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While working on this book, I had to decide whether to write a complex and comprehensive tome that would cover all aspects of thinking, or a simpler and more accessible book. Eventually the solution came with the title of the book: Teach Yourself to Think. I thought this book should be aimed at those who are interested in further developing their thinking skills. Very few people would be interested in a book that is too complex, so I decided to keep the presentation simple and pay more attention to practical aspects.
From personal experience, I know that some interpreters are terribly disliked when everything is too simple. It seems to such people that the simple cannot be serious. Such commentators are afraid of simplicity: it threatens the complexities that they must explain in the line of duty. If anything is really simple, they will be out of a job.
Personally, I have always been for simplicity and tried to make things as simple as possible. That is why the thinking "techniques" I created have been successfully taught to six-year-olds in rural schools in South Africa and to senior executives from large corporations around the world.
The very widely used "six thinking hats" structure combines simplicity and high efficiency. This technique is a practical alternative to the traditional system of reasoning, which has been used for 2500 years. Therefore, now it is used both in education and in business and government circles.
L-game was born in response to the proposal of the famous Cambridge mathematician, Professor Littlewood: to create a game where each of the players would have only one chip. This game was analyzed on a computer and found to be a "real game" (where there is no winning strategy for the first player to use). I recently came up with an even simpler game: game of three places.
In addition, simple things are easier to remember and apply.
Who will be the readers of this book? Over the years of my writing career, I have written many books, and it was never possible to guess who would read the book. Judging by the letters received, the circle of my readers is quite extensive. What they all have in common is an interest in thinking and motivation. I am sure that the mass media (television, radio and press) seriously underestimate the intellectual level of the masses, believing that they only want entertainment. In my experience, this is far from the case.
There are people who are quite satisfied with their thinking. They are sure that they have nothing to teach. They usually win arguments and believe that thinking is only necessary in order to have and defend their point of view.
There are people who have high intelligence and do not make mistakes in thinking. They are sure that intelligence is enough for them and good thinking is thinking without mistakes.
And some have long given up on their thinking. Not doing very well in school and not having a special ability to solve “puzzles”, they decided that thinking was not for them, and they just lived from morning to evening as best they could.
Contentment, like submission, is the enemy of all progress. Considering yourself perfect, you are not trying to become better. Giving up and giving up, you are also unlikely to make any attempts to improve.
This book is for those who find thinking something everyday, practical, and confusing. They want to improve their thinking by making it simpler and more efficient. They want to use thinking as a skill that can be applied in any business.
INTRODUCTION
I would advise you to skip this introduction - it is much more complicated than the other sections and may give the wrong impression of the book. I decided to include it to show some readers why our traditional way of thinking is great but still inadequate. The rear wheels of a car may be excellent, but by themselves they are inferior. Having developed one aspect of thinking, we are proud of it and quite happy. However, it is time to understand that this aspect, despite its exclusivity, is still insufficient.
This introduction is also necessary to outline the structure of the book.
Imagine a kitchen, in the middle of which, on the table, a mountain of food is piled up. The cook proceeds to prepare or "process" the food. He is very experienced, and he does everything perfectly - the cook does not make any mistakes.
Then the question arises: how were the products selected; how they were produced, how they were packaged; How are they delivered to the kitchen? In other words, we shift our focus from the cooking process to the ingredients themselves.
The same thing happens with thinking. Much attention is paid to the "processing" function of thinking. We have developed mathematics, statistics, computers and various forms of logic. You simply upload the data, the processing takes place, and the result is ready. Much less attention has been paid to where these data come from. How are they selected and packaged?
Perception provides food for thought. Perception is how we see the world, breaking it down into pieces that we can assimilate. It is a choice of what to consider at any given moment. Perception chooses whether to regard the glass as half empty or half full.
Much of everyday thinking occurs at the perceptual level. The application of processes such as computation is only the technical part.
In the future, computers will take over all the processing of information, leaving humans with only an extremely important aspect of perception. And no matter how brilliant computers may be in processing the material, this still cannot compensate for the inferiority of perception. Therefore, the perceiving part of the thought process will be even more important in the future.
Most errors in thinking, apart from puzzles, are errors not of logic but of perception. We see only part of the situation. And yet, while continuing to believe that logic is the most important part of thinking, we paid little attention to perception. However, this is quite understandable.
When the Western way of thinking was formed on the border of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the main part of the thinking people were the clergy - they were the only group that managed to maintain an interest in thinking and science during the Middle Ages. The church then played a leading role in society and controlled universities, schools, etc. Therefore, the “new thinking” brought by the Renaissance was mainly applicable only to theology and the fight against heresy. In these areas, there were very rigid concepts of God, justice, etc. With such rigid definitions, it became necessary to think "logically", so perception was not an important part of such thinking. It was too subjective for theology. It was necessary to agree on the basic terms and concepts.
We also believed that logic itself is capable of sorting out everything that a person receives through perception. This is nonsense, since logic is just a closed system that processes only what is within its framework. Perception is a generative system open to external information. Exaggerating the possibilities of logic is one of the biggest mistakes of traditional thinking.
This misunderstanding arises from the inability to distinguish between foresight and hindsight. There is no doubt that retrospective logic can reveal the inadequacy of perception, but by no means allows you to determine it immediately.
Any valuable creative idea will always make perfect sense in retrospect. It is possible to add up the numbers from 1 to 100 in 5 seconds using an idea that makes perfect sense in retrospect - but it takes creativity to grasp the idea.
What are the chances of an ant crawling up the trunk to land on a particular leaf? With each branch, the chances decrease as the ant may choose a different branch. On an average tree, these odds are about 1:8000. Now try to imagine an ant sitting on a leaf. What are the chances that he will crawl onto a tree trunk? 1:1, or 100 percent. If the ant crawls forward without coming back, then the branch will simply end. The same thing happens in retrospect: things that seem quite obvious in retrospect may be invisible in perspective. Failure to recognize this leads to many delusions in thinking.
Perhaps the main reason why perception has been neglected is that, until recently, people had no idea how it works. We believed, quite erroneously, that the perception and processing of information are produced in passive surface information systems. In such systems, information and the surface from which information is read are passive. To organize information, distribute it and extract meaning from it, an external processor is required.
It is now believed that perception occurs in a self-organizing information system controlled by the nervous system of the brain. This means that the information and the surface are active and the information is organized into groups, series and patterns. This process is like rain falling on the ground and forming streams, tributaries and rivers. For those interested in these processes, I recommend reading my books The Mechanism of Mind and I am Right - You are Wrong.
Abstract The human brain is an amazing memory mechanism. Appropriate programs are needed to turn it into a "thinking" mechanism. In this book, which can be seen as a primer on such "software", Edward de Bono offers a five-step thinking methodology. You will learn to focus on the subject of thought, since the effectiveness of thinking depends on this. Instead of ordinary, disorderly thinking, the author offers five clearly formulated stages. A simple coding system indicates where the most effort should be applied. At each stage, tools are offered that simplify mental operations. The technique of Edward de Bono is based on many years of experience in practical use and is quite simple to use. Edward de Bono FOREWORD INTRODUCTION THE GREAT THREE FIVE STAGES OF THINKING BASIC THINKING PROCESSES FROM THE ABSTRACT TO THE SPECIFIC, FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC PROJECTION DIRECTION OF ATTENTION RECOGNIZATION AND FIT MOVEMENT AND ALTERNATIVES METHODS SIX THINKING HATS CORT THINKING PROGRAM THOUGHT ACTION FANS OF CONCEPTS FINAL GOAL THE DOG FOOT APPROACH LIMITATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS PROBLEMS DIFFERENT THINKING SITUATIONS GENERAL SUMMARY STAGE K SUMMARY IS INFORMATION ONLY ENOUGH? INFORMATION SOURCES QUALITY OF INFORMATION PERCEPTION SEARCH FOR INFORMATION MAXIMUM USE OF INFORMATION INFORMATION ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH STAGE SUMMARY PRO AND OPPORTUNITY THREE LEVELS OF POSSIBILITY BUILDING A LINK FOUR BASIC METHODS 1. SEARCH FOR A STANDARD SOLUTION 2. GENERALIZATION METHOD 3. CREATIVE METHOD 4. DESIGN AND COMBINATION METHOD STAGE PRO SUMMARY SUBSEQUENCE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT LOOK BACK: THE REASONS STAGE SUMMARY SO REALITY SIMPLE RESULT STANDARD CHANNELS DEVELOPING A PLAN OF ACTION PLANNING STAGE SUMMARY CODING THE SITUATION CODING SHOULD BE FIVE STAGES OF THE THINKING PROCESS BACK AND FORWARD ENJOY YOUR THINKING Edward de Bono Teach yourself to think Self-tutor on the development of thinking WHY? I am breathing. I go. I speak. I think. I don't think about these things; why should I think about thinking? The process of thinking happens naturally, you learn it in the process of development. Smart people do not need to learn to think in order to think. Others will not be able to think, no matter how hard they try. What is wrong with this point of view? BECAUSE… Because thinking is a fundamental human skill. Because thinking skills determine your happiness and success in life. Because you need to think in order to make plans, take the initiative, solve problems, discover opportunities, and develop a plan of action for the future. Since without the ability to think, you are not able to control your destiny and resemble a cork, limply floating with the flow. Because the process of thinking is very exciting and fun - if you know how to make it so. Because thinking and mind are different things. The mind can be compared to the power of a car, and thinking can be compared to the skill of a driver. Often very smart people have poor thinking skills, thereby driving themselves into an “intellectual trap”. And many far from the most intelligent people managed to develop their thinking skills to a very high level. Because thinking is a skill that can be acquired, trained and developed. But you must but there will be a desire to develop this skill, just like learning to drive a bicycle or a car. Because traditional education at school and university teaches only one aspect of thinking. FEELINGS AND VALUES Perhaps you believe that feelings and values are the most important things in life. You're right. That is why thinking is so important. The purpose of thinking is to convey to you the values you desire, just as the purpose of a bicycle is to take you where you want to go. Bicycling allows you to travel faster and longer distances, and thinking allows you to use values more efficiently. Imagine that you are locked in a room and have an irresistible desire to get out. You want freedom, and this desire is very strong. What will help you more in a similar situation: feelings or a key to the door? Desires, if there are no means for their fulfillment, are of little use. At the same time, the situation is no better when there is a key, but there is no desire to leave the room. We need values, feelings and thinking. Feelings cannot replace thinking; thinking without values is aimless. This book is about thinking. Values and feelings are equally important, but they are not enough without thinking. FOREWORD While working on this book, I had to decide whether to write a complex and comprehensive tome that would cover all aspects of thinking, or a simpler and more accessible book. Eventually the solution came with the title of the book: Teach Yourself to Think. I thought this book should be aimed at those who are interested in further developing their thinking skills. Very few people would be interested in a book that is too complex, so I decided to keep the presentation simple and pay more attention to practical aspects. From personal experience, I know that some interpreters are terribly disliked when everything is too simple. It seems to such people that the simple cannot be serious. Such commentators are afraid of simplicity: it threatens the complexities that they must explain in the line of duty. If anything is really simple, they will be out of a job. Personally, I have always been for simplicity and tried to make things as simple as possible. That is why the thinking "techniques" I created have been successfully taught to six-year-olds in rural schools in South Africa and to senior executives from large corporations around the world. The very widely used "six thinking hats" structure combines simplicity and high efficiency. This technique is a practical alternative to the traditional system of reasoning, which has been used for 2500 years. Therefore, now it is used both in education and in business and government circles. The L-game was born in response to the suggestion of the famous Cambridge mathematician, Professor Littlewood: to create a game where each player would have only one piece. This game was analyzed on a computer and found to be a "real game" (where there is no winning strategy for the first player to use). Recently I came up with an even simpler game: a game of three places. In addition, simple things are easier to remember and apply. Who will be the readers of this book? Over the years of my writing career, I have written many books, and it was never possible to guess who would read the book. Judging by the letters received, the circle of my readers is quite extensive. What they all have in common is an interest in thinking and motivation. I am sure that the mass media (television, radio and press) seriously underestimate the intellectual level of the masses, believing that they only want entertainment. In my experience, this is far from the case. There are people who are quite satisfied with their thinking. They are sure that they have nothing to teach. They usually win arguments and believe that thinking is only necessary in order to have and defend their point of view. There are people who have high intelligence and do not make mistakes in thinking. They are sure that intelligence is enough for them and good thinking is thinking without mistakes. And some have long given up on their thinking. Not doing very well in school and not having special abilities for solving "puzzles", they decided that thinking was not for them, and they just lived from morning to evening as best they could. Contentment, like submission, is the enemy of all progress. Considering yourself perfect, you are not trying to become better. Giving up and giving up, you are also unlikely to make any attempts to improve. This book is for those who find thinking something everyday, practical, and confusing. They want to improve their thinking by making it simpler and more efficient. They want to use thinking as a skill that can be applied in any business. INTRODUCTION I would advise you to skip this introduction - it is much more complicated than the other sections and may give the wrong impression of the book. I decided to include it to show some readers why our traditional way of thinking is great but still inadequate. The rear wheels of a car may be excellent, but by themselves they are inferior. Having developed one aspect of thinking, we are proud of it and quite happy. However, it is time to understand that this aspect, despite its exclusivity, is still insufficient.
Current page: 1 (the book has 14 pages in total)
Edward de Bono
Teach yourself to think
Self-tutor on the development of thinkingWHY?I am breathing. I go. I speak. I think.
I don't think about these things; why should I think about thinking?
The process of thinking happens naturally, you learn it in the process of development. Smart people do not need to learn to think in order to think. Others will not be able to think, no matter how hard they try. What is wrong with this point of view?
BECAUSE…Because thinking is a fundamental human skill.
Because thinking skills determine your happiness and success in life.
Because you need to think in order to make plans, take the initiative, solve problems, discover opportunities, and develop a plan of action for the future.
Since without the ability to think, you are not able to control your destiny and resemble a cork, limply floating with the flow.
Because the process of thinking is very exciting and fun - if you know how to make it so.
Because thinking and mind are different things. The mind can be compared to the power of a car, and thinking can be compared to the skill of a driver. Often very smart people have poor thinking skills, thereby driving themselves into an “intellectual trap”. And many far from the most intelligent people managed to develop their thinking skills to a very high level.
Because thinking is a skill that can be acquired, trained and developed. But you must
but there will be a desire to develop this skill, just like learning to drive a bicycle or a car.
Because traditional education at school and university teaches only one aspect of thinking.
FEELINGS AND VALUESPerhaps you believe that feelings and values are the most important things in life.
You're right.
That is why thinking is so important.
The purpose of thinking is to convey to you the values you want, just as the purpose of a bicycle is to take you where you want to go. Bicycling allows you to travel faster and longer distances, and thinking allows you to use values more efficiently.
Imagine that you are locked in a room and have an irresistible desire to get out. You want freedom, and this desire is very strong. What will help you more in a similar situation: feelings or a key to the door?
Desires, if there are no means for their fulfillment, are of little use. At the same time, the situation is no better when there is a key, but there is no desire to leave the room.
We need values, feelings and thinking. Feelings cannot replace thinking; thinking without values is aimless.
This book is about thinking. Values and feelings are equally important, but they are not enough without thinking.
FOREWORDWhile working on this book, I had to decide whether to write a complex and comprehensive tome that would cover all aspects of thinking, or a simpler and more accessible book. Eventually the solution came with the title of the book: Teach Yourself to Think. I thought this book should be aimed at those who are interested in further developing their thinking skills. Very few people would be interested in a book that is too complex, so I decided to keep the presentation simple and pay more attention to practical aspects.
From personal experience, I know that some interpreters are terribly disliked when everything is too simple. It seems to such people that the simple cannot be serious. Such commentators are afraid of simplicity: it threatens the complexities that they must explain in the line of duty. If anything is really simple, they will be out of a job.
Personally, I have always been for simplicity and tried to make things as simple as possible. That is why the thinking "techniques" I created have been successfully taught to six-year-olds in rural schools in South Africa and to senior executives from large corporations around the world.
The very widely used "six thinking hats" structure combines simplicity and high efficiency. This technique is a practical alternative to the traditional system of reasoning, which has been used for 2500 years. Therefore, now it is used both in education and in business and government circles.
L-game was born in response to the proposal of the famous Cambridge mathematician, Professor Littlewood: to create a game where each of the players would have only one chip. This game was analyzed on a computer and found to be a "real game" (where there is no winning strategy for the first player to use). I recently came up with an even simpler game: game of three places.
In addition, simple things are easier to remember and apply.
Who will be the readers of this book? Over the years of my writing career, I have written many books, and it was never possible to guess who would read the book. Judging by the letters received, the circle of my readers is quite extensive. What they all have in common is an interest in thinking and motivation. I am sure that the mass media (television, radio and press) seriously underestimate the intellectual level of the masses, believing that they only want entertainment. In my experience, this is far from the case.
There are people who are quite satisfied with their thinking. They are sure that they have nothing to teach. They usually win arguments and believe that thinking is only necessary in order to have and defend their point of view.
There are people who have high intelligence and do not make mistakes in thinking. They are sure that intelligence is enough for them and good thinking is thinking without mistakes.
And some have long given up on their thinking. Not doing very well in school and not having a special ability to solve "puzzles", they decided that thinking was not for them, and they just lived from morning to evening as best they could.
Contentment, like submission, is the enemy of all progress. Considering yourself perfect, you are not trying to become better. Giving up and giving up, you are also unlikely to make any attempts to improve.
This book is for those who find thinking something everyday, practical, and confusing. They want to improve their thinking by making it simpler and more efficient. They want to use thinking as a skill that can be applied in any business.
INTRODUCTIONI would advise you to skip this introduction - it is much more complicated than the other sections and may give the wrong impression of the book. I decided to include it to show some readers why our traditional way of thinking is great but still inadequate. The rear wheels of a car may be excellent, but by themselves they are inferior. Having developed one aspect of thinking, we are proud of it and quite happy. However, it is time to understand that this aspect, despite its exclusivity, is still insufficient.
This introduction is also necessary to outline the structure of the book.
Imagine a kitchen, in the middle of which, on the table, a mountain of food is piled up. The cook proceeds to prepare or "process" the food. He is very experienced, and he does everything perfectly - the cook does not make any mistakes.
Then the question arises: how were the products selected; how they were produced, how they were packaged; How are they delivered to the kitchen? In other words, we shift our focus from the cooking process to the ingredients themselves.
The same thing happens with thinking. Much attention is paid to the "processing" function of thinking. We have developed mathematics, statistics, computers and various forms of logic. You simply upload the data, the processing takes place, and the result is ready. Much less attention has been paid to where these data come from. How are they selected and packaged?
Perception provides food for thought. Perception is how we see the world, breaking it down into pieces that we can assimilate. It is a choice of what to consider at any given moment. Perception chooses whether to regard the glass as half empty or half full.
Much of everyday thinking occurs at the perceptual level. The application of processes such as computation is only the technical part.
In the future, computers will take over all the processing of information, leaving humans with only an extremely important aspect of perception. And no matter how brilliant computers may be in processing the material, this still cannot compensate for the inferiority of perception. Therefore, the perceiving part of the thought process will be even more important in the future.
Most errors in thinking, apart from puzzles, are errors not of logic but of perception. We see only part of the situation. And yet, while continuing to believe that logic is the most important part of thinking, we paid little attention to perception. However, this is quite understandable.
When the Western way of thinking was formed on the border of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the main part of the thinking people were the clergy - they were the only group that managed to maintain an interest in thinking and science during the Middle Ages. The church then played a leading role in society and controlled universities, schools, etc. Therefore, the “new thinking” brought by the Renaissance was mainly applicable only to theology and the fight against heresy. In these areas, there were very rigid concepts of God, justice, etc. With such rigid definitions, it became necessary to think "logically", so perception was not an important part of such thinking. It was too subjective for theology. It was necessary to agree on the basic terms and concepts.
We also believed that logic itself is capable of sorting out everything that a person receives through perception. This is nonsense, since logic is just a closed system that processes only what is within its framework. Perception is a generative system open to external information. Exaggerating the possibilities of logic is one of the biggest mistakes of traditional thinking.
This misunderstanding arises from the inability to distinguish between foresight and hindsight. There is no doubt that retrospective logic can reveal the inadequacy of perception, but by no means allows you to determine it immediately.
Any valuable creative idea will always make perfect sense in retrospect. It is possible to add up the numbers from 1 to 100 in 5 seconds using an idea that makes perfect sense in retrospect - but it takes creativity to grasp the idea.
What are the chances of an ant crawling up the trunk to land on a particular leaf? With each branch, the chances decrease as the ant may choose a different branch. On an average tree, these odds are about 1:8000. Now try to imagine an ant sitting on a leaf. What are the chances that he will crawl onto a tree trunk? 1:1, or 100 percent. If the ant crawls forward without coming back, then the branch will simply end. The same thing happens in retrospect: things that seem quite obvious in retrospect may be invisible in perspective. Failure to recognize this leads to many delusions in thinking.
Perhaps the main reason why perception has been neglected is that, until recently, people had no idea how it works. We believed, quite erroneously, that the perception and processing of information are produced in passive surface information systems. In such systems, information and the surface from which information is read are passive. To organize information, distribute it and extract meaning from it, an external processor is required.
It is now believed that perception occurs in a self-organizing information system controlled by the nervous system of the brain. This means that the information and the surface are active and the information is organized into groups, series and patterns. This process is like rain falling on the ground and forming streams, tributaries and rivers. For those interested in these processes, I recommend reading my books The Mechanism of Mind and I am Right - You are Wrong.
THE GREAT THREEAfter the fall of Rome in the 4th century, the Middle Ages began in Europe. The teachings, thinking and learning of the Roman Empire were largely lost. For example, Charlemagne, who at one time was the most powerful ruler in Europe, could neither read nor write. The Middle Ages ended with the advent of the Renaissance, which set in motion and revived classical Greek and Roman thinking (partly through Arabic texts that came to Europe via Spain).
This "new" thinking was a powerful breath of fresh air. Man was given a central place in the universe. Now he could use logic and solve various issues, accept everything as part of a religious faith. Not surprisingly, this new thinking was readily accepted humanists, or non-church thinkers. Thus, the new/old thinking became the dominant thinking in Western culture and has remained so until today.
What is the nature of this new/old thinking? To answer this question, we need to go back to great three, that created this mindset. They lived in Greece, in Athens, in 400-300 years. BC e. These are Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
SOCRATESSocrates never considered himself a constructive thinker. He set himself a different, more limited goal - to attack and clean up the "garbage". Most of the disputes in which he was involved (as Plato wrote) did not lead to any positive result. Socrates proved that all assumptions are false, but he never came up with better ideas. In principle, he believed in disputes (or dialectics), believing that if you attack the false, then in the end the truth will remain. This is what makes us suffer from criticism. We think it's more important to point out what's bad, instead of creating something useful.
PLATOPlato was an Athenian patrician and as a young man knew Socrates. Socrates never wrote anything, but Plato wrote down his dialogues. Plato did not particularly believe in Athenian democracy, regarding it as a rabble driven by populist arguments. It seems that Plato admired the authoritarian Sparta. He was strongly influenced by Pythagoras, who demonstrated the truths of mathematics, and Plato believed that absolute truth can be found everywhere if you try hard.
Plato also opposed the relativism of some sophists who believed that it was possible to judge whether a thing was bad or not only within the framework of some kind of system. Plato realized that society could not be governed on such a complex basis. In his doctrine of the state, he divides society into slaves, warriors and philosophers, considering the most perfect state in which the mental elite dominates.
From Plato came our obsession with "truth" and the belief that it can be comprehended logically. This belief was a powerful motivation for all subsequent thinking.
ARISTOTLEAristotle was a student of Plato and also a mentor to Alexander the Great. Aristotle tied everything together, presenting it as a powerful logical system based on "cells". These were definitions and estimates based on past experience. And whatever we encounter, we “decide” which cell it belongs to. If necessary, it was necessary to disassemble the situation into smaller components in order to place it in these cells. Any information was either in the cell or outside it. She could be either there or there, but nowhere else. Hence, a powerful logical system was formed, based on the concepts of "inside" or "outside", in which there was no place for contradictions.
As a result, from this Great Three came a thought system based on:
analysis;
Judgment (and cells);
Arguments;
criticism.
We try to find our way by fitting our new experiences into cells (or principles) based on the past. This is quite suitable for a stable world, where the future is exactly the same as the past - but absolutely not suitable for a changing world, where the old cells are already obsolete. Instead of judgments and conclusions, we need to work our way forward.
Although analysis can solve many problems, yet there are problems whose cause cannot be found, and even if it is found, it cannot be eliminated. Deeper analysis simply won't help such problems. This is where the need for design comes in - you need to think about how to go further, leaving thinking about the cause. Most of our problems cannot be solved with deeper analysis, and therefore we need creative creation.
The traditional system of thought lacks constructive, creative and creative energy; description and analysis is not enough.
If the traditional system of thought is so limited, how did Western culture achieve such incredible advances in science and technology?
The main driving factor was Plato's search for truth. Aristotle's assessment also contributed; the arguments and questions of Socrates played a certain role. But so far the most important factor has been opportunity system. This is an extremely important part of thinking. It allows you to build hypotheses in science and anticipate changes in technology. This has been the driving force behind the achievements of the West. Chinese culture, which far overtook Western technical culture 2000 years ago, stopped developing, hitting the descriptions and leaving the system of possibilities without development.
Even today in schools and universities, very little attention is paid to the system of possibilities, which is an important part of thinking. This is due to the belief that thinking is a search for truth and possibility is not truth.
Later in this book, I will pay a lot of attention to the opportunity system, because it is very important.
Arguing is a rather inefficient way of investigating a subject, since each party is only interested in winning the argument, not investigating the subject of the dispute. At best, it can be a synthesis of the thesis (one side) and antithesis (the other side), but this is only one option among many possibilities.
Instead of a dispute, you can offer parallel thinking,1
Parallel Thinking. Viking, 1994. When all groups work in parallel to explore a particular topic (for example, the six hats method 2
Six Thinking Hats. Penguin Books, 1985.
So, we have a traditional system of thinking, which, despite its uniqueness, still has some drawbacks.
1. Perception is not assigned the role it occupies in everyday thinking.
2. Arguing is a bad way of researching a subject; it only turns people against each other.
3. "Cells" formed in the past may not be appropriate in this ever-changing world.
4. One analysis is not enough to solve all problems. It needs to be combined with design.
5. The notion that criticism is enough to make any progress is absurd.
6. Not enough attention is paid to the generative, productive, constructive and creative aspects of thinking.
7. The great importance of the opportunity system is ignored.
And yet I want to emphasize once again - the traditional system of thinking has value, significance and takes its place. It is simply dangerous to take it as quite sufficient and use it as the basis for all our intellectual efforts. I believe that our civilization could have advanced 300 or 400 years if we had not fallen into the trap of this unconstructive system of thought. But I'm not forcing you to agree with me.
Inverted S-shape.
A snake with an open mouth, taking something from one side and releasing it from the other.
A special type of coffee filter. You pour water from the top, and refined coffee comes out from the bottom.
Following the impressions received on the previous pages, look at this design. Imagine that these five cubes form a kind of processing pipe. The results of your thinking come out of the pipe. This is the basic schema that we will be using throughout the book. Try to remember it.
FIVE STAGES OF THINKINGThis book is built on five stages of thinking that are not based on an analysis of the ordinary thought process. Analysis is useful in description, but is usually rather useless in actual practice. It is a mistake to think that the analysis of the thought process can provide us with methods necessary for thinking, the techniques must be practical and necessary. The five stages of thinking described in this book form the framework for the practical operation of thinking. These stages are created with a practical purpose.
Here again is the basic circuit discussed on the previous pages. You enter at the top as shown by the arrow and exit at the bottom in the direction of the arrow. Each of the five dice contains a word associated with that stage. What do these names mean?
The names of the five stages are explained below and will be discussed in more detail in each section. For each stage, there is a word and a symbol that visually indicates the essence of this stage.
K denotes the goal, the intention of thinking. Where are we heading? What do we want to get as an output? PM stands for information that we already have and that we lack. What's the situation? What do we know about her? This stage also includes perception. PRO is the stage of opportunity. Here we create possible solutions and approaches. How can we do this? What decision to make? This stage is also generative. SO narrows, tests, and selects possibilities. This is the stage of conclusions, decisions and choices, the stage of the result. PO stands for "action step". What are you going to do about it? What step to take next? What actions will be the result of your thinking?
The symbols accompanying each step are shown on the following pages.
SYMBOL KThe dotted line means we know the direction. We mentally draw a path from our goal to where we are now. Then a continuous line shows our searches towards the target. Thus, the symbol denotes knowledge of the goal of thinking and the desire to achieve this goal.
UCH SYMBOLThis symbol denotes the search for information in all directions. Arrows indicate search in all directions. What do we see? What information can we extract from this?
PRO SYMBOLDotted lines represent opportunity. This is the level of creating many possibilities. They are not yet lines of action, but only possibilities worked out and considered. Here the emphasis is on more than one opportunity.
SYMBOL SOThis symbol suggests receiving information at the output. The figure illustrates the formation of one acceptable result. Many possibilities rolled into one result.
SYMBOL ONThis symbol suggests progress forward And up. This refers to positive and constructive action.
Symbols can be used simultaneously with the words corresponding to each stage. These symbols provide a visual illustration of the process at each stage.
As you think through your notes, you can use diagrams to illustrate the different stages of thinking.
The following sections of the book will discuss these five steps in more detail.
Thinking situations are very diverse. In some, you will have to spend more time on one stage, in others, perhaps on another.
Now you do not need to memorize or memorize all these steps. By the end of the book, you will find that you can easily remember them: there is an entrance stage, an exit stage, and between them there is a vertical row of three stages of thinking.
Edward de Bono
Teach yourself to think
Self-tutor on the development of thinking WHY? I am breathing. I go. I speak. I think.
I don't think about these things; why should I think about thinking?
The process of thinking happens naturally, you learn it in the process of development. Smart people do not need to learn to think in order to think. Others will not be able to think, no matter how hard they try. What is wrong with this point of view? BECAUSE… Because thinking is a fundamental human skill.
Because thinking skills determine your happiness and success in life.
Because you need to think in order to make plans, take the initiative, solve problems, discover opportunities, and develop a plan of action for the future.
Since without the ability to think, you are not able to control your destiny and resemble a cork, limply floating with the flow.
Because the process of thinking is very exciting and fun - if you know how to make it so.
Because thinking and mind are different things. The mind can be compared to the power of a car, and thinking can be compared to the skill of a driver. Often very smart people have poor thinking skills, thereby driving themselves into an “intellectual trap”. And many far from the most intelligent people managed to develop their thinking skills to a very high level.
Because thinking is a skill that can be acquired, trained and developed. But you must
but there will be a desire to develop this skill, just like learning to drive a bicycle or a car.
Because traditional education at school and university teaches only one aspect of thinking. FEELINGS AND VALUES Perhaps you believe that feelings and values are the most important things in life.
You're right.
That is why thinking is so important.
The purpose of thinking is to convey to you the values you desire, just as the purpose of a bicycle is to take you where you want to go. Bicycling allows you to travel faster and longer distances, and thinking allows you to use values more efficiently.
Imagine that you are locked in a room and have an irresistible desire to get out. You want freedom, and this desire is very strong. What will help you more in a similar situation: feelings or a key to the door?
Desires, if there are no means for their fulfillment, are of little use. At the same time, the situation is no better when there is a key, but there is no desire to leave the room.
We need values, feelings and thinking. Feelings cannot replace thinking; thinking without values is aimless.
This book is about thinking. Values and feelings are equally important, but they are not enough without thinking.
FOREWORD
While working on this book, I had to decide whether to write a complex and comprehensive tome that would cover all aspects of thinking, or a simpler and more accessible book. Eventually the solution came with the title of the book: Teach Yourself to Think. I thought this book should be aimed at those who are interested in further developing their thinking skills. Very few people would be interested in a book that is too complex, so I decided to keep the presentation simple and pay more attention to practical aspects.
From personal experience, I know that some interpreters are terribly disliked when everything is too simple. It seems to such people that the simple cannot be serious. Such commentators are afraid of simplicity: it threatens the complexities that they must explain in the line of duty. If anything is really simple, they will be out of a job.
Personally, I have always been for simplicity and tried to make things as simple as possible. That is why the thinking "techniques" I created have been successfully taught to six-year-olds in rural schools in South Africa and to senior executives from large corporations around the world.
The very widely used "six thinking hats" structure combines simplicity and high efficiency. This technique is a practical alternative to the traditional system of reasoning, which has been used for 2500 years. Therefore, now it is used both in education and in business and government circles.
L-game was born in response to the proposal of the famous Cambridge mathematician, Professor Littlewood: to create a game where each of the players would have only one chip. This game was analyzed on a computer and found to be a "real game" (where there is no winning strategy for the first player to use). I recently came up with an even simpler game: game of three places.
In addition, simple things are easier to remember and apply.
Who will be the readers of this book? Over the years of my writing career, I have written many books, and it was never possible to guess who would read the book. Judging by the letters received, the circle of my readers is quite extensive. What they all have in common is an interest in thinking and motivation. I am sure that the mass media (television, radio and press) seriously underestimate the intellectual level of the masses, believing that they only want entertainment. In my experience, this is far from the case.
There are people who are quite satisfied with their thinking. They are sure that they have nothing to teach. They usually win arguments and believe that thinking is only necessary in order to have and defend their point of view.
There are people who have high intelligence and do not make mistakes in thinking. They are sure that intelligence is enough for them and good thinking is thinking without mistakes.
And some have long given up on their thinking. Not doing very well in school and not having special abilities for solving "puzzles", they decided that thinking was not for them, and they just lived from morning to evening as best they could.
Contentment, like submission, is the enemy of all progress. Considering yourself perfect, you are not trying to become better. Giving up and giving up, you are also unlikely to make any attempts to improve.
This book is for those who find thinking something everyday, practical, and confusing. They want to improve their thinking by making it simpler and more efficient. They want to use thinking as a skill that can be applied in any business.
INTRODUCTION
I would advise you to skip this introduction - it is much more complicated than the other sections and may give the wrong impression of the book. I decided to include it to show some readers why our traditional way of thinking is great but still inadequate. The rear wheels of a car may be excellent, but by themselves they are inferior. Having developed one aspect of thinking, we are proud of it and quite happy. However, it is time to understand that this aspect, despite its exclusivity, is still insufficient.
WHY?I am breathing. I go. I speak. I think.
I don't think about these things; why should I think about thinking?
The process of thinking happens naturally, you learn it in the process of development. Smart people do not need to learn to think in order to think. Others will not be able to think, no matter how hard they try. What is wrong with this point of view? BECAUSE…Because thinking is a fundamental human skill.
Because thinking skills determine your happiness and success in life.
Because you need to think in order to make plans, take the initiative, solve problems, discover opportunities, and develop a plan of action for the future.
Since without the ability to think, you are not able to control your destiny and resemble a cork, limply floating with the flow.
Because the process of thinking is very exciting and fun - if you know how to make it so.
Because thinking and mind are different things. The mind can be compared to the power of a car, and thinking can be compared to the skill of a driver. Often very smart people have poor thinking skills, thereby driving themselves into an “intellectual trap”. And many far from the most intelligent people managed to develop their thinking skills to a very high level.
Because thinking is a skill that can be acquired, trained and developed. But you must
but there will be a desire to develop this skill, just like learning to drive a bicycle or a car.
Because traditional education at school and university teaches only one aspect of thinking. FEELINGS AND VALUESPerhaps you believe that feelings and values are the most important things in life.
You're right.
That is why thinking is so important.
The purpose of thinking is to convey to you the values you desire, just as the purpose of a bicycle is to take you where you want to go. Bicycling allows you to travel faster and longer distances, and thinking allows you to use values more efficiently.
Imagine that you are locked in a room and have an irresistible desire to get out. You want freedom, and this desire is very strong. What will help you more in a similar situation: feelings or a key to the door?
Desires, if there are no means for their fulfillment, are of little use. At the same time, the situation is no better when there is a key, but there is no desire to leave the room.
We need values, feelings and thinking. Feelings cannot replace thinking; thinking without values is aimless.
This book is about thinking. Values and feelings are equally important, but they are not enough without thinking.
FOREWORD
While working on this book, I had to decide whether to write a complex and comprehensive tome that would cover all aspects of thinking, or a simpler and more accessible book. Eventually the solution came with the title of the book: Teach Yourself to Think. I thought this book should be aimed at those who are interested in further developing their thinking skills. Very few people would be interested in a book that is too complex, so I decided to keep the presentation simple and pay more attention to practical aspects.
From personal experience, I know that some interpreters are terribly disliked when everything is too simple. It seems to such people that the simple cannot be serious. Such commentators are afraid of simplicity: it threatens the complexities that they must explain in the line of duty. If anything is really simple, they will be out of a job.
Personally, I have always been for simplicity and tried to make things as simple as possible. That is why the thinking "techniques" I created have been successfully taught to six-year-olds in rural schools in South Africa and to senior executives from large corporations around the world.
The very widely used "six thinking hats" structure combines simplicity and high efficiency. This technique is a practical alternative to the traditional system of reasoning, which has been used for 2500 years. Therefore, now it is used both in education and in business and government circles.
L-game was born in response to the proposal of the famous Cambridge mathematician, Professor Littlewood: to create a game where each of the players would have only one chip. This game was analyzed on a computer and found to be a "real game" (where there is no winning strategy for the first player to use). I recently came up with an even simpler game: game of three places.
In addition, simple things are easier to remember and apply.
Who will be the readers of this book? Over the years of my writing career, I have written many books, and it was never possible to guess who would read the book. Judging by the letters received, the circle of my readers is quite extensive. What they all have in common is an interest in thinking and motivation. I am sure that the mass media (television, radio and press) seriously underestimate the intellectual level of the masses, believing that they only want entertainment. In my experience, this is far from the case.
There are people who are quite satisfied with their thinking. They are sure that they have nothing to teach. They usually win arguments and believe that thinking is only necessary in order to have and defend their point of view.
There are people who have high intelligence and do not make mistakes in thinking. They are sure that intelligence is enough for them and good thinking is thinking without mistakes.
And some have long given up on their thinking. Not doing very well in school and not having special abilities for solving "puzzles", they decided that thinking was not for them, and they just lived from morning to evening as best they could.
Contentment, like submission, is the enemy of all progress. Considering yourself perfect, you are not trying to become better. Giving up and giving up, you are also unlikely to make any attempts to improve.
This book is for those who find thinking something everyday, practical, and confusing. They want to improve their thinking by making it simpler and more efficient. They want to use thinking as a skill that can be applied in any business.
INTRODUCTION
I would advise you to skip this introduction - it is much more complicated than the other sections and may give the wrong impression of the book. I decided to include it to show some readers why our traditional way of thinking is great but still inadequate. The rear wheels of a car may be excellent, but by themselves they are inferior. Having developed one aspect of thinking, we are proud of it and quite happy. However, it is time to understand that this aspect, despite its exclusivity, is still insufficient.
This introduction is also necessary to outline the structure of the book.
Imagine a kitchen, in the middle of which, on the table, a mountain of food is piled up. The cook proceeds to prepare or "process" the food. He is very experienced, and he does everything perfectly - the cook does not make any mistakes.
Then the question arises: how were the products selected; how they were produced, how they were packaged; How are they delivered to the kitchen? In other words, we shift our focus from the cooking process to the ingredients themselves.
The same thing happens with thinking. Much attention is paid to the "processing" function of thinking. We have developed mathematics, statistics, computers and various forms of logic. You simply upload the data, the processing takes place, and the result is ready. Much less attention has been paid to where these data come from. How are they selected and packaged?
Perception provides food for thought. Perception is how we see the world, breaking it down into pieces that we can assimilate. It is a choice of what to consider at any given moment. Perception chooses whether to regard the glass as half empty or half full.
Much of everyday thinking occurs at the perceptual level. The application of processes such as computation is only the technical part.
In the future, computers will take over all the processing of information, leaving humans with only an extremely important aspect of perception. And no matter how brilliant computers may be in processing the material, this still cannot compensate for the inferiority of perception. Therefore, the perceiving part of the thought process will be even more important in the future.
Most errors in thinking, apart from puzzles, are errors not of logic but of perception. We see only part of the situation. And yet, while continuing to believe that logic is the most important part of thinking, we paid little attention to perception. However, this is quite understandable.
When the Western way of thinking was formed on the border of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the main part of the thinking people were the clergy - they were the only group that managed to maintain an interest in thinking and science during the Middle Ages. The church then played a leading role in society and controlled universities, schools, etc. Therefore, the “new thinking” brought by the Renaissance was mainly applicable only to theology and the fight against heresy. In these areas, there were very rigid concepts of God, justice, etc. With such rigid definitions, it became necessary to think "logically", so perception was not an important part of such thinking. It was too subjective for theology. It was necessary to agree on the basic terms and concepts.
We also believed that logic itself is capable of sorting out everything that a person receives through perception. This is nonsense, since logic is just a closed system that processes only what is within its framework. Perception is a generative system open to external information. Exaggerating the possibilities of logic is one of the biggest mistakes of traditional thinking.
This misunderstanding arises from the inability to distinguish between foresight and hindsight. There is no doubt that retrospective logic can reveal the inadequacy of perception, but by no means allows you to determine it immediately.
Any valuable creative idea will always make perfect sense in retrospect. It's possible to add up the numbers from 1 to 100 in 5 seconds using an idea that makes perfect sense in retrospect - but it takes creativity to grasp the idea.
What are the chances of an ant crawling up the trunk to land on a particular leaf? With each branch, the chances decrease as the ant may choose a different branch. On an average tree, these odds are about 1:8000. Now try to imagine an ant sitting on a leaf. What are the chances that he will crawl onto a tree trunk? 1:1, or 100 percent. If the ant crawls forward without coming back, then the branch will simply end. The same thing happens in retrospect: things that seem quite obvious in retrospect may be invisible in perspective. Failure to recognize this leads to many delusions in thinking.
Perhaps the main reason why perception has been neglected is that, until recently, people had no idea how it works. We believed, quite erroneously, that the perception and processing of information are produced in passive surface information systems. In such systems, information and the surface from which information is read are passive. To organize information, distribute it and extract meaning from it, an external processor is required.
It is now believed that perception occurs in a self-organizing information system controlled by the nervous system of the brain. This means that the information and the surface are active and the information is organized into groups, series and patterns. This process is like rain falling on the ground and forming streams, tributaries and rivers. For those interested in these processes, I recommend reading my books The Mechanism of Mind and I am Right - You are Wrong.
THE GREAT THREE
After the fall of Rome in the 4th century, the Middle Ages began in Europe. The teachings, thinking and learning of the Roman Empire were largely lost. For example, Charlemagne, who at one time was the most powerful ruler in Europe, could neither read nor write. The Middle Ages ended with the advent of the Renaissance, which set in motion and revived classical Greek and Roman thinking (partly through Arabic texts that came to Europe via Spain).
This "new" thinking was a powerful breath of fresh air. Man was given a central place in the universe. Now he could use logic and solve various issues, accept everything as part of a religious faith. Not surprisingly, this new thinking was readily accepted humanists, or non-church thinkers. Thus, the new/old thinking became the dominant thinking in Western culture and has remained so until today.
What is the nature of this new/old thinking? To answer this question, we need to go back to great three, that created this mindset. They lived in Greece, in Athens, in 400-300 years. BC e. These are Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. SOCRATESSocrates never considered himself a constructive thinker. He set himself a different, more limited goal - to attack and clean up the "garbage". Most of the disputes in which he was involved (as Plato wrote) did not lead to any positive result. Socrates proved that all assumptions are false, but he never came up with better ideas. In principle, he believed in disputes (or dialectics), believing that if you attack the false, then in the end the truth will remain. This is what makes us suffer from criticism. We think it's more important to point out what's bad, instead of creating something useful. PLATOPlato was an Athenian patrician and as a young man knew Socrates. Socrates never wrote anything, but Plato wrote down his dialogues. Plato did not particularly believe in Athenian democracy, regarding it as a rabble driven by populist arguments. It seems that Plato admired the authoritarian Sparta. He was strongly influenced by Pythagoras, who demonstrated the truths of mathematics, and Plato believed that absolute truth can be found everywhere if you try hard.
Plato also opposed the relativism of some sophists who believed that it was possible to judge whether a thing was bad or not only within the framework of some kind of system. Plato realized that society could not be governed on such a complex basis. In his doctrine of the state, he divides society into slaves, warriors and philosophers, considering the most perfect state in which the mental elite dominates.
From Plato came our obsession with "truth" and the belief that it can be comprehended logically. This belief was a powerful motivation for all subsequent thinking. ARISTOTLEAristotle was a student of Plato and also a mentor to Alexander the Great. Aristotle tied everything together, presenting it as a powerful logical system based on "cells". These were definitions and estimates based on past experience. And whatever we encounter, we “decide” which cell it belongs to. If necessary, it was necessary to disassemble the situation into smaller components in order to place it in these cells. Any information was either in the cell or outside it. She could be either there or there, but nowhere else. Hence, a powerful logical system was formed, based on the concepts of "inside" or "outside", in which there was no place for contradictions.
As a result, from this Great Three came a thought system based on:
analysis;
judgment (and cells);
arguments;
criticism.
We try to find our way by fitting our new experiences into cells (or principles) based on the past. This is quite suitable for a stable world, where the future is exactly the same as the past - but absolutely not suitable for a changing world, where the old cells are already obsolete. Instead of judgments and conclusions, we need to work our way forward.
Although analysis can solve many problems, yet there are problems whose cause cannot be found, and even if it is found, it cannot be eliminated. Deeper analysis simply won't help such problems. This is where the need for design arises - it is necessary to think about how to go further, leaving reflections on the cause. Most of our problems cannot be solved with deeper analysis, and therefore we need creative creation.
The traditional system of thought lacks constructive, creative and creative energy; description and analysis is not enough.
If the traditional system of thought is so limited, how did Western culture achieve such incredible advances in science and technology?
The main driving factor was Plato's search for truth. Aristotle's assessment also contributed; the arguments and questions of Socrates played a certain role. But so far the most important factor has been opportunity system. This is an extremely important part of thinking. It allows you to build hypotheses in science and anticipate changes in technology. This has been the driving force behind the achievements of the West. Chinese culture, which far overtook Western technical culture 2000 years ago, stopped developing, hitting the descriptions and leaving the system of possibilities without development.
Even today in schools and universities, very little attention is paid to the system of possibilities, which is an important part of thinking. This is due to the belief that thinking is a search for truth and possibility is not truth.
Later in this book, I will pay a lot of attention to the opportunity system, because it is very important.
Arguing is a rather inefficient way of investigating a subject, since each party is only interested in winning the argument, not investigating the subject of the dispute. At best, it can be a synthesis of the thesis (one side) and antithesis (the other side), but this is only one option among many possibilities.
Instead of a dispute, you can offer parallel thinking, when all groups work in parallel, exploring a certain topic (for example, under the six hats method).
So, we have a traditional system of thinking, which, despite its uniqueness, still has some drawbacks.
1. Perception is not assigned the role it occupies in everyday thinking.
2. Arguing is a bad way of researching a subject; it only turns people against each other.
3. "Cells" formed in the past may not be appropriate in this ever-changing world.
4. One analysis is not enough to solve all problems. It needs to be combined with design.
5. The notion that criticism is enough to make any progress is absurd.
6. Not enough attention is paid to the generative, productive, constructive and creative aspects of thinking.
7. The great importance of the opportunity system is ignored.
And yet I want to emphasize once again - the traditional system of thinking has value, significance and takes its place. It is simply dangerous to take it as quite sufficient and use it as the basis for all our intellectual efforts. I believe that our civilization could have advanced 300 or 400 years if we had not fallen into the trap of this unconstructive system of thought. But I'm not forcing you to agree with me.
Inverted S-shape. A snake with an open mouth, taking something from one side and releasing it from the other. 
A special type of coffee filter. You pour water from the top, and refined coffee comes out from the bottom.
Following the impressions received on the previous pages, look at this design. Imagine that these five cubes form a kind of processing pipe. The results of your thinking come out of the pipe. This is the basic schema that we will be using throughout the book. Try to remember it.
The top two dice (K and UCH) can be considered "input", and the two bottom dice (SO and PO) - "exit". The PRO cube is the bridge or link between entry and exit.
FIVE STAGES OF THINKING
This book is built on five stages of thinking that are not based on an analysis of the ordinary thought process. Analysis is useful in description, but is usually rather useless in actual practice. It is a mistake to think that the analysis of the thought process can provide us with methods necessary for thinking, the techniques must be practical and necessary. The five stages of thinking described in this book form the framework for the practical operation of thinking. These stages are created with a practical purpose.
Here again is the basic circuit discussed on the previous pages. You enter at the top as shown by the arrow and exit at the bottom in the direction of the arrow. Each of the five dice contains a word associated with that stage. What do these names mean?
The names of the five stages are explained below and will be discussed in more detail in each section. For each stage, there is a word and a symbol that visually indicates the essence of this stage.
K denotes the goal, the intention of thinking. Where are we heading? What do we want to get as an output? PM stands for information that we already have and that we lack. What's the situation? What do we know about her? This stage also includes perception. PRO is the phase of opportunity. Here we create possible solutions and approaches. How can we do this? What decision to make? This stage is also generative. SO narrows, tests, and selects possibilities. This is the stage of conclusions, decisions and choices, the stage of the result. PO stands for "action step". What are you going to do about it? What step to take next? What actions will be the result of your thinking?
The symbols accompanying each step are shown on the following pages.
SYMBOL KThe dotted line means we know the direction. We mentally draw a path from our goal to where we are now. Then a continuous line shows our searches towards the target. Thus, the symbol denotes knowledge of the goal of thinking and the desire to achieve this goal.
UCH SYMBOLThis symbol denotes the search for information in all directions. Arrows indicate search in all directions. What do we see? What information can we extract from this?
PRO SYMBOLDotted lines represent opportunity. This is the level of creating many possibilities. They are not yet lines of action, but only possibilities worked out and considered. Here the emphasis is on more than one opportunity.
SYMBOL SOThis symbol suggests receiving information at the output. The figure illustrates the formation of one acceptable result. Many possibilities rolled into one result.
SYMBOL ONThis symbol suggests progress forward And up. This refers to positive and constructive action.
Symbols can be used simultaneously with the words corresponding to each stage. These symbols provide a visual illustration of the process at each stage.
As you think through your notes, you can use diagrams to illustrate the different stages of thinking.
The following sections of the book will discuss these five steps in more detail.
Thinking situations are very diverse. In some, you will have to spend more time on one stage, in others, perhaps on another.
Now you do not need to memorize or memorize all these steps. By the end of the book, you will find that you can easily remember them: there is an entrance stage, an exit stage, and between them there is a vertical row of three stages of thinking.
BASIC THINKING PROCESSES
Before we go into a detailed discussion of each of the five stages, it is useful to give a general idea of the basic processes of thought. These processes occur at every stage, so it's not bad previously consider them.
The main processes that take place in thinking, which we will consider:
1. From general to particular.
2. Planning.
3. Attracting attention.
4. Recognition.
5. Movement.
I understand that these subjects can be looked at in different ways. Each of these broad areas can be broken down into smaller ones that can claim the right to be considered an independent basic process. For the sake of simplicity, I have highlighted only these main processes.
FROM THE ABSTRACT TO THE SPECIFIC, FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC
Imagine a nearsighted person seeing a cat for the first time. Due to poor eyesight, he sees the cat very blurry, and for him it is just "some kind of animal." As the cat approaches him, the details gradually come out, and eventually the person sees a clear image of the cat.
Imagine now two hawks. One has excellent vision, while the other has poor eyesight. Both feed on frogs, mice and lizards. From a great height, a hawk with sharp eyesight can see a frog. He rushes down and eats her. Thanks to its excellent eyesight, this hawk can eat only frogs and forget about mice and lizards.
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