Day Seven. Be Relevant: Stick to the Point

When thinking is relevant, it is focused on the main task at hand. It selects what is germane, pertinent, and related. It is on the alert for everything that connects to the issue. It sets aside what is immaterial, inappropriate, extraneous, or beside the point. That which directly bears upon (helps solve) the problem you are trying to solve is relevant to the problem. When thinking drifts away from what is relevant, it needs to be brought back to what truly makes a difference. Undisciplined thinking is often guided by associations (“this reminds me of that, that reminds me of this other thing”) rather than what is logically connected (“if a and b are true, c must also be true”). Disciplined thinking intervenes when thoughts wander and it concentrates the mind on the things that help it figure out what it needs to figure out.

If you find your thinking digresses, try to figure out why. Is your mind simply wandering? If so, you probably need to intervene to get it back on track. Or, perhaps you realize that you need to deal with a different issue before addressing the one you were originally focused on. If so, by all means address the issue your mind has surfaced. But most importantly, know precisely, at any given moment, the issue you are addressing, and then stick to that issue until you have either reached resolution or made an active decision to revisit the issue later, or deal with the alternative issue that has emerged and stick to that issue. But do not allow your mind to wander aimlessly from idea to idea, issue to issue, without direction or discipline.

Be on the lookout for...

...fragmented thinking—thinking that leaps about with no logical connections. Start noticing when you or others fail to stay focused on what is relevant. Focus on finding what will help you solve a problem. When someone brings up a point that doesn’t seem pertinent to the issue at hand, ask, “How is what you’re saying relevant to the issue?” When working through a problem, make sure you stay focused on what sheds light on, and thus helps address, the problem. Don’t allow your mind to wander to unrelated matters. Don’t allow others to stray from the main issue or divert you. Frequently ask, “What is the central question? Is this or that relevant to it? How?”

“If we are to solve a problem, we must pursue it with all our intellectual prowess, identifying exactly that which helps us solve it, and weeding out that which gets in the way.”

—Anonymous

Questions you can ask to make sure your thinking is focused on what is relevant

• Am I focused on the main problem or task?

• How are these two issues connected, or are they?

• How is the problem raised intertwined with the issue at hand?

• Does the information I am considering directly relate to the problem or task?

• Where do I need to focus my attention?

• Am I being diverted to unrelated matters?

• Am I failing to consider relevant viewpoints?

• How is my point relevant to the issue I am addressing?

• What facts will actually help me answer the question? What considerations should be set aside?

• Does this truly bear on the question? How does it connect?