I find myself thinking out loud a lot recently. Sure, it’s something that I’ve always done. Haven’t we all, on occasion? Though in recent times it has transformed into rule, rather than exception. Why is that?
To start, I’ve noticed that saying my thoughts out loud help me structure my inner dialog. This is especially true when there is a lot of it, as it quickly tends to get messy then. All these words flying around in my head, bouncing off each other, without a clear trajectory or conclusion. It’s not productive and thinking out loud helps alleviate that.
It also helps when I can hear my own thoughts. The sound of my own words resonating in a room, back into my ears, helps bring perspective.
“Is this thought as good as I think it is, or does it sound stupid once I say it out loud?”
After all, it adds another of your senses, hearing, to the process. It’s immediate feedback.
So why did this habit intensify lately then? Is it because I have more thoughts? Or am I simply less good at structuring them? I can think of multiple reasons for that but the one that comes to mind first, is that I’m working on many different things at the same time.
Perhaps that’s something that I should be cautious of. Tone it down a notch and keep more focus. That will almost certainly focus my thoughts as well. On the other hand though, I’m having too much fun with everything I’m doing. Why stop that? As long as I move with purpose, I can’t go wrong.
All I need to do is make sure I’m not merely talking out loud, but actually *think*. Ask questions, summarise, conclude. Oh, and write things down. That helps a lot.
Let’s try again tomorrow.