Bonne Fête Nationale (as of the time of writing, I get that it publishes Jul 15th, sorry!) to my french family and friends. On this day that celebrates so much for France, one thought for me is simply this. Think Independent Thoughts.
My “six most dangerous words in business” are:
- We’ve
- Always
- Done
- It
- This
- Way
Sometimes our best choice is to agree with others, but there is also great value in thinking independently, thinking differently. After all, if you use my definition of innovation being simply: “doing different things and doing things differently”, that all starts with thinking independent thoughts.
Beyond that, as Oscar Wilde said: “Be yourself; everybody else is taken”.
So, a few quotes on independent thinking to muse on today:
“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
Albert Einstein
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.”
Bob Marley
“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
and one last one:
“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
Christopher Hitchens
Thinking independent thoughts, therefore, is a practice. Perhaps the first part of that is to be aware of when you are simply agreeing with the thoughts and ideas of others, as opposed to having your own, independently.