A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop given by the well known expert of creativity and creator of 'parallel thinking', Edward DeBono. In it, DeBono highlighted a number of points which I wanted to expand this month in a way which helps us improve our thinking.

DeBono explained the difference between 'Intelligence' which is potential and 'Thinking' which is a skill. He quite powerfully refutes the idea that those with the best potential as measured by our tests reveals the best thinkers of our time. Instead, he reveals that it is those who learn to think who thrive far more successfully than those who have been classified as intelligent.

We know this in the NLP field. There are many very, very smart people that are incredibly miserable. They have a lot of potential, but they waste it because they do not attempt to master the skill of thinking.

The skill of thinking for me comes down to a few different things. Firstly, it is essential that you learn how to use your brain and think by being aware of 'how you think'. By this I mean running your brain the effective 'NLP' kind of way. This simply means making sure that you are making images and talking to yourself in the most useful and intelligent ways.

Secondly, it's important to learn how to improve your ability to think more powerfully and usefully. This involves improving your creativity skills as well as mastering your ability to look at issues from different perspectives.

This comes with realising that it is useful to step out of the Aristotilean and Socratic method of thought and argument and instead to focus on a different way of looking at things. Looking at alternative perspectives and from different states in an attempt to focus on solutions rather than trying to make every perception accurate.

The traditional method of thinking involves examining everything using reason and logic in an attempt to be right or wrong. A more useful way of thinking comes with taking on board different perspectives on something and blending the different perspectives towards achieving the same outcome. For example, both sides of an issue looking at being creative at the same time, logical and analytical at the same time... both of them working to get a win win solution rather than them both fighting their corner.

Finally, it's important to practise thinking. There are many different types of thinking. Creative thinking, analytical thinking, positive thinking, memorisation, deduction etc...To become better, it's important to practice the different types of thinking and develop the strengths which prove most useful to you. For example, if remembering something is important to what you do or your life, then work on improving that kind of thinking deliberately.

As DeBono reminds us, Intelligence has little correspondence with success. It is what you do with what you have... your skills of thinking that makes the most difference.