Even those people, who aspire to have a smooth sail through life, do not get the best of the smoothness in their life. This is because, a lot of situations in our life are beyond our control and often these situations throw a lot of challenges to us, even if we are not that pro active. These challenges or problems in our life require a resolution. The solutions to these problems roots from our thinking, to analyse, to reflect, to look for choice and then decide on the best way forward. People, who think exercise their brain, gather various perspectives, create clarity and make their way forward in life.

The common way of thinking means remembering, where we try and recollect facts and concepts from our memory. The other way of thinking is related with understanding, wherein one is able to recognize, identify, locate, specify and explain aspects. The third way of thinking is referred to as applying wherein we are able to make use of the concepts in better way in new situations. Remembering, Understanding and Applying are considered to be known as lower order thinking. Let us also go through the other forms of thinking.

Creative thinking- Also means thinking outside the box. It is when we make use of the best of our imaginations to come up with new ideas and innovations. Creative thinking begins when we step outside all established process, thoughts and rules.

Analytical thinking– This thinking involves a structured way of approaching tasks. The whole task is divided into parts and each part is examined one by one to sort out the problem.

Critical thinking– In this form of thinking, we set aside our personal beliefs, presumptions and prejudices to discover truths and solve problems.  Critical thinking is a, well-disciplined thought process, which involves the use of skills like conceptualization, interpretation, analysis, synthesis and evaluation for arriving at a valid, solution.

Concrete thinking- It is thinking based out of what we can see, think, hear and experience.  It is practical thinking.

Abstract thinking – It refers to an ability to relate seemingly random things with each other and make the connections to other items, events or situations.

Divergent thinking– It refers to our ability to create multiple ideas or solutions to find the one that is effective. 

Convergent thinking– It refers to our ability to solve a problem within the context of known information and narrowing down the solution based on logical inference.

Hence, to come out of our problems, we can utilize all these forms of thinking. Have think times in our life to move forward.

Story

Every time we visit an airport we see people queuing up. There may be benefits of queuing up for some people, such as ensuring a sit together with our family or securing baggage space with certain airlines. However, what’s the benefit when seats are pre-allocated to passengers?

Many times there is absolutely no benefit on waiting in a queue, especially if we travel alone. We can stand in the queue, but we can also sit and relax until there is no queue to board the plane. Everybody is going to reach the destination at the same time, regardless of being first in the cabin or not.

What happens is that we fall for a mental trap. We see a group of people queuing up and assume that’s the right thing to do. Maybe they know something we ignore, what if we miss the plane? Surely being part of the larger group will protect us.

Whatever the explanation we tell our self, it is most likely part of the post hoc rationalization process. We enter the queue automatically because others did, and we convince ourselves afterwards that there was a reason to do so.

Doing what others do is comfortable because it removes the burden of thinking. You don’t need to be alert to take any actions; the group will take care of it. In this simple example, it is at the small cost of your comfort.

Think outside the box — we should not do what everybody else is doing without considering why. Sit and read a book instead of waiting in a queue.

Activity

Out of think times you had, try and find out the forms of thinking you have applied to find solution to your problem.

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Quote

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
― Albert Einstein

Take Away

1.  The solutions to the problems in our life roots from our thinking, to analyse, to reflect, to look for choice and then decide on the best way forward.

2.  Practice the forms of thinking to find solutions and remember to think “outside the box “.