the thinking that works

The Six Thinking Hats is about the Six Thinking Hats method which serves as an outline for thinking. The six hats stand for six ways for thinking. The White Hat thinking stands for facts, statistics, information and gaps. This first hat checks the data instead of presenting arguments and suggestions. The red hat thinking stands for intuition, emotions, and feelings. This second hat allows feelings on the subject matter without the need for logic. The black hat thinking stands for judgment and carefulness. This third hat permits logic to understand why a proposal does not match the facts, the experience, the system or the policy. The yellow hat thinking stands for something that will work and the reason why it will give benefits. This fourth hat is used not only to find the valuable in past events but also to find the outcome of some proposals. The green hat thinking stands for creativity, options, suggestions and changes. This fifth hat is used to offer what interesting alternative may be available. The blue hat thinking stands for the overview or controlling the thinking process. This last hat does not look at the subject but at the way the subject is thought of. All these hats represent directions to think instead of names for thinking. They may be put on and taken off to show the direction of thinking at work.
This method is especially meaningful for me because I see that the hats may be used practically instead of reactively. I want to be more proactive in my thinking. I do not want to be just reacting to situations happening along the way. It promotes greater input from me. I feel fulfilled when I have more contribution than expected. It encourages better performance on my part. Whether at home or at school, I want to show the best in me. Also, it discourages my giving importance to my ego. When pride gets in the way, it affects my exertion of full performance effort. Even as I support the opposite view in the beginning, I can still contribute under whatever thinking hat. This is purposeful because I can give input to personal work using the blue hat or the yellow or the black.
The book’s insights are important because the system of thinking can help me become a better performer in my tasks. My tasks involve lots of thinking. Thus, it does not feel right when a certain task fails despite the brainstorming. For example, I do not get to finish my assignment as scheduled. It feels bad because setting the time frame and devoting my time to this assignment involve some thinking. Just because of some distractions like phone calls or sleepiness, my assignment will have to be finished in an extended time or the morning after. However, with my introduction to the six thinking hats, I may approach my situation in different lights. I can put on the white hat and see that I should have added extra minutes for my assignment. On the other hand, I can put on the red hat and feel that my tired body needs recharging so I may sleep and continue my work after I have rested. I can put on and take off any hat to approach different ways to approach my situation.
The insights are especially meaningful because the encouragement of full thinking and of performance does not give emphasis on the ego. The picture looks different when pride is involved. For example, if I am so used to getting high marks in papers, I will have built my pride. When I get a low mark in between, it shatters me. I may react that the mark should have been consistent with the high ones. I may also react that my point in the paper has been overlooked. I may still react that I deserve more than this mark for effort exerted on the paper. With the introduction of the six thinking hat method in my life, I can look at the picture differently. I may resolve that I should give more effort the next time. I may also look at the possible weaknesses of my paper. This way, I may be able to improve the next papers to come.
I may be able to use these insights as a student, in my personal life and later as a professional because in all phases, I do thinking. As a student, school works involve lots of tasks that need thinking. These school works are expectedly difficult. Hence, I can use various thinking ways of approaching the complications. If I think the blue hat is better for use in solving accounting problems, then I can take off the initial black hat thinking. This is also true in my personal life. Personal tasks offer problems that seem not unlike those in school. Only, personal tasks are really more complicated than school tasks. Hence, the six thinking hats offer more ways of looking at my personal situation so I can fulfill my tasks. With many thinking approaches at hand, my performance will have been the best I can exert effort for. As for my future life as a professional, I will be expected to contribute inputs that will show improvement in the company I will be in. This good performance will have been a product of good thinking. Hence, the six thinking hats offer many ways by which to perform well. I can even influence colleagues into putting on a certain hat all at the same time. This way, the collective effort will help accomplish goals and create company development.
As early as the present time, I may put on or take off any of the thinking hats in various areas that require my input contribution. Be it in school or home, the thinking hats are handy in drawing the best performance I can give.