Reflection 5: How Has My Thinking Process Changed?

Well…I still think constantly.  I don’t think that’ll ever change.  As I mentioned in my first blog, having a million different thoughts sometimes leaves me confused.  I think I agree with the research that Florin talked about in a comment on my first blog, which apparently shows that slowing down of thoughts fosters better insights.  And as someone who thinks 24/7 and has been in the habit of doing so for a very long time, learning to slow down and de-cluster my mind is a challenge – but something that I am going to work on.

So…throughout the semester, Moura made us work on a number of different projects and assignments.  I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work!  And some were rather difficult.  Not hard in a sense that I had to be a rocket scientist to figure things out but more in a sense that it required me to use skills or parts of my brain that I was not used to using.  I wasn’t given formulas to plug into the equation but rather, I was required to come up with the formula myself.  I had to THINK.  And you might be asking, “for someone who thinks so frigging much, why was this so hard?”

Well, my friends, I said I think a lot but I never said I think RIGHT – not sure if that’s the right word because I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way of thinking…but let me try to explain:  A lot of times my thoughts are not necessarily useful thoughts.  They are more just random thoughts that enter my mind and cluster it.  And that’s okay if I’m not focusing on a certain task but they are definitely not very helpful when it comes to problem-solving.  More often than not, they actually hinder me from making effective choices efficiently.

I never realized this before D-Studio.  I naively just believed ‘thinking a lot’ was good enough…that if I thought a lot, then eventually I’d figure it out.  And that probably is true; eventually I would reach a ‘good enough’ solution but what if I want a GREAT solution, a GREAT insight?  D-Studio made me aware of all of this.  Through the free writing exercise, it made me aware of my critical voice.  The negative voice that I’ve created for myself, which discourages me.  I now know how to discern that voice when I hear it.  The blogs forced me to slow down and reflect and think consciously about different topics ranging from my thinking to teamwork.  The feedback exercise made me comment on my group members’ performances rather than just ranking them on a scale of 1-5, which I found to be kind of difficult because I had to think about what I liked about their contributions and where they could have improved.  Peer evaluation was something that I’ve done a million times but I realized I’d always done them without much thought – or if there had been thoughts involved, I was blindly unaware.  The introduction of the design process made me realize that I actually ask, try and do when I try to solve problems – it’s not a disorganized, random process.

So…how has D-Studio changed my thinking process?  Simply put, it made me more aware of my thinking process.  My thinking process has changed because I am now able to consciously think about my thinking.  It is no longer just a mindless, random process.  But I can’t say I’ve perfected the art of thinking during this semester – sorry Moura!!  As I mentioned earlier, I want to be able to slow down and make room for GREAT insights to come.  And I think D-Studio has put me on the right path towards it.  It has made me more aware and has equipped me with the tools that I can use to perfect my thinking process.  So…thank you Moura, Florin and Andreann!!! 🙂 🙂

One response to “Reflection 5: How Has My Thinking Process Changed?”

  1. natashafenlee

    Totally agree with you here! I’m also one of those people who often can’t go to sleep right away because there’s too many thoughts in my head :P. Also, I really related to your thoughts on “right” thinking – I blogged about the same thing in my post. I think it’s more of a “balanced” way of thinking that we have developed throughout this course and the exposure that this course brought regarding design thinking.

Leave a Reply