I Think-Talk, Therefore I Am Normal
You are talking animatedly about your next step and debating its pros and cons. Listening to the feedback from the attentive audience, you finally arrive at a decision. You smile with satisfaction, but something is bothering you in the back of your mind. You look around and suddenly realize what it is: there is no audience and you are the only one in the room. Stay calm – this is perfectly normal.
I’ve witnessed many of my colleagues doing the same thing everyday and I myself certainly do it all the time as well. Alright, maybe it does look a little odd if someone were to accidentally walk in on this fairly private event – the thought of a straight-jacket may even crop up. But the fact of the matter is, talking to yourself does not necessarily equate to insanity.
Ideas never emerge fully developed with perfect voluptuosity. They must be nurtured through discussion and debate in order to mature into their flawless forms and well-rounded characters. When you have an idea, you would turn to someone you know you can trust to help raise it to the next level. And if you happen to be the only one available to guide the idea past its infancy, then you would do so without hesitation. It’s very much like raising a child, come to think of it – it’s just natural.
I also find that talking out loud to myself – especially through a particularly complicated procedure – is quite an effective method of maintaining my focus. Our brains have such an amazing capability of generating and analyzing millions of rapid-fire thoughts that it is sometimes very easy for us to be distracted from the task at hand. By verbally outlining our thought process to ourselves (let’s dub it “think-talking”), it forces our brains to divert more processing power to concentrating on our current job.
In closing, I would like to call upon the spirit of Maximus Decimus Meridius, who would’ve given the following rally cry if he were able to step out from the movie, Gladiator (one of my favourite movies, by the way):
“If you find yourself alone, talking in empty rooms with embarrassment on your face, do not be troubled. For you are nurturing an idea – and you’re actually normal!”
Maximus preparing to lead his cavalry in an ambush
(Screenshot courtesy of: AmericanRhetoric.com)
