Yesterday, I mentioned that the smartest people are often the quietest. This is true. You can probably name off a list of people you've met in school or work that could work out any math problem in their heads, yet were so quiet and reserved. As I said, this is because they are observing and thinking. They sometimes sit and appear to do nothing. Not even watch TV. People think they're lazy sometimes. Maybe some are. But mostly what they are doing is, like I said, thinking or observing. They are either busy taking in the world, or analyzing and building on it, connecting and disconnecting. Many people might think that they observe and think because they are smart. This may be partially true, but even truer is that they are smart because they observe and think.

I'll bet you've also met people with closed minds. These are the people who watch lots of TV and come off narrow-minded. A wise man said that if you stop watching TV, you will find more productive things to do with your day. One of which would definitely be reading. Did you know that reading is a form of observing? Even if it's a sci-fi thriller, you learn something. Also, it stirs up your mind and gets it thinking. Your mind might go off on a tangent. I'll give you a million dollars if you can give me a creative person who doesn't like to read.

Auguste Rodin's The Thinker is my favorite statue. I believe that The Thinker was created somewhat as a self-portrait. Rodin knows the importance of pondering. Most people do make the connection that Albert Einstein, also, would be a thinker, but they don't know what a thinker actually is. They see thinking as only brainstorming, which involves pushing your mind with a time limit and writing down everything that comes to mind. This is great for getting things done (which everybody thinks is life). The thinker isn't brainstorming. He has a clear free-flowing mind. Not a stormy pushed mind. He lets his mind do the thinking. Brainstorming gets ideas about a specific thing. Clear thinking gets an understanding of everything. Understanding only comes from thinking. People who are talented at math are the ones who think about it. These people only have to memorize a little. They understand the rest. They have the roots and can see the tree. The rest memorize their way through. They memorize every leaf and twig and hope they'll remember it all. How do you think mathemeticians developed mathematical theory? They sat down and thought about it. They dug deep and found the roots. The tree hadn't grown yet.

Lastly, some of you may think that you don't like to stop and think or read books. You just don't like it. But have any of you noticed that you've begun to make some hobbies that you hated as a kid? How did you make those hobbies? You didn't necessarily have a natural knack in the beginning, but you pushed and did it anyway. I'll bet you'd tell me that it wasn't very fun until you'd developed a skill for it. I hated bike riding until I became good at it. Now it's one of my favorite hobbies. Well, you know what I'm getting at. Thinking is the same way, but no one will realize it. They think that some people think and some people don't. Well, that's actually pretty true, but it doesn't mean that those who don't can't.

So try being reserved for a while. Go into a quiet room and think like the Thinker. Read a book. Trust me, it works.