Thinking Algorithm

My personal struggle in becoming an adult- capable of making worthy choices, has always involved overcoming the confusions in everyday life. From deciding which chocolate to have to what are my expectations from myself, confusion is my truth.

A most important role in decision making is the clarity of the situation. Rather I should say decisions are the byproduct of elaborate conscious thinking. And the crisis is nothing but the undeveloped skill of thinking.

We all will definitely agree that the greatest advantage humans have is their capability to think. Aha’ Humans- the Thinking Apes!

Whenever I set to give a thought to any matter, a conflict between logic and emotions definitely arises. Not only this but also - all the pros and cons, the fear of stepping out of the box, lessons which we have learnt in the past and so many conclusions 'the others' have concluded - somehow makes thinking very very complex. And often I waste lots of time and energy on thinking when within a few minutes I am miles away from the main agenda.

This whole personal-struggle is indeed a common personal-struggle, and humans have been facing it since ages.

The requirement is simple thinking needs to be more conscious, in the moment and systematic.

The father of lateral thinking, Edward de Bono has explained a systematic way of thinking in the book 'Six thinking hats’. It allows parallel thinking which means that at any moment everyone is looking in the same direction and one direction at a time.

This approach is analogous to the process of generating a computer program algorithm.

Program algorithm is a systematic logical approach which is a well-defined, step-by-step procedure that allows a computer to solve a problem. Also, definite semantics and rules are followed to enable everyone to understands it. Further procedure is also simple, consider all possible test cases and accordingly put conditions and loops.

Similarly, six hats are idioms for different dimension of the thinking process. Each hat defines a direction of thinking.

There are certain rules for this game of hats, such as

• Hats are always referred to by their colour and never by their function.
• Members of the group must stay with the hat that is indicated at that moment, only the group leader can indicate a change of hat.
• Every hat is given a time limit which eventually prevents the abusive overuse of any hat.
• When two offered information disagree there is no argument on that. Both the pieces of information are put down in parallel and only if it becomes essential to choose between them will the choices be made.

The function of each Hat is easy to remember as they are in tune with the colour of the espective hat.

White hat: Facts and 'the other' s suggestions/feeling are collected.

It is just like a background check.

Red hat: Acknowledging all emotions, feelings and intuitions about the matter or about the thinking process, without any justification.

The perceptual part of Thinking can change the emotions so under rad that we can actually provide perceptions that can alter emotions or make them evaporate.

Black hat: Noticing every loopholes and danger points in an idea.

It is for being careful. It is a hat of logics. It points about how something does not fit the present resources, policies, strategy, ethics and values and so forth.

Yellow hat: Noticing all the positive points and find out the value of an idea.

It is difficult to wear a yellow hat than black hat because it is against the natural mechanism of our brain to avoid danger. It is also the hat of logic. It is a mixture of curiosity, self-interest and the desire to 'make things happen’.

Green hat: Viewing the matter from a different eye and insane humour.

It puts forward all the options and alternatives. These include all the obvious alternatives as well as the fresh ones. It is about improving the suggested ideas. It challenges our existing brain patterns and direct us to a new perception.

Blue hat: Thinking about the thinking process.

It sets the focus and agenda for the thinking. It’s like a controller which ensures that all the rules are followed. Under the blue hat, problems are defined and questions are generated to shape the course of thinking.

The hats become a sort of shorthand of instruction. What is most important is that this type of idiom does not threaten a person’s ego or personality. By turning it into a game, the concept of the hats makes it possible to request certain types of thinking. This is an attempt to use the experience and intelligence of everyone in each direction as well as saving lots of time.

In the author’s words,

"if you have to drive to a certain destination and the people involved know the roads only vaguely, there will be a lot of argument about which road to take. However, if there is a roadmap laying out the roads, traffic densities and the nature of road surface, then it will easy to choose the best road. The choice has become obvious to all. Exactly the same thing happens with the Six Hats method."

At first, this may seem a bit awkward but with practice, it will seem quite natural to make such a request.

And yes! somehow it will sort your life ;)