Ever since Socrates there has been the belief that "knowledge is all." Even today, most forms of education concentrate on thinking for "knowing." People believe that it is enough just to"know" and everything else will follow on from this knowledge. This attitude to thinking and knowledge is not relevant today. 

Knowledge is still very important -- but it is not "all." We also need "thinking for doing."

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The future of individuals, soaciety, and the whole world depends on our thinking. Yet it is very rare for thinking to be as a subject. How many schools have thinking as a subject on the curriculum? If schools do teach any type of thinking it is usually critical thinking (from the Greek "kritios" meaning judgement). This is no longer enough society requires individuals to be active in their thinking. 

We need the ability to produce ideas, not just to judge them. We need to make ACTION plans, not just to judge them. 

There are people who believe that we can do nothing about thinking. They believe that if you are intelligent you will be a good thinker and if you are not born intelligent there is nothing that you can do. this is simply untrue. Intelligence is like the horsepower of a car. thinking skills are like the driving skills with which a car is driven. 

There are two things that we can do to change this view: 

1) We need to pay direct attention to thinking as a skill that can be learned, practiced, developed, and improved. 

2) We need to pay attention to "thinking for doing." 

Unfortunately, THINKING FOR DOING is a messy business. 

You have to consider other people. You have to have plans and strategies. There are times when you work cooperatively and times when you are forced to be competitive. There may be a need for negotiation. You have to guess and consider possibilities. 

Many people believe that thinking is all about solving some difficult puzzles where all the pieces are given and you have to put them together to give the answer. Real life is not like that. You do not have all the pieces. You have to find the pieces. There is no one right answer. 

You have to design your actions You have to consider the effects of your actions. In the real world problems are not neatly laid out and the information is often incomplete... Not every problem can be solved and it may be frustrating not to be able to solve a problem, but the thinking process itself should be enjoyable. 

And that's a the real key. Find a way to make the thinking process itself enjoyable. :)

Edward deBono's Thinking for Action: Learn How to Focus Your Mind and Get Things Done. New York: DK Publishing, 1998.