Think errors. We all make them and consequences can be serious, yet it's something that rarely receives the attention it deserves. We accept it as a fact of life that people are trying to make as few mistakes as possible when they try to achieve. But strangely only little attention is paid to the mental process. Being in charge of your thinking is the gateway to success, though.

Errors in thinking occur because someone makes a wrong decision. Often it is because of a lack of information, or information that is interpreted wrongly.

Think errors also occur because you are looking for an excuse not do something. We all know these excuses and they are easily identified. Examples? Think of phrases like "It is not in the budget." "This would never work, because…" "No one would accept it." Much are typical due to fear of failure like "I can’t" and "It’s too risky."

What's more?

Sometimes a person is egocentric. This causes errors as well. Egocentric people are absolutely convinced that their understanding of things is the only and absolute truth. This concept is so firmly established in the individual's believe system that no one, not even the closest friend, can convince him or her otherwise.

Think errors might also occur when your preference to externalize problems is a serious dilemma. I mean, if things are going wrong, we find it a convenient way out to look outside ourselves, in order to find someone or something we can blame for not getting the anticipated results.

Aspects of serious concern are the lack of a vision and not having a purpose and goals . Vision is a critical competency for any leader, as long as it is created with the use of intuition and systems thinking. If you are having the vision in mind then pursuing your purpose will get you where you want to go, and then you ultimately achieve your goal.

Finally in this list of think errors, we have to talk about the illusion of thinking. This means, you have become involved in the walking-talking-breathing-doing type of thinking. This is usually referred to as habitual thinking. You do things without really thinking about it. We all do this.

So, how do you prevent any future think errors and break out of this trend ?

The first thing to do is recognize that you are responsible for your own thinking.

Secondly, you absolutely need to apply your thinking within the systems context.

You must master the techniques of thinking by applying the art to think, to lead, and to achieve. This will provide your solution as it puts you in charge of the think process by providing you with a workable and proven system.