¶ Intro / Opening
Hey, I am with Lindsay Getty. She is a public speaker, author of Overthink and founder of the Thoughtful Method Company. Welcome Lindsay.
Thank you.
So Lindsay, what matters to you right now and what's the story behind it?
Okay, so what matters to me is thought literacy. Thought literacy is a skillset where you build self-awareness and you're able to identify and manage your thoughts. And it's important to me because I created it, so I live and breathe it every day. And right now what's going on with thoughts is if you wanna learn about your thoughts, information is restricted behind academic, or in therapeutic environments. And we have a skillset, emotional intelligence that's directed towards your emotions.
But we didn't have a skillset for your thoughts and your thoughts lead to your emotions. So it's very important that people are able to understand their thought processes and we need to make sure that basic psychological concepts are wildly accessible so people are better able to understand their number one relationship. Their relationship that they have with themselves. That literally lives in your mind. mind
So thoughts are first, it's the first thing. Everything starts from a is basically what you're saying. Why is this important to you?
¶ Personal Journey with Therapy
So it's important to me 'cause it changed my life. When I was in mid to late twenties, I went to therapy. It was a last resort for me because I grew up learning that therapy was for losers. So it was really hard to go. There was definitely that stigma and once I went to therapy, I expected to hear like, how do you feel? Because that's what I saw on tv. But I noticed that we focused a lot about thoughts.
I realized, wow, if I learned more about my thoughts and my thought processes when I was younger, I wouldn't have had all of the difficulties that I'm having now, and I really wish that I would've been taught this. And then I started teaching my team emotional intelligence because at the time was a negotiator for SaaS companies. And I would teach my team emotional intelligence 'cause negotiations can get a little nerve wracking.
And I noticed teaching my teams, like wow, they would learn a lot and build emotional intelligence easier and quicker if they knew about their thoughts. And I found that was a problem that was tripping people up. And that made me realize this is something that people really need to learn about.
Isn't it interesting that therapy today, isn't it? There's not really a stigma. There's not as much of a stigma behind it.
yeah, It's like a generational thing I'm learning. So the stigma is being lifted. It's still there a little bit. We're seeing remnants of it. It's a growth versus fixed mindset. So when someone is more open to therapies, 'cause they have a growth mindset, and then if someone's more fixed, it's likely because they heard in environment previously that it's not something that's important or not something you should go to. So we're just seeing, people change from fixed to growth mindsets.
What's
¶ Impact of Thought Awareness
the impact? So I am paying attention to my thoughts. How is that gonna change my life? life
So if you text someone and they don't respond back and your automatic thought is, I must have done something wrong, I wonder if they're mad at me, then you might go into a spiral and then you might assume that you did something wrong or they're mad at you, and then you might get emotionally or will likely get emotionally charged, or maybe have some kind of social anxiety. Instead, if you catch that thought. You realize I'm making assumptions. I don't know what they're doing.
They could have lost, left their foot at home. Why am I even thinking about this? I texted them and I'll hear back from them. I'm gonna go do my own thing. That's gonna give you self-empowerment because then you are not going to be changed. You are not gonna be following a negative train of thought that isn't even grounded in reality because we make these stories up in our minds and you're gonna have stories that are more true to what's going on in your environment.
And then also what you're gonna do is you're going to, you can make a conscious decision that if I don't hear from them by tomorrow, I'll text them again and see if they're okay. Right gonna give you more power.
And
that's gonna transgress into every area of your life.
So that's more a personal example. Is there also a professional example
¶ Professional Applications of Thought Literacy
that you can share?
Oh, of course. So as an entrepreneur, I would not be as far as I am in building my company if I leaned in or believed every negative thought that I think I'm learning a lot of new and different things and it can be nerve wracking, and I've made a lot of mistakes. Stakes and things that I regret, but instead of looking at it as, wow, this is a reason why I shouldn't do it, and having negative trains of thoughts or thinking, I'm never gonna get this done. Instead I realized.
I'm new to this, I gotta meet myself where I'm at and I'm gonna make mistakes, but I learn from the mistakes and I build positive perspectives and I look how I can utilize and leverage these mistakes for a better benefit in the future. So it's a difference between reflecting back on your past and taking nuggets of things that you can use to improve instead of ruminating and getting stucked in regret and thinking, I can't believe I did that. I wish I didn't do it.
You focus on how can I do this better? And that is emotional. That leads to emotional intelligence. My degree is in organizational leadership, and this was stuff that we were taught even 10 years ago.
But that's hard. Stopping the cycle.
It's hard at first, but when you know how to do it and you build confidence around it and you build your compassion, then it gets easier. It definitely does. It's a learned skill. I truly believe that if we learn this now and taught our children it, then our children, it would become second nature for them and their children.
¶ Books and Methods for Thought Processing
Speaking of, you have some books, so your books are about this as well. this as well.
Yes. So I have four books. They're a series and I wanted them to be like very natural colored to make it like very like just non-threatening 'cause this can be a scary topic. People think it's hard. And the first one is overthink. I did a TEDx talk on the synopsis of Overthink, and the idea behind it is that you're not overthinking and you're not here to judge your thoughts on an over under scale. You're just not thinking productively because you haven't been taught.
How to process your thoughts and that's why you're getting stuck. So then I teach people how to get unstuck by teaching them how to process their thoughts with a very simple three step method. That also includes helping you build emotional intelligence.
Let me ask you a question about that.
¶ ChatGPT and Thought Processing
So Chatgpt. Is Chatgpt helpful for processing your thoughts?
I think so to a certain extent. So I'll use Chatgpt sometimes if I get stuck somewhere because I realize I'm getting stuck on something, I'm thinking about it over and over again. I need another perspective and I don't think it's enough for me to ask my therapist for an appointment. So I will tell Chatgpt I am looking for a neutral perspective because I am getting stuck on this thought, and I'm trying to identify why I am getting stuck here.
And then I'll do just a stream of consciousness like this happened and then I felt uncomfortable. But the ability for Chatgpt and even your therapist to be able to help you is somewhat determined on your level of self-awareness and what you are identifying. So, Chatgpt can be helpful, but if you're not able to identify certain things, it can only help to a certain extent.
And I also noticed Chatgpt, the one time I felt as if it kind of was like saying yeah, like giving me, like trying to build me
you wanna
no. Yeah, exactly what I wanna hear. Thank you. Yeah. I'm like, no, This is for personal growth. I'm sure I'm going to hear things I don't want to hear. So it can be helpful. But I would say it with a grain of salt. Use it as a different perspective, but don't take it as like the Kardashians would say, don't take it as Bible. Like it's not true fact, but you can use it as a different perspective. Just if you ask someone else for their perspective or advice.
Like people give different perspectives, so just consider it that. But don't consider it like the authority.
Great. Great. That's a great prompt. Give me a neutral perspective. I like that.
Yeah, and I'm just trying to figure something out. I'm stuck here. I'm trying to figure out why I'm stuck, and then it will give me like eight reasons and I'll be like, no, no, no. And I'll, Ooh, I'm like, this actually. Okay. Like that kind of tracks. And I'll be like, okay. Reason number three. Like it kinda felt that could be it. Like why would this situation lead to that. And then it will give me like different scenarios and then I read it.
So it's almost like you need to look at it critically and know that you are the one in control and Chatgpt is your assistive tool and it is just trying to help you. I don't want someone to go to Chatgpt and think because it said something, then that means that's what's actually going on. Chatgpt is just figuring it out based on the information that you gave it.
Right. Grain of salt. Grain of salt. So well, you've given us so much to think about.
¶ Matter Speed Round
Now let's shift gears a bit to the Matter speed round. I'm gonna give you some topics and say matters, not matters. You ready?
Okay.
Mental health,
Mental health 100% completely matters.
Self help. 100%
They lean into each other.
Thinking.
100%
Journaling
Matters because,
Because?
Journaling is important, but it's a secondary tool. The primary is focusing on your thoughts.
Self-reflection,
Matters.
Self refelctions
Matters because that is how you become aware of your thoughts in order to decide how you want to change and mold your mindset.
Artificial intelligence.
Matters because of how it is changing our environment, which directly impacts our mental health.
Pickleball.
Does not matter. Not quite sure what it is.
Oh, you don't know pickleball?
I heard that it's like a less intense form of tennis.
Yeah. Where are you located? in Philadelphia I'm
and my
okay. Maybe it hasn't hit, maybe it hasn't hit Philadelphia yet. I know
me to do pickleball and I was like, okay, I need a dinner, and like at least two drinks. What? And I was like throwing things in.
Pizza.
Pizza. Matters. Truly
Where's your favorite pizza? So there's this
place called Paulie Gee’s. it's like a thick crust, and there are sesame seeds on the bottom of the crust. It's the Freddy Pizza, I think they call it. It's very good.
Coffee.
Truly matters. I'm gonna get coffee right after this.
Reading
Matters. I love reading. It's something I've been doing since I was a little kid. I used to actually get allowance for reading.
Does reading help with your thought process?
Reading can help with your cognition. Yes, it can help with your neuro pathways and help you to just read and remember. See different perspectives, creativity, reading leads, allot into that.
Dogs
Matters 100%. First of all, they're cute, and then second of all they're woman's best friends.
Reality tv.
Does not matter. Therapy. Therapy matters. I truly believe that everyone should be in therapy at some sort of capacity, even if it's just going once a month.
Absolutely. Any other topic that I should have asked that you think of?
should, I don't know, should have. I can say what matters to me. I find this interesting 'cause I can't really think of things that don't matter to me.
Yeah, people even have a hard time defining what matters to them. It's hard for people to say, what really matters? Especially topics.
Interesting. I guess like celebrity gossip does not matter to me. Like people will tell me, I'm like, I don't care. Aaron T. Beck is my celebrity crush, so I,
Okay. you've given us so much to think about, quote unquote. Tell us how people can find you
Yes, so I'm at thought method for everything. I actually negotiated to get my domain ThoughtMethod.com. So I have a contact form there. And then on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn @ThoughtMethod. And then, my LinkedIn is my name if people want to connect.
Lindsay, Thanks so much for coming
Yes, and thank you for having me.