2 Applications That Made Me a Better Thinker & Writer

There is so much noise in the world, how will you know what your voice says?

Or do you simply accept anything anyone suggests — believing it came from inside you?

If someone with authority and good communication skills throws facts and data and draws a storyline that connects with you, will you accept whatever this person says?

Yes, you do.

This is the reason why we, as normal human beings, are becoming more miserable — our life is becoming a collection of ‘what the world has to say about everything. We don’t feel ourselves. We don’t listen to our mental voice. We trust and blindly follow the advice, opinions, and facts suggested by others because they sound powerful.’

Whereas people who want to make money out of your innocence get their way easily because they have learned the art of storytelling.

The process of delivering a speech, writing an article, recording a video, or writing a book involves one common thing — Making you believe in something, whatever the idea may be.

You, however, don’t pay attention to it. That’s why you watch one video after another. Reading one book after another without doing your own research. By the end, you make your brain a puppy who follows the ball rather than thinking about the matter on your own.

I realized the impact on myself almost 2 years back when I felt mentally handicapped — incapable of making informed decisions and feeling that there are no opinions of my own in any matter. I say what I read, watch, or hear in the world.

That’s when I became more mindful and created a dedicated system for myself to consume knowledge mindfully and bring my own opinions by the end of the process to understand ‘what I understand and make of things.’

The Thinking System:

1. Eliminated Reading by Reading More:

What kinds of books do you read?

You may think that if you read books then you are smart and superior to those who waste their time on social media. But if you read an average book, it’s you who is wasting time.

Let me explain how:

I read over 200 books in the past 2 years. 150 of them are self-help. I want to come out of my body and slap myself now.

Do you know why?

Because:

a) Even though the books were great, after a few pages, they get repetitive, just trying to say the same things until they make a book as thick as a book should be.

Hence, after a few pages, I was basically wasting my time when I could have used the same time to read a better book.

b) Some of those books really sucked and I hated the fact that I spent my money on those books.

So, here is what I did:

I started using Shortform to read self-help books. Shortform is basically a cool platform that provides you with a high-quality summary of any nonfiction book you plan to read. The book summaries are so good that you might want to skip reading the actual book.

How?

Let’s see:

1. On Shortform, you will get to read the key ideas from the book that actually have the potential to change your life. They eliminate ‘that repetitive’ part and focus on ‘what actually matters.’
2. Then, you will have exercises to do so that you can analyze what you understood after the book, and with every exercise, you will be forced to dig deeper into what you read. Like this:

The thing is while you read something, you get an illusion that you have understood the matter. But in reality, you haven’t. Your mind is not completely dedicated to anything you read or watch.

Hence, I prefer Shortform. It helps me to test my knowledge, do the exercise figure out ‘how can I implement what I learned’, and perhaps, read the summary again if I feel so.

Now, I haven’t read any self-help books for the past 8 months. I rely on ShortForm for that. Instead, I now read classics. Nonfiction books are essential, they help you think clearer and prepare for the battle of the real world. But they also have a lot of clutter. Hence, I made the shift. I read on Shortform when I am on the metro, or in a queue, and I have replaced social media timing with Shortform.

Now, it’s your call. You can get Shortform from here.

2. Taking Effective Notes:

I am a big big writing fan.

Everything I watch, read, or hear evokes an idea inside me. The other day, I was having a phone call with an old friend when she started telling me about her pregnancy and married life. And it gave me the idea to write on ‘declutter your mind.’

It’s so completely absolutely unrelated but it popped into my head and I knew I had to write it. I never let any idea pass by even if it’s something trivial. I write it then and there.

For that, I use Napkin. Whatever ideas come into my head, I create short notes like below:

It also provides you with some creative notes from other books

Not only that but when you get the hang of this application, you can actually create multiple sections of your idea, if you want to create a power-packed summary of a book. I have added all my book summaries here. I added all the important links as well as possible book ideas here. I can add the headline of the note, create sub-headings, and a lot more to make it more like an all-in-one. This is one of my cheapest purchases with the most profound return.

Conclusion:

These are the two applications that I absolutely love and use almost every day to think, and write without any influence. I have been using Shortform for over a year now and Napkin for 3 months, I guess. And, it’s better to live that way honestly. It has made my life easier and more efficient. More organized and fun.

I hope it helps you do the same.