Why Are You Thinking?
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Smart people think about how they think…and why. I have had a feeling about this for some time now, but not until picking up de Bono’s, “Six Thinking Hats,” a couple days ago was I given the words to describe this idea with clarity. I had heard of de Bono from my mother-in-law, a PhD in talented and gifted education and blog author, but knew nothing about him or his field of study.
After reading the first 50 pages of his book I found myself hooked. Dr. Edward de Bono is the leading authority in the field of conceptual thinking and is an advocate of teaching thinking as a skill. Here’s a snippet from the preface that sums up his approach to the human mind:
Thinking is the ultimate human resources. Yet we can never be satisfied with our most important skill. No matter how good we become, we should always want to be better. Usually, the only people who are very satisfied with their thinking skill are those poor thinkers who believe that the purpose of thinking is to prove yourself right - to your own satisfaction. If we have only a limited view of what thinking can do, we may be smug about our excellence in this area, but not otherwise (Preface 2, emphasis mine)
The part of this quote that struck me the most was how often we find ourselves pursuing learning and thinking for the sole purpose of proving ourselves right. What a terrible habit, yet it’s such an easy trap to fall into. It’s only when we’re challenged that we find ourselves scrambling to do research or looking up data to support our claims…yet, shouldn’t that come beforehand?
We can only start to scratch the surface of intelligent thinking when we humbly admit that we know very little; that the unread books on our bookshelves greatly outnumber the ones we have read.
So what is the purpose for which you are trying to learn and expand your ability to think? Is it simply to prove yourself right or is it an authentic and innocent pursuit of truth, whatever it may be?
More on De Bono’s, “Six Thinking Hats,” to come….
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6 comments
I can totally relate. I can think back to several times in the past week or so where I wanted to be right and those were the thoughts I focused on. We are wired to be selfish, resulting in our thought life to be self-focused. How can we use our thinking abilities for the better good?
I believe the purpose of thinking is to know the environment we live in. If there is a mismatch, we are in serious trouble. When we think the door-handle is on the right while it actually is on the left, we get obstructed. That is how it is in general as well. It can lead to neuroses, such as being unrealistic or not being able to be personal.
Cameron,
This is a very deep and provocative post. I’ve been dwelling on the thinking process quite a bit especially since personally undergoing a very recent and still evolving transition into a new mode of thinking. I have to credit books and blogs and my recent business projects for this, but what has been remarkable is the out-of-body perspective I’ve had throughout the process.
Anyway, to delve more into the content of your post…technological enhancements in communication over the past two decades have had a huge impact on information gathering. All of a sudden its possible to reference your thinking real-time. Instead of a retrospective approach, we’ll slowly graduate to a more prospective approach to data-driven thinking meant not to prove but to pave the way for new avenues of thought.
Tim Ferriss has a few posts on Josh Waitzin’s book, The Art of Learning, which seems very reminiscent of de Bono’s book. Check it out if you haven’t already!
A contrast in thought universes: Edward de Bono (http://tinyurl.com/6hud7r) vs. Peter Drucker (http://tinyurl.com/63kwng)
One of the highlights of “thinking” is finding out when you are wrong. Because admitting that you’re wrong forces you to consider different perspectives… which makes you stretch.
Interesting post. Let me know what you think!
@ Andy,
You are right! Being wrong keeps us humble, helping us realize that there is much to learn and it makes us think differently. Being wrong also helps us cross things of the list making life more manageable.
Thanks for the comment!
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