Thinking Out Loud
When you hear that someone is “thinking out loud” that can conjure up descriptors such as:
Impulsive, off-the-cuff, thoughtless, unrehearsed
You may have heard the comment that they “they speak first and think later”.
As a card-carrying-introvert I tend to want to taste my words before I spit them out.
But when is “thinking out loud” a good practice…?
When alone, talking out loud to yourself is not just a form of communication but a methodology for productive thinking – it encourages the formation and processing of thoughts. Speech as a thinking method.
While with others, being able to share ideas that are not yet fully baked allows you to explore the idea, hear other perspectives and deepen your level of understanding.
At times, we don’t even need the other person to speak; just the ability to share an idea out loud or to explain a concept can help us understand it better, and even help solve a wicked problem that did not have an obvious solution in the quiet.
Sometimes the bold, daring and disruptive ideas need to be thought out loud in order for them to be fully realized.
