinker

How to Become a Quick Thinker? Get at least seven hours of sleep every night. Regularly perform musical improvisation. Jog more often and more.

Quick thinking opens up your mind. It allows you to swiftly pick up new pieces of information and ideas and helps you to quickly process that piece of information you have received. Let say for an instant, you were given a business plan or a proposal to quickly review. If you are a quick thinker, you will be able to easily go through that document and get all the possible pieces of information needed as soon as possible. Another example can be when reading a case in a business school. With quick thinking, you can be able to pull out all the necessary pieces of information needed.  

Quick thinking prevents your brain and mind from being distracted by things around your environment or unnecessary figures or words related to what you are thinking about, thereby leading you straight to the point and providing solutions to the issues on the ground. Lastly, there can also be cases where maybe you have just been given a presentation, and some members of your listeners or audience disagree with your ideas and ask some really hard questions. When you are a quick thinker, you can easily give the appropriate response to those who disagree with your ideas. Now, let us move further to state and explain what it means for you to be a quick thinker.

What does it mean for someone to be a quick thinker?

Just as there are different types of “quick thinking,” so also there are a lot of daring situations from which quick thinking can bail you out from. The number one type of quick thinking is quick decision-making. Quick decision-making can be very important in businesses. It gives an edge to you over other business partners or competitors.  Quick decision making allows you to checkmate the pros and cons, risks, rewards, and importance quickly and easily make decisions that can be helpful to your business based on the piece of information you have gathered in your head.

For example, most of us get to spend a long time thinking and making decisions on things that do not deserve to give us so much mental stress (E.g. cracking up your head on the flavor to use for ice cream or the color of a flyer). If you belong to this category of thinkers, it can affect your productivity as well as your ability to meet up with deadline demands.

Quick problem-solving is another type of quick thinking.  Quick-problem solving can be very helpful if your job has to do with moving parts and also a setback.

Quick problem solving gives you the ability to quickly identify core issues, the causes, and the solutions to the problems. It also gives you the ability to quickly identify inputs and outputs. Quick-problem solving can make you become irreplaceable in the company or organization you work with. There is also another type of quick thinking, known as “Quick divergent thinking.” Quick divergent thinking can be really helpful if your job is in relation to creativity or if your job often involves troubleshooting.

The ability to quickly think out of the box is a natural asset that most of us had as kids but gradually lost it as we get older. Other than this, there are a lot of other types of quick thinking. And it is possible to have just one at your disposal. Most persons are also gifted with a lot of quick thinking abilities as well. Nevertheless, with regular quick-thinking exercises, you can get back your lost childhood ability as a quick thinker. Here are some regular quick-thinking skills to help you develop your quick thinking abilities:

Follow different ideas through different outcomes:

Most times, people get to have a little amount of time to deal with the numerous ideas running through their heads. Regularly engage in idea exercises; sometimes, have more than one solution to an idea or a puzzling question, even if you expect it to turn out in just one way. See your ideas in various ways, and create different solutions for them.

Get at least seven hours of sleep every night:

Get enough sleep every night to enable you to relax from all stress during the day, and help your brain function properly the next day. Too much stress and not getting enough sleep can be a risk factor for cognitive impairment associated with aging.

Engage in various aerobic exercises for at least 10 minutes a day:

Regular engagement in aerobic exercises and activities reduces the lifetime risk of Alzheimer’s (a mental disorder that involves loss of mental functions which results from changes in brain tissues) in half and also reduces the risk of general dementia by 60 percent. This claim was stated by John Medina, a Ph.D. holder and the director of the Seattle Pacific University Brain Center for Applied Learning Research. Regular aerobic exercises can keep you sharp and as well, increase your level of creativity. So, I had advised you to immediately start up with regular aerobic exercises if you have not been doing it.

Give your brain some time to relax:

Do not overstress your brain. Sometimes give your brain time to relax by engaging in a fun task that does not require cracking up your head, and always get a nap to calm your brain.

Have a hobby, and practice it daily:

Take out time from your daily activities to engage yourself in the things you love doing most. Your brain will have no time or space to explore, think of things creatively, have fun ideas and concepts. Engage yourself in funfilled hobbies like video games or playing musical instruments. These two have been proven to help boost human intelligence.

Don’t over practice:

A recent study from UC Santana Barbara, John Hopkins, and the University of Pennsylvania found that above a specific amount of time, the cognitive instruments of the human brain that enhance effective learning can get worked out.  So, when learning, do not work too hard or intensely. Make it fun whiles practicing a new skill or stunt.

Observe, listen attentively, and learn:

Engage yourself in working daily on various media types. Read reports online or on TV, listen to podcasts, watch video clips when possible, play games on your phone, or visit game sites when you are free. By doing all this, you are taking in pieces of information with your brain and also staying more engaged so as to retain those pieces of information you have received. If you get bored of reading a particular podcast or listening to audio files, then take a break from it and try out a different media type.

Hop on a bike if you can:

There is recent research from UC Davis that found out that 8 to 20 minutes of excessive cycling per day can boost the neurotransmitters, which in turn allows your brain to function faster and clearer.

Regularly take in vitamin D:

Regular intake of vitamin D is good for the brain as it helps sharpens and enhances the brain so it can function properly. According stated by the new Duke University–NUS Medical School study, vitamin D protects you against the loss of neurons that can cause cognitive decline. For adults, you need to take in between the range of 600 and 800 IU (international units) of vitamin D on daily basis.

Trust and follow your instincts:

The longer you spend time dictating on what decision to take, the more likely you will choose and follow the wrong option. Be quick in making a decision, and act fast on it, and you will feel good with the decision you have made. A simple way to make a decision is to write down a summary of the few choices you have made and would like to pick from, then list the pros and cons of each of them.: This will make decision-making clearer and easy for you. The above statement was made by Columbia University researchers.

Read fast in the right manner:

There are a lot of mobile apps for the purpose of speed-reading, but researchers have stated that most of those apps do not actually help your brain retain many pieces of information faster or better as they were described to do.  Instead of going for those apps, place your focus on reading comprehension, as it has been proven to increase the human’s brain-reading speed over time. When choosing your comprehension, make sure to choose from a wide variety of topics that interest you. Regularly say these words, ‘I can do better!’ This may sound funny and at the same time silly right? But it may interest you to know, research has proven that regularly and silently repeating this phrase to yourself has proven to be very effective to brace up your brain’s reaction time. Most World-class athletes regularly use this trick to motivate themselves regularly before the start of any match or competition.

Go for a drive if you can:

The concentration needed while driving down the highway and switching lanes clear up your head and helps you to think better more effectively. This was recently founded by researchers in the UK. Try this out when you are stuck in a problem. It will help trust me.

Get physical hours after you learn something new:

If you have a particular work or school material you need to memorize for presentation, after going through the material, get on the treadmill hours later. Researchers in the Netherlands have found out that a time-delayed exercise session strengthens memories in the hippocampus (the hippocampus is a part of the human brain responsible for quick and effective learning).

Do not ever resist the urge to yawn:

Often times, most of us try to stifle a yawn. You had better stop doing that! The physical process of a good yawn cools down the human’s brain, thereby leading to better mental performance.

Regularly perform musical improvisation:

Researchers from Dana foundation, a foundation that studies the human brain, have found out that performing musical improvisation exercises or rapping that requires you to think fast each moment can improve your thinking speed.  The more you learn and practice these skills, the better your brain thinking speed will improve.

Always attempt to crack open a classic:

Researchers have found out that good literary fiction can improve the connectivity and function is our brain. It also helps to strengthen the imagination.

Think while on your feet:

There have been a lot of studies from Texas A&M University that have shown that our brain tends to improve and function well when we work at a standing desk.  When working and thinking on our feet; the brain enhances in the following areas; comprehension skills, time retention, and fact retention. The simple logic is that changing position from sitting to standing while at home or at work will help to break the boredom and help us stay more focused.

Try to chew gum always: 

There have been researches that show that human cerebral blood tends to flow properly when we chew gum. And this, in return, helps us to remember words much faster. Make chewing gum a part of your daily activities to help you remember things fast enough.

Stay curious:

Always push yourself in new directions. Learn a new language. Sandra Bond Chapman, a PhD holder and the founder and director of the center of BrainHealth at the University of Texas (Dallas), stated that it is never too early or too late to focus on your brain health. She went further to say that the key takeaway for those who have not been training mentally or physically is to challenge their thinking and get moving at any age.

Play action video games:

There is new research that found out that the brain tends to think and make decisions faster and more accurately when you play a video game with lots of targets and actions.

Jog more often:

Researchers have proven that jogging or any running activities activate a cardiovascular process that increases the cerebral blood flow in the human brain. This causes the brain to grow bigger and works better.  So make sure to lace of your Nikes for jogging purposes at least three times a week.

Enroll yourself in online courses:

These days, there is no limit to things you can online with the help of a mobile phone or laptop. Make it a habit to learn new things every day. You might be a worker, make out time from regular work activities; could be on your way to work or during lunch break. Make sure to take at last 5 minutes of your spare time to learn something new. It can greatly boost your knowledge and quick-thinking ability when you make it a regular habit.

Eat enough fruits or vegetables:

Researches prove that daily take-in of fruits boosts your feelings of calm and happiness, which in turn helps you to think quicker and better.  Go for those fruits packed with antioxidants, e.g. bell peppers, okra, artichokes, kale, pears, apples, berries, grapes, and all citrus fruits.

Watch movies to make you laugh: 

Researchers from Loma Linda University have reported that watching at least a 20-minute comedy program can improve short-term memory function because it reduces stress hormones in the human brain. In your free time, try to watch comedy skits or videos to make you laugh a lot and forget your stress and sorrows.

Engage yourself in stimulating conversations:

Without the help of the internet, mobile phones, and computers, there is some certain type of conversation that requires us to think on our feet. Regularly having conversations with people who are smarter and more intelligent than you are can be a fantastic exercise to greatly boost your quick thinking ability. It also gives you the opportunity to learn new things. Look for more intelligent, smarter, and interesting people to regularly have brief conversations with. Having explained a few types of fast thinking, as well as ways to develop your fast-thinking skills, I will go further to elaborate more on the benefits of fast-thinking. Stay with me; this will be of great help to you.

The Benefits of Quick Thinking

Most persons often mistake quick thinking with higher intelligence. This can be true in a way, as thinking fast can also give you fast solutions to problems.

Here are a few ways in which quick thinking can help you in many aspects of life:

  • People tend to have more self-confidence, feel happier, and be more creative and more energetic when they have the ability to think quickly.
  • If you have the ability to think fast on your feet, you tend to feel more comfortable when speaking with clients, customers, or when giving a presentation.
  • When you think fast, you can become more efficient in your studies, and be able to solve your homework more easily and also perform better in exams.
  • Having the ability or skills to think fast can greatly enhance your success in ways like planning, solving problems, goal setting, as well as the ability to remain focused on tasks.
  • There is research that confirms that the people who think fast tend to be more charismatic.
  • As a driver, quick-thinking can keep you safe, thereby being able to make decisions quickly in critical situations.
  • Developing quick-thinking skills can keep you sharp and function well mentally as you age.
  • If you are a sportsman, quick-thinking can lead to fast reactions that will therefore make you have a better athletic performance. 

Now that you have known a few important types of quick thinking, the things to do to help you develop your fast-thinking ability, as well as the benefits associated with fast-thinking.  My genuine advice to you is that you make developing your quick thinking skills a priority, especially for those of you who have slower thinking speed or spend too much time making decisions. Follow through the above suggestions that can help you develop and enhance your quick-thinking ability, and I am sure there will be a great improvement in your fast-thinking speed as time goes by.

also read: How I became a Forbes 30 under 30 Co-founder with Mark Cuban by Building Rather Than Overthinking.

How to Become a Quick Thinker?

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