The Ability to Think Straight

The ability to think straight
Is a principle of success
We need to develop this trait
For the common sense we'll access

We need to think until it hurts
And accurately listen too
With trained ears we hear those alerts
To activate an instinctive tool

It's important to act slowly
And to understand all the facts
Stimulated thoughts require growing
There to consider all the impacts

Thinking is a process of worrying
That a solution might come about
Then as a bank account we're carrying
Stored up processes providing clout

Sloppy inconclusive thinking
Is developed through bad habits
We're well-grounded or soon sinking
To know success, one must grasp this

As the mind becomes more trained
The subconscious aids in what to do
Through this apparatus that's ingrained
We learn to discern truths in all matters too

All aspects of life need to be sized
To find the equilibrium desired
For if only the mind's exercised
Health, church, and family become expired

To be good at management takes experience
And the ability to have vision and insight
It takes humble petitions and obedience
For then God will reveal if the course is right

There will be failures despite all the pain stakes
With lessons therein to be learned and then heeded
For, then the belief in oneself all anew re awakes
Unto a second opportunity that arises to be seeded

There are many ways to fund a common sense bank
The most essential is inquiring of God in prayer
But, even then one might speedily tank
If we're inconsistent in application and in care

Those who think straight don't have moral problems
Nor do they struggle with the word of wisdom or tithing
As they are consistently working on their blems
And, by the promptings of spirit they're abiding


M. Russell Ballard
Let us Think Straight
29 November 1983
BYU Lecture Series