I have finally figured out how to use Twitter as a tool for improved thinking.
Twitter (and all social media) can become a major distraction if we’re not careful. I’ve gone through three different cycles where I deleted Twitter so I could focus my attention on books. Each time, I’ve ended up coming back to it. It’s like the quote from the Godfather movie, “Just when I thought I was out…Twitter pulled me back in.”
The reason I’ve ended up coming back to Twitter each time is because there IS a lot of useful information. The problem is we end up swiping through this useful information without much thought. Allowing something useful to pass without thought is something I’ve come to regret. My hope is to capture this value and use it to my advantage by compounding it in my life.
Ed Latimore recently tweeted:
“Give a rich man $1,000 and he’ll come back with $100,000. Give a poor man $1,000 and he’ll come back with a pair of Jordans and True Religion jeans.”
After reading this, I pulled out my notebook and wrote this tweet down. Then I started to jot down my thoughts about this. Here’s what I wrote:
- The rich man starts looking for ways to invest the $1,000. The poor man starts looking for ways to spend the $1,000.
- The rich man wants to improve his future. The poor man wants to improve today.
- The poor man buys Jordans and True Religion jeans because he wants the approval of others. The rich man doesn’t care what others think of him.
- The rich man plants seeds to be compounded over time. The poor man doesn’t have a garden and completely misses the magic of compounding.
- The rich man sees money as an employee. The poor man is the employee.
- This rich man is searching for attractive investment opportunities. The poor man is searching for ways to look cool.
- How does a poor man become rich? By learning to think like a rich man. By taking the actions a rich man would take.
- How does a rich man become poor? By learning to think like a poor man. By taking the actions a poor man would take.
One tweet can provide a great deal of information to think about. The problem is we don’t give ourselves the time necessary to extract value from what we see.
The next time you read a great tweet take some time to think about it. Let the idea swirl through your thoughts. Is there a way to use this tweet to improve your thinking?
Do what I do and grab a notebook and jot down all of your thoughts about the tweet. You might find this process very powerful.
