Generally, intentional and mindful critical thinking is a very under-utilized undertaking. It’s true that some great things have arisen extemporaneously. However, most amazing creations are contrived in exacting detail as a result of many hours of intentional thought. 

You’re not an inventor—what do you care? Well, you’re more of an inventor than you think. You create your world. If you don’t think deeply about yourself, the people around you, your past, and your future, what lessons will you learn? What useful information will you retain and utilize to better your future? It’s likely not much if you aren’t putting in the time to think things through.

There are a few issues that require clarification.

1. Every person has a different place and mindset for optimized thinking. Some people think best alone and isolated, some think best while engaged in physical activity, and some—like myself—think best while communicating with others. The solution: identify the situation that is most conducive to productive thought for you and think there.
   
2. If your thoughts are only in your head, they need to be said aloud. The spoken word is far more powerful than the thought-of word, especially because you’re not necessarily the force behind your thoughts. You are, however, the one who puts your thoughts into words. Speak your thoughts, even if you’re alone.
   
3. If you are alone, this poses another issue. Even if you’re having a whole conversation with yourself, there’s no sanity check (no, I’m not referring to the fact that people—if they were to hear you—would think you crazy). You need something or someone to assist you in listening by conversing with you to rationalize your ideas. Your thoughts have a lot more power when put into words, but they’re not fully complete until they’re heard by another person, weighed, and rationalized.

Thus, though you should certainly put yourself in situations that optimize your productive thoughts, you must also verbalize your thoughts to another person. This may be done post hoc, but it is a necessary step.

The process is this: think, speak, receive and retain feedback, learn what needs to be learned, rinse, and repeat.

I’ve found that the method which works best for me is to have a conversation with someone I trust while walking in nature. If there are too many people or noises around, it’s distracting. If my body is totally still, I’m not stimulated enough to let my mind run free. If I’m with a person I trust, I can speak my mind without reservation and think through whatever I need to think through.

This is the perfect process for me. I encourage you to try it out for yourself, but you may find a different method is more suited to you. Do that.

Make your method of intentional thought a practice. Do it at least once a month and sort through all the thoughts that have been on your mind for the past month (or longer). Weekly would be better. Make it a habit.

I would go further and suggest you should spend time intentionally thinking everyday. It would be beneficial to think through at least these two things a day:

1. How has my day gone, why has it gone the way it has, what can I learn from it, and how can it inform my future actions? Don’t let the day pass you by without imposing wisdom on it. This day has happened—is happening—to you. You aren’t a passive observer, but rather a predominant agent. You’re the main character of your day, and you can largely decide its outcome. After the day has concluded, make an effort to reflect back on it so that you may learn what it can tell you.

At the time of writing this, it’s the middle of a Saturday and I’ve got to leave for work in less than an hour. I woke up feeling like dirt, and my day was seemingly fated for disappointment. However, I had some breakfast and some coffee, got a little energy in me, and did my homework. This productivity gave me a feeling of accomplishment which I have intentionally decided to ride out. It would be easy for me to wake up, feel awful, and sludge through my day. I know at the end of the day I would still feel awful. I don’t want to feel that way; I would rather feel good, or at least accomplished. I would retrospectively regret wasting my day. 

Fortunately, at least in this moment, I can implement this wisdom to turn my day around. Some days I am not so wise. In any case, I can learn a lot from this. At the very least, I’ve learned that forcing myself to be productive will not only help me accomplish more, but also make me feel better. It may be harder at first, but it’s worth it. It’ll never get easier, but it will always be worth it. 

To address my initial questions for the day,
Now, my day has gone well. It’s gone the way it has because I decided to push through the (minimal) adversity and achieve things that I need to achieve. I’ve already outlined what I can learn from it—keep pushing and be productive. This will certainly inform my future actions. If I succeed in implementing these lessons every time I wake up feeling terrible, I’ll have salvaged hundreds of days over the rest of my life. That’s a lot of days.

2. What’s on my mind now, and why? There’s a reason something is going through your mind, for better or worse. Perhaps a thought is salient because it’s recent and it will dissipate in time, or perhaps you can’t shake a thought from your mind because it’s eating away at you. If it’s the latter, you must attend to the thought. Even if you’d rather not give life to a notion, if it’s bothering you it must be addressed. Maybe you haven’t yet discovered what you’re going to do about the thought, but at least you’ve achieved the first step of accepting its existence.

Other lines of thinking require a lot more thought than one day, but that’s what my nature walk is for, and that’s what your new practice of Habituate Concerted Thinking^® is for. You’re likely not going to find the solution to all of your life’s problems in one walk, but it’s a good start. Also, don’t force it too hard. If you aren’t in the right state for deep thought, or you’re being inundated with negative thoughts, take a break. Try your deep thinking another day, but don’t neglect the most valuable asset you have: your brain.