Besides using models to help you change and improve your thinking, you should also consider using varying forms of thinking tools from distinct professions. When you think about what engineers do, the first thing that would come to mind is that they build things. For economists, you will associate them with money. When looking at these professions from a different perspective, there is something else that you can learn from them. In this case, instead of paying attention to what they do or the problems they deal with, try to figure out how they solve their problems. By doing this, you will unveil an array of thinking tools that you might not have thought about before. This article dives in to look at different professions and the thinking tools that you can borrow from them.
Artist: What if Creativity Took Precedence
Many professions out there have their limitations. In most cases, you will find that experts are often driven by monetary gains. However, in art, this is somewhat different. Before your piece of art can sell, the first thing that you ought to polish is your creativity. This means that creativity comes before the profits that you expect to gain from your artwork. Now, using this thinking tool, consider how your career would change if at all you prioritized creativity instead of monetary gains. Would your career be any different? What about your goals, would you alter your goals to ensure that creativity takes precedence?
Entrepreneur: Rapid Prototyping
Another critical thinking tool that you can borrow from entrepreneurs is their notion of doing many things at a go with the hopes that some will work. This system of doing things can be termed as rapid prototyping. This strategy is based on the idea that you come up with a product and introduce it into the market to determine if people want it. Using this idea, you can apply it to various aspects of your life.
When trying rapid prototyping in real life, your aim is to try different things and see what works. Before making up your mind to do something, you should try out different options without raising high expectations as to whether it will work. While doing this, it is imperative that you pay attention to feedback. Consider what people are saying about what you are doing. If you are launching a business, positive comments will be a clear indication that you need to go big. The importance of this critical thinking tool is that it gives you an opportunity to make several mistakes and settle for the best alternative that serves you best.
Doctors; Using Symptoms
Doctors have a unique way of finding out what their patients are suffering from. The first thing that a doctor would do is to evaluate you based on how you are feeling. A patient, therefore, has to inform the doctor about the symptoms that they are experiencing before any medications can be prescribed. Judging from what a patient is saying, a doctor is required to gather information and figure out the most likely ailment that one is suffering from. Accuracy is of great importance here. If a doctor makes a wrong diagnosis, it could lead to serious health consequences or even death. Therefore, crucial decisions have to be made.
A thinking tool that you can borrow from this profession is the notion of using symptoms to diagnose diseases. Applying this to real life events, you should always solve your problems by first checking the symptoms that you are experiencing. If your manager is complaining about your productivity, find out the main reasons why you think your manager is complaining. Maybe you always arrive late to work or that you have not met the expected deadlines. Using these symptoms, you can then deduce what is affecting your productivity. Here, you can argue that you need to work on time management.
Journalist: Fact-Checking
Journalists try their best to ensure that what they are reporting is nothing but the truth. To do this, they have to rely solely on facts. This means that if there is anything that appears vague, they would opt to leave it out as it could be classified as fake news. Preventing such misleading information is the main goal of a journalist. The aspect of fact-checking is an important thinking tool that you can borrow from them.
With regard to decision-making, how would you gather information that you need to make informed choices? Using the fact-checking thinking tool, you should focus on choosing the right tools that will help you in making smart decisions. So, don’t go around picking junk and expect to make sound decisions. Stick to facts.
Accountant: Ratio Analysis
Ratio analysis is a critical thinking tool that you can take from the accounting profession. Ratios compare between two varying measurements. Ratio analysis refers to the quantitative techniques used to gain insight into liquidity, profitability and operational efficiency of a company. Using this thinking tool, you can create ratios that can tell you more about your debt to income difference. Also, if you are setting goals to lose weight, you can come up with ratios to tell you more about the amount of calories you should consume against what you should lose daily.
Evidently, there is a lot that you can learn from different professions. You should remember that your goal is not to think about the types of problems that they have to deal with. Rather, your attention should be on how they solve their problems. Taking this perspective will help you learn many things from a wide array of professions.
