I’ve always had this sense of there being two different modes of thinking like what I’m about to talk about but until recently wasn’t able to clearly establish the logic between the two. Now, I know them as intuitive and sensory thinking. I believe this is a fundamental concept that accounts for many things in human beings. Everybody does some of each but many people function primarily from one or the other.

So what are they?

Intuitive Thinking

Intuitive thinking is all about focusing within yourself and your own imagination & intellect. Where instead of figuring things out by observing the outside world, you imagine & analyze them within your own mind. People who are primarily intuitive thinkers are the imaginative, head in the clouds type of people. They like to think, analyze, philosophize, etc, within their own mind for the right answer. There is often a lack of sense of time with highly intuitive thinkers. With intuitive thinking, it is about the inside world and not the outside world.

Sensory Thinking

Sensory thinking is all about observing what is going on outside yourself. Where instead of figuring things out through your own imagination & intellect, you simply observe what the answer is based on the external world. People who are primarily sensory thinkers are the observant, responsive, reactive, ear to the ground type of people. They like to observe and directly react to what is going on in the world when solving something. Sensory thinkers are very in tune with what is going on around them in their environment. With sensory thinking, it is about the outside world and not the inside world.

Everybody does some of each but many people function primarily from one or the other. If you start to observe and sense this within yourself, then you’ll probably find that it generally takes a completely different state of mind to think from one or the other. Where when you are in a clearly intuitive mindset, it is hard to conduct very effective sensory thinking and visa-versa.

Both types of thinking have value and combining the two would consistently yield the best results. However, I do think that major advancements in the world rely heavily on intuitive thinking and day to day management of things relies heavily on sensory thinking.

I am primarily an intuitive thinker. You can probably easily guess this by taking a glance at my personal website. I’ve observed many things in the world through my senses. However, after a while, it gets extremely repetitive in my opinion and similar patterns repeat themselves over and over. Therefore, to gain any major ground in understanding the world & advancing strategy for impact in the world, one has to turn inward to think primarily from their own imagination & intellect. This is what I primarily do with my thoughts. It is also true that I am consistently oblivious to several environmental factors such as time. I very rarely know what day it is. However, when I am competing in something that has a very finite amount of time to it, I can turn up my sensory thinking a lot and respond to many environmental variables occurring moment to moment like a hawk. Although, I have experienced mindsets of simultaneous high performing intuitive and sensory thinking. It has been rare. However, it certainly has occurred. I usually have extra energy and adrenaline running through me when I experience this capability.

We are always enabled and limited by our current mindset for thinking intuitively vs. sensory. We usually consistently gravitate towards one or the other types of thinking. Do you primarily have your head in the clouds or your ear to the ground?

We all are familiar with state of mind but what is it really? I’ve found it to be one of the most powerful things in our lives. I believe most people utilize the concept through an emotional mood perspective. They will say things like she is in a positive or negative state of mind today. I’ve come to see state of mind as much more than a person’s emotions and also realized that it is behind almost everything we do.

So what is it? State of mind is a catchall snapshot of a person’s total psychology. This is made up from the values of many different closely related things that can influence it such as thoughts, emotions, brain chemicals, beliefs, memories, conscious & sub-conscious, brain architecture, etc. Many things can influence it at any given time.

What can it do? Everything! No, not really, but just about. Think about it for a second. If you didn’t have a mind then what would happen? You would just be a lifeless body that could literally do nothing on its own. It is our mind that allows us to think and do stuff on our own. It is our mind which governs what we do in our external environments including things like moving our bodies, speaking words, skipping college, dancing with another person, doing a large buyout deal, etc. Now we all have minds but are they all the same? No way. Not even close. All of the components can vary between people in countless ways. Here is another distinction though… Your own state of mind can vary throughout time to very large degrees. What does this mean? A lot.

Because your state of mind can consistently vary it means that what you do in your external environment can vary from time to time even in extremely similar situations. For example, why does a pro basketball player make 30 free throw shots in a row, miss 1, and then make another 30 in a row? He stood in the same spot, used the same ball, shot on the same basket, no external distractions were present, and he toke the same physical approach to just about the best of his ability as he attempted each shot. Why did he miss that one in the middle and make all of the rest before and after it? Was it really that .0001% increase in room temperate, the fact that .01% more body weight was on his right foot that time, or the 1% increase in brightness in the lights? I don’t think so. So if nothing in the external environment can be directly blamed for the missed shot then what is it? The reason was his state of mind. His internal environment shifted in the right way that caused a miss that time. Three seconds before he attempted that shot he a thought about his foreclosed mansion that Watkins Property Group picked up at a huge discount. The state of mind produced by that painful thought caused a quarter centimeter turn in his hand when releasing the ball and he threw up an ugly brick. Of course then he got mad at himself and focused his state of mind back into an effective one because practicing hard meant scoring more points, which meant making more money, which meant he could buy his mansion back from me, at a premium of course.

I want to emphasize again that your mind is a vital component of your body that allows you to do almost anything independently and variances in your state of mind cause you to take action differently, even in similar situations. Throw in the consistently changing external environments in your life and your state of mind can vary much more. Your state of mind can vary to a large degree across the spectrum of effectiveness for producing a result. Whether you are having an off day for performance, a normal day, or are on fire, it is probably largely due to your state of mind.

Our state of mind is an extremely profound part of what makes up our reality.

My very 1st Human Nature Blog Post! Understanding the nature of humanity is foundation to getting results with yourself and others. This is a very profound subject since the world runs on people. A huge amount of my time in life has been spent seeking to understand myself better. I have come to understand people very well. I’ve discovered and created some very solid principles that cut to the core of what makes people tick. The primary application that I use the knowledge contained within my Human Nature Blog for is to produce successful results related to my goals in life. So my Human Nature Blog is a large part of the foundation of logic for my Success Blog. I look forward to sharing my knowledge of humanity here with you. How well do you really know yourself?