Thinking Is A Skill

I have managed to study Edward De Bono’s Thinking Course. De Bono’s the person responsible for creating the concept of Lateral Thinking and has made enormous contributions in the field of perception and thinking. 

Is thinking something natural to us like walking, eating, breathing, and that it is already fixed or is it a skill that we can improve, refine, and fluid that we can influence it through practice. De Bono suggests that the latter gives more justice to thinking because it is not a matter of IQ that determines if one is a good thinker or not; it is one’s desire to hone it as any other skill that requires practice. 

Intelligence vs. Thinking

Intelligence has been known to be of high regard, and institutions give emphasis on the IQ part of an individual in recruiting and putting them in positions fit of their intellectual quotient. 

Intelligence.

Such a big word, and for someone to be labelled as intelligent would put him/herself in high regard. Yes. High regard to the extent that one is put up to expectations. What about Thinking? Thinking is different from intelligence in such a way that thinking provides freedom in committing mistakes than just being correct all the time. It is more natural to think, yet most people prioritize intelligence over thinking — which is also encouraged by educational systems.

However, in actuality, people with high IQs tend to be the worse thinkers according to De Bono. Because they commit themselves into an expectation that is detrimental in its development.

Intelligence Trap

Intelligence becomes constricted. It becomes defensive in its stance and view, that if an intelligent person were to answer, there are expectations of “I must be like this,” “I must be right,” and even not answer at all in fear of failing to live up to the expectation of being perceived as intelligent. 

That is why there are studies conducted about how to raise a child right, by praising them for their efforts and not because they are intelligent. Praising them of their intelligence puts them in a defensive mode and becomes lazier instead, using excuses in order to hide their laziness. It’s evident in strategic learners. Who would not want to be perceived as intelligent and who would want to be dethroned of that perception of them?

Slow Thinking

Since the processing part of thinking has been given more importance than the perception part, people are then quick to jump to answering questions. Especially in the field of Mathematics, the one who can answer equations the fastest, by being familiarized with patterns, is considered to be brighter. 

Being able to process quickly is great in itself, but there are times one must slow down their thinking. One does not have to be so hot all the time in thinking. The purpose of the brain is to think in order not to think anymore. It creates patterns, heuristics, and schemas in order to quicken the thinking process. 

However, that is where the folly lies. People are quick to think that they miss the essence of things. One is so fixed in the current pattern that it has imprisoned itself, unable to branch out to new ideas. 

Using the PMI Approach

De Bono suggests of an approach to break away from the folly of thinking quickly and being trapped in cycle of patterns. It is the PLUS, MINUS, & INTERESTING approach. Which in the old pattern, one only wishes to go in a straight line of thinking and if it doesn’t seem to be effective, one relies on mistakes, accidents, and insights in order to create new patterns.

By using the PMI approach, one enables to sort out the positive aspects of a situation, the negatives, and even the interesting which leads to innovation. The Plus aspect is what’s always considered in the usual clashing of ideas method, and that is why two parties lead to arguments to refute an idea and overrule that idea over the other; which isn’t effective at all. It is by restructuring your old patterns that you can be able to rise up from the convention and provide innovation from the old to new ideas.

The next time you think about Thinking, If you’re to be considered an intelligent person, would that stop you from committing mistakes? Be wary of the intelligence trap because I’ve seen countless of dean’s lister, honor rolls, and bright people who succumbed to this as their pitfall. Even the most intelligent will refuse to think in the face of uncertainty in fear of being mistaken. Be the thinker who will plow onwards in the face of this uncertainty, a mistake is just one way of learning new ideas.

Which leads me to the saying of Henry Ford:

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.