How To Use Mindfulness, Logical Thinking And Observation To Think Like Sherlock Holmes

 How To Use Mindfulness, Logical Thinking And Observation To Think Like Sherlock Holmes.

The Scientific Method of the Mind.

Holmes was a detective second to none. His insights into the human mind are par excellence. 

What Sherlock Holmes offers isn’t just a way of solving crime.

It is an entire way of thinking, a mindset that can be applied to innumerable situations.

It is an approach born out of the scientific method that transcends science and crime both and can serve as a model for thinking, a way of being just as powerful in our time as it was then

The scientific uses a broad base of knowledge, an understanding of the facts and intricacies of the problem you are trying to tackle.

This, in a nutshell, is the scientific method:

Understand and frame the problem; observe; hypothesize (or imagine); test and deduce; and repeat.

And just like a muscle - one that suddenly begins to ache, then develop and bulk up as you begin to use it more,

With practice your mind will see that the constant observation and never-ending scrutiny will become easier.

The Two Ms: Mindfulness and Motivation

Mindfulness, 

In the sense of constant presence of mind, the attentiveness that is so essential for real, active observation of the world. 

Motivation,

In the sense of active engagement and desire.

You have to be motivated to think in a mindful, present fashion, to exert effort on what goes through our heads instead of going with the flow.

Mindfulness is a limited resource. 

Paying attention to one thing necessarily comes at the expense of another.

We cannot allocate our attention to multiple things at once and expect it to function at the same level as it would were we to focus on just one activity.

Paying Attention Is Anything but Elementary

Two tasks cannot possibly be in the focus foreground at the same time.

One will inevitably end up being the focus, and the others irrelevant noise, something to be filtered out.

Or

worse still, none will have the focus.

The Value of Imagination

Imagination is the essential next step of the thought process. 

It uses the building blocks of all of the observations that you’ve collected to create the material that can then serve as a solid base for future deduction.

Imagination takes the stuff of observation and experience and recombines them into something new. 

We sift through all imaginative alternatives to decide: 

Out of all of the possibilities you’ve imagined, which is the definite one that best explains all of the facts?

Deduction from the Facts

Deduction. The grand finale.

The moment when you can finally

complete your thought process and come to your conclusion.

Everything has been gathered and analyzed.

All that remains is to see what it all means.

Putting It All Together

1. Know Yourself—And Your Environment

2. Observe—Carefully and Thoughtfully

3. Imagine—Remembering to Claim the Space You Need

4. Deduce—Only from What You’ve Observed, and Nothing More

5. Learn—From Your Failures Just as You Do from Your Successes