Lecture 18
Clear and Creative Thinking
To be able to think clearly and creatively we must devote much of our time to these aspects of our living. Sooner or later we find out that too many people have lost sight of the true values of clear thinking because they are overwhelmed by the present day technology and overpowered by the materialistic pressures. This loss is so tragic at times that it affects us negatively. I cannot emphasise this enough that clear and creative thinking is one of the major basis of our growth and development.
To be able to think well we need to generate and develop a sense of urgency for all our activities. This means that we have to manage our time effectively at all times. Of the twenty-four hours in a day we spend about eight hours sleeping, about three hours eating and drinking and then our daily commuting to work or school takes at least an hour. So we have lost twelve hours easily. From the remaining twelve hours we have to spare at least a few hours on leisure activities for our family and ourselves. In fact we are left with only eight hours of productive time that we must learn to manage carefully.
Time is money in the material world and we do not have a choice but to use our time effectively. In order to do this well we need to motivate ourselves. There are three ways we can do this. Incentive motivation based on rewards. Fear motivation based on punishment. Attitudinal motivation based on clearer thinking.
Incentive motivation can be explained with a story of a buffalo and a farmer. A buffalo was pulling a wooden cart down a dirty country road. A farmer was sitting in the cart with a long pole which had a rope tied down at the end of it. A bundle of green grass was dangling from the rope in front of the buffalo. This buffalo then moved forward to eat the grass if it felt hungry. This type of motivation eventually wears out and is based on the need of the person being satisfied. If the buffalo does not feel hungry and does not need the grass then it would not pull the cart.
Fear motivation starts when the farmer removes the bundle of grass and uses the pole to beat the buffalo. If the buffalo is afraid of this beating then it moves forward to pull the cart. It would soon become immune to beating and stop pulling the cart. Even this type of motivation would not produce the desired result forever.
Pic 1: The Buffalo is willing to pull the cart because it wants to help the farmer.
Pic 2: The unwilling buffalo is beaten to pull the cart because it is stubborn.
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