Time has traditionally been considered your greatest resource. After all, you only have a certain amount of it, so you understandably hear advice that you need to spend it well. 

But there’s actually another resource that’s more important than time. From the title of the article, I assume you guessed it’s your thoughts. 

The untapped goldmine in your mind 

Your thoughts are a resource because you can learn to manage and use them to influence how you think, feel, and behave. This affects everything else in your life, including how well you connect with others, learn, problem-solve, and achieve your goals. 

Your thoughts influence not only how you spend your time,

but how you perceive and use the time you have. 

 

Your thoughts also influence how you view and spend other resources like money and opportunities. 

And they impact your mental wellness, with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) showing better outcomes than antidepressant medication in the treatment of depression, including shorter depressive episodes and lower rates of relapse. (1)

Similar to time, I found some quotes that claim “you” are your greatest resource. I understand the sentiment, but you aren’t a thing to be used. You’re a being, and you have awareness of your thoughts. 

This may sound confusing because you’ve likely been taught that you are your thoughts. But you’re more than your thoughts, just as you’re more than a daydream or wish.

The importance of thoughts

The idea of your thoughts being important isn’t new. Marcus Aurelius told us, “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” (2)

And Buddha says “What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow”. (3)

However, the idea that thoughts are a resource is a defining principle of thought literacy, the skillset that treats thoughts like a fundamental life skill. And it’s important you see them that way so you can learn how to work skillfully with your thoughts and effectively allocate this most important resource. 

Your thoughts influence your emotions and then your behaviors. So if you think time is your greatest resource, you might focus on it, but if you have the competing belief that you’re too old (or young) to do something, then you’ll likely feel disheartened and won’t use your time pursuing your goals.

Did you notice how any of the thought swaps above could lead to different results? To see the power of thoughts go back to the swaps and consider how you would feel and behave based on the Thought and it’s aligning Swap. 

Using your thoughts as your greatest resource

Hearing that your thoughts are your greatest resource, and how they influence your emotions and behaviors, can be overwhelming. The best thing you can do is follow Thought Literacy Principle #2, which is to meet yourself where you’re at. 

Articles: 

If you’re like I was years ago and never thought about thoughts, a good place for you to start is by considering that your thoughts are important and that you can control them. Focus on how you are the awareness of your thoughts instead of being defined by them. And consider how things would change if you could control and manage unhelpful thoughts. 

If you’ve already done some work with thoughts and you are trying to build greater self-awareness, you can look at the thought literacy resource, thought tells, to notice any unhelpful thought habits in your mindset, or use thought reverse engineering on an emotionally charged situation to see how your thoughts led to an emotional response. 

Books:

For a more curated way to get started you can read Overthink which introduces thoughts, how they work, and common unhelpful thought patterns that lead to overthinking (which in thought literacy is just unprocessed thoughts). Or you can check out one of the other books in the thought swaps or thought book series. 

References

1. Mark Travers, Ph.D., “Why CBT Beats Medication in the Treatment of Depression,” Psychology Today, February 26, 2021. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-instincts/202102/why-cbt-beats-medication-in-the-treatment-depression
2. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 3, section 9. as quoted on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/139512-the-happiness-of-your-life-depends-upon-the-quality-of
3. Sayings of the Buddha as quoted on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/480283-what-we-are-today-comes-from-our-thoughts-of-yesterday