You may or may not have noticed that I take some pains to avoid referring to things as good and bad. Unless I slipped up, you won’t find the words ‘good’ or ‘bad’ anywhere in the previous chapters or most of the rest of the book. Relatedly, I’m going to ask you to attempt to not think of effective thinking as “good thinking”. What is meant by “effective thinking”, for the sake of this essay, is: thinking for producing effects. Effective thinking is about getting to the root of causes and determining the most reliable way to increase our odds of success with the resources and support available.

Why do I insist that effective thinking isn’t the same as good thinking? It has to do with two considerations about the ideas of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Firstly, to the best of my ability, I try to only refer to things as good or bad in a strictly moral context. In the chapters which follow, I will discuss some moral concerns in terms of good and bad — because it is good to act morally and bad to act immorally. Odd that this has become a radical claim, but it kinda has. I will generally only use ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in their specific, narrow, moral context. This little habit in language prevents depression, anxiety, and pessimism. I find that individuals who think that events, products, designs, weather, and other circumstances can be bad are much more prone to maladies of thought and emotions. They are even far more likely to wrong others because of this simple error in thinking and speech. Secondly, and closely related to the first reason, not referring to things as simply good and bad forces me to be more precise. This beer isn’t good; it’s balanced. The design isn’t bad; it’s unclear. The writing isn’t good; it’s elegant. The color isn’t bad; it clashes. And so on.

When we learn to stop judging our circumstances and oversimplifying our observations we lift our mood, increase our optimism, and develop clarity in perception, evaluation, and communication.

Part one of this essay is about thinking, specifically effective thinking, not good thinking, effective thinking. Another reason that I don’t refer to effective thinking as “good thinking” is that there are other perfectly helpful and healthy modes of thought. Creativity and intimacy are two important examples of modes of thought that don’t center on effectiveness. I’d like to describe those modes a bit because they are both relevant to our subject matter, but first …

Here’s a brief overview of everything covered in this introductory chapter:

• why effective thinking isn’t the same thing as good thinking — check
• creativity, how does it work, and how does it relate to conflict?
• intimacy, it’s powers and dangers
• the relationships between effective thinking and other healthy cognitive modes
• a closer look at what effective thinking is
• a brief discussion of identity as it relates to various modes of thought
• the three pillars of effective thinking: empiricism, subjectivity, and objectivity

The rest of this chapter will become available following the success of this Kickstarter campaign.

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