Thinking Skills

Thinking Skills are some of the most valuable skills you can learn today. The reason is simple. While in the past, people went to work for their manual skills, today they go to work for their mental skills. We live in an Information Age, no longer an Industrial Age. That’s why brain has replaced brawn, and strength in thinking has replaced strength in muscles. No matter what kind of business you work for, nor what kind of job you do, today you are expected to apply a range of thinking skills to the work you carry out. This includes using your judgment; collecting, using, and analyzing information; working with others to solve problems; making decisions on behalf of others; contributing to ideas to innovate and change; and being creative about how your job can function better.

This book covers all of these skills. It will show you that, whatever you think about your mental abilities or the level of your IQ or your formal education, your brain is the most powerful organ you possess. It is the tool that, if used skillfully, can help you perform better in your job, better in your team and better in your organization. By developing your thinking skills to meet the needs of the modern world, you are guaranteed to succeed.

1. What Are Thinking Skills?
   1. The Potential of the Brain
   2. Brain Power
   3. Exploding the Myths
   4. Brainworks
   5. Brain not Brawn
   6. Management Thinking
   7. Thinking Matters
   8. Key Points
2. Positive Thinking
   1. Untrained Thinking
   2. Distorted Thinking
   3. Catastrophising
   4. Confusion
   5. Distraction
   6. Yo-Yo Thinking
   7. The Self-Image
   8. Positive Re-Framing
   9. Expecting the Best
   10. Your Brain Wants Success
   11. Key Points
3. Improve Your Memory
   1. Synaesthesia
   2. Landmarks
   3. The Peg System
   4. Rhymes
   5. Mnemonics
   6. Remembering People’s Names
   7. Repetition
   8. Key Points
4. Blocks to Thinking
   1. Assumptions
   2. See Things from Other Points Of View
   3. Thinking and Doing
   4. Get Rid Of Lazy Thinking Habits
   5. Think like A Child
   6. See the Detail As Well As the Big Picture
   7. Think For Yourself
   8. Time to Think
   9. Key Points
5. Logical Thinking
   1. Left-Brain Thinking
   2. Right Brain Thinking
   3. Managerial Thinking
   4. Logical Thinking
   5. SMART Goals
   6. Systematic Planning
   7. Using Information
   8. The Limits of Information
   9. Key Points
6. Creative Thinking
   1. Think like A Child
   2. Be More Curious
   3. Play with Ideas
   4. Make New Connections
   5. Be A Little Illogical
   6. Laugh More
   7. Think Outside Your Limits
   8. Key Points
7. Brainstorming
   1. Brainstorming
   2. A Brainstorming Session
   3. An Example of Brainstorming: The Honey Pot
   4. Brainwriting
   5. Key Points
8. Decision-Taking
   1. Time Them
   2. Align Them
   3. Balance Them
   4. Act When You Have To
   5. Use a Decision-Making Model
   6. Instinct
   7. Don’t Decide Without Acting
   8. Keep Your Decision under Review
   9. Key Points
9. Problem-Solving
   1. The Problem with Problems
   2. The Classical Approach
   3. Do Nothing
   4. Take Your Time
   5. Sleep On It
   6. Attack the Problem
   7. Two Heads are Better than One
   8. Occam’s Razor and the Five Whys
   9. Key Points
10. Innovation
    1. Create an Innovative Climate
    2. Keep Your Eyes Open
    3. Dreams and Daydreams
    4. Develop Washing-Up Creativity
    5. Make New Connections
    6. Necessity is the Mother of Innovation
    7. Test, Test, Test
    8. Adopt and Adapt
    9. Take Lessons from Nature
    10. Key Points
11. Web Resources on “Thinking Skills”