Talking to Yourself: Thinking Tool or Speaking Practice? (Part III)

Let's finish the "experiment" results mentioned in the last post: I'd found the Fountain of Time. Wait for an internal conversation to start, jump to the end, watch the final scene, follow the decision. Presto. I'd just saved the time of the conversation, whether 10 seconds or 10 minutes. Was there any loss? Turned out there was: Explaining the result. Turns out the silent internal conversation may not have had the apparent purpose of helping reach a good decision after all. Turned out it seemed to have (or also have) the purpose of building and rehearsing the explanation. Most of us never practice what we're going to say. Great presenters do. A lot. But for everyday life, almost never. So if you have had at least one conversation about a topic (even if silent in the hollows of your own little brain), you have a big leg up on most of the world. When your decision comes up and you need to explain yourself, you're ready. There are a few obvious results:

1. If your decision is based purely on "gut" or instinct or intuition (whatever those mean collectively) and not internal conversation, you haven't done the rehearsal. That may be no problem, but it's true.
2. If your decision never has to be justified (what to have for dinner?, is that bird going to firebomb me if I sit at that table?, what font should I use?), then who cares? Rehearsal is irrelevant. Save the time.
   
3. If your decisions are regularly discussed, you won't be as prepared.

Yep, #3 is true. I saved tons of time. I already realized that my, well, arguments weren't as tight when I brought up new ideas with others. It was usually worth it (more than worth it), but this is suddenly like a new internal technology (Thanks DL) to use appropriately. Use that Tivo Forward button when it makes sense. But if actually seeing the whole game rather than jumping to the score at the end makes it easier to talk about it the next day, you might want to see the whole game.