Develop analytical thinking: arrange exercises for your brain. Analytical mindset - exercises for developing analytical thinking

When hiring employees, employers often include analytical skills in the list of the most important ones. And this is no accident - today, workers of many professions need to be able to work with large amounts of data, analyze and highlight the main thing.

Project management, reporting, solving technical problems and even the ability to carry on a conversation are a small part of the areas where analytical skills are needed. If you think that this is boring and dull, then know that developed creative thinking also requires these skills. How strong are your analytical skills at problem solving? Not too sure of your answer? With regular practice they can be strengthened and developed. Let's talk about that next.

What are analytical skills

Analytical skills are the ability to visualize, formulate, conceptualize, and resolve problem situations by taking smart decisions given the information available. Here is a short list of skills and abilities that make up and at the same time contribute to the development of analytical skills.

Break down problems into their component parts
Many people get stuck when they try to solve big problem. Analytical skills help break down problems into smaller pieces that are easier to solve. This saves time and energy.
Collect and evaluate information
Also known as information literacy, this skill allows you to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the literal sense, this is the ability to select and operate with relevant and correct information, work with sources, and draw reasonable conclusions.
Effectively manage information
Today it is important to be able to manage large quantity information. This set of skills includes both working directly with information and developed organizational skills.
Look for alternatives and solutions
Over time, each person realizes that there are many paths leading to success in life and business. With advanced analytical skills, you will be armed with effective tool to find solutions and alternatives.
Read difficult books and absorb difficult information
From time to time it is necessary to read and understand difficult materials. For example, it could be a white paper explaining how to use the application.

In general, analytical skills are used in the following situations:

To solve complex problems
Making informed decisions
Generalizations of statistical data
Trend detection
Ordering processes
Efficient project execution
Analysis and diagnosis of the problem
For research or data analysis

If you are not a scientist, detective, or mathematician, what good is analytical skills for you? In personal life, you can identify trends and patterns of behavior in order to better recognize yourself and the world around you, communicate effectively with people, set up life experiments, and explain your point of view. When you learn to think analytically, you will automatically improve your critical and creative thinking skills. And you will also be valued by employers for your ability to solve difficult problems. We will cover the last point separately.

What questions are asked in an interview?

Here are some typical interview questions to test a candidate's analytical skills.

What steps need to be taken to study the problem and then make the right decision?
Tell me about a case from your previous work when you found more effective method to perform a typical task.
Can you give me an example of a small problem that you identified and solved before it became a major problem?
Describe the challenges you have faced in the past that required analytical skills.
Recall a problem situation that requires a quick solution. How did you resolve it.
Have there been times when your analysis of the situation and decision worsened her condition and you failed? What would you do differently now?
What is the most difficult analytical task you have ever completed?

The answers to these questions will partly determine whether you will be hired. Moreover, it will be assessed not so much your experience as the ability to reason right now: the construction of phrases, the logic in the narrative and the ability to make the right conclusions.

12 Principles of Analytical Thinking

Keep the following principles in mind when you encounter a problem and try to find effective solution:

Gather information that is related to a topic or issue.
Focus on facts and evidence, not opinion and speculation.
Read the information carefully.
Give precise definition problem.
Use logic.
Divide complex information into simple chunks.
Look for patterns and spot trends.
Determine cause and effect.
Learn to understand the connections between concepts and their interrelationships.
Eliminate redundant and extraneous information.
Organize information.
Draw reasonable conclusions.

Some problems do not require following these principles because they are too simple and obvious. Others are complex and take a very long time to resolve. But by following these principles, you significantly increase the chances of ultimate success.

How to develop analytical skills

Play analytic games

There are many games that will help you improve your analytical skills. Some of the most popular:

Chess
Puzzles
Backgammon
Sudoku
Various puzzles

There are many online games, exercises and simulators for developing analytical thinking. There are such, for example, in our Cognitive Science program, and are also included in the PRO-functionality.

Make lists, mind maps and spreadsheets

We all face a lot of problems, most of which are related to each other. How not to get confused in this array of information and how to see intersections and trends? To do this, there are lists, mental maps and tables. These practical tools will help you manage yourself and become more organized. You can train analytical skills by creating lists like this:

List of your values and life rules
To-do list
List of things not to do
Reading List
List of films
List of habits to instill in yourself
List of habits to get rid of

In the same way, you can make tables of your expenses and incomes or your diet. Think about an area of your life where there is a lot of information and categories. Then make a table or graph to make it easier.

Use the Five Whys Technique

This simple and powerful technique will allow you to focus on what really matters. Find the root cause of the problem. Ask yourself the question "Why?" whenever you encounter something incomprehensible or difficult. The reason may be hidden so deep that it takes a very long time to find it. For example, the reason for poor sales may not be in the quality of services or goods, but in the fact that the site takes a long time to load or applications are processed for a long time.

Use the SWOT technique

Created by Albert Humphrey back in the 1960s, the tool has stood the test of time and is still useful. You can use it in two ways - as a simple icebreaker (called an icebreaker) to help the team get together to start developing a strategy, or more in a complicated way, as serious tool to solve a whole range of problems.

By using this technique, you create an entire strategy, rather than trying to deal with one problem. Let's see how you can use this analytical tool for self-development.

Strengths

Ask yourself the following questions:

What are your benefits?
What do you do better than anyone else?
What unique and cheap resources can be used?
What do other people consider to be your strengths?

By answering them, you can evaluate your personality in terms of skills.

Weak sides

What can you improve in yourself?
What should you avoid?
What do other people see as your weaknesses?

The third question is especially important. We are so used to knowing everything about ourselves that we ignore the opinions of others. From the outside, some problems are easier to see.

Opportunities

Answer the following questions:

What opportunities do you currently have?
Can you turn your weaknesses into strengths?
What global trends in self-development exist and what can be used?

To see opportunities, you need to explore a lot of information, classify it and draw conclusions. The concept of "trend" means that you carefully study the whole picture and try to find something in common in it.

Threats

Answer the following questions:

What threats are you facing?
Will your skills and knowledge be in demand in 5 years?
Can technological change hurt your life and career?
Do you have debts?

When conducting your analysis, be realistic and rigorous. The more honest the answers are, the more correct conclusions you can draw. The SWOT tool can also be used to analyze and create a strategy for your business.

Learn to Program

Knowing how to "communicate" with machines is one of the most valuable skills a person can have today. Programming also enhances cognitive and analytical skills. Everything we talked about in this article is involved in writing code.

Play the Argument-Counterargument Game

You don't even need a partner for this, although it is desirable. Write down on a piece of paper all your beliefs or opinions that you are sure of. Back it all up with arguments. Now find ten counterarguments to each of them. Try to defend the opposite point of view. According to Scott Fitzgerald, this is what you achieve with this exercise: "You pass the first-class intelligence test when you can hold two opposing ideas in your mind and still retain the ability to think."

Experiment regularly

Become a kind of scientist who conducts experiments, collecting information of various kinds. Write down your assumptions about how you intend to prove or disprove the theory, and then run them. For example, figure out how to deal with conflict in order to resolve it. Can:

Reply with reproach
Stay calm
To ask questions
Tell jokes
Refrain from criticism

Each such action has its consequences. Write down in detail what this or that tactic led to. Analyze what all this could mean. This will help find effective ways communication with other people.

Review 100 articles on a specific topic and write down the main points

This is a great exercise for getting the big picture of a particular topic and broadening your horizons. As you browse articles, pay attention to repetitive and unique ideas in the structure, semantics and clarity of the language. Imagine that after the work done, you will have dozens of points of view on one issue. It is not necessary to agree with them, it is important to know that they exist. This gives a huge advantage in controversy and defense of one's point of view.

Analyze what is happening in a room full of people

Especially if you don't know them. Analyze the relationship between them, intentions, certain words and gestures. Imagine yourself as a detective who is trying to figure out what is going on in the room. You can play this game in a club, in a waiting room, or anywhere else when you are in a group of people.

Describe the various processes in your life

Want to keep your memory as fresh as possible throughout the day? One way to achieve this is to analyze the processes that happen to you in a day. Everything is important: actions, phrases, events, behavior, conflicts.
When you collect information, do not try to interpret it in any way. Just write it down. At the end of the week, certain conclusions can be drawn. In this way, you will improve your analytical skills, as well as begin to understand what is happening in your life.

Create a strategy for your life

The Greatest Warlords were strategists and possessed excellent analytical skills. They constantly changed the angle of view and considered the situation in detail, then as a big picture. To play any strategy game, you must understand the rules (and which ones you can break), the other players, and their goals. It takes a smart strategy to get what you want. Sometimes you have to sacrifice momentary pleasure. But be inspired by the fact that all great people have done this. They knew how to endure and wait to appear on the stage at the very important point.

The methods of development of analytical abilities listed and described above are the most common. Here is the list additional tips:

Try to draw the idea or problem you are thinking about right now.
Try to make graphs of different trends by year or month.
List various arguments for implementing some of your ideas.
Explain complex concepts plain language using metaphors and analogies.
Create pros and cons lists for any decision.

The more you practice, the more your brain gets used to analytical thinking. Don't forget that practice makes perfect.

Books

The development of analytical skills requires reading, especially complex reading. The following books will help you move to new level. Remember: it will be hard.

"How people think" Dmitry Chernyshev.
“Brain development. How to Read Faster, Remember Better, and Achieve Bigger Goals by Roger Sipe.
"Puzzles of Sherlock Holmes" Richard W. Galland.
"Teach Your Brain to Work" by Matthew McDonald.
« Japanese system development of intelligence and memory ”Ryuta Kawashima.
“Charging for the brain. Raise your IQ by Joel Levy.
"5 minutes to think" Yan Perelman.
"Quick Count" Jan Perelman.
"Entertaining problems and experiments" Yan Perelman.
"Developing Critical Thinking" by Diane Halpern.

Creativity will help you get brilliant ideas, create impressive things and be unique. They will help you stand out. But creativity and innovation must always be backed by the right strategy and perfect execution. That's when analytical skills will help you. They are the basis for building a flexible plan and mechanism feedback, which will bring to life even the most complex and incredible solutions.

Subscribe to our official channel in the Telegram messenger to quickly receive new articles published on the Aum News portal.

When hiring employees, employers often include analytical skills in the list of the most important ones. And this is no accident - today, workers of many professions need to be able to work with large amounts of data, analyze and highlight the main thing. and, writing reports, solving technical problems, and even conversational skills are just a few of the areas where analytical skills are needed. If you think that this is boring and dull, then know that the developed also requires these skills.

How strong are your analytical skills at problem solving? Not too sure of your answer? With regular practice they can be strengthened and developed. Let's talk about that next.

What are analytical skills

Analytical skills are the ability to visualize, formulate, conceptualize, and resolve problem situations by making intelligent decisions based on available information. Here is a short list of skills and abilities that make up and at the same time contribute to the development of analytical skills.

Break down problems into their component parts

Many people get stuck when trying to solve a big problem. Analytical skills help break down problems into smaller pieces that are easier to solve. This saves time and energy.

Collect and evaluate information

Also known as information literacy, this skill allows you to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the literal sense, this is the ability to select and operate with relevant and correct information, work with sources, and draw reasonable conclusions.

Effectively manage information

Today it is important to be able to manage a large amount of information. This set of skills includes both working directly with information and developed organizational skills.

Look for alternatives and solutions

Over time, each person realizes that there are many paths leading to success in life and business. With advanced analytical skills, you will be armed with an effective tool for finding solutions and alternatives.

In general, analytical skills are used in the following situations:

To solve complex problems
Making informed decisions
Generalizations of statistical data
Trend detection
Ordering processes
Efficient project execution
Analysis and diagnosis of the problem
For research or data analysis

When you learn to think analytically, you will automatically improve your creative thinking skills. You will also be valued by employers for your ability to solve complex problems. We will cover the last point separately.

What questions are asked in an interview?

Here are some typical interview questions to test a candidate's analytical skills.

What steps need to be taken to study the problem and then make the right decision?
Tell me about a case in your previous work where you discovered a more efficient method for doing a typical task.
Can you give me an example of a small problem that you identified and solved before it became a major problem?
Describe the challenges you have faced in the past that required analytical skills.
Recall a problem situation that requires a quick solution. How did you resolve it.
Have there been times when your analysis of the situation and the decision you made made it worse and you failed? What would you do differently now?
What is the most difficult analytical task you have ever completed?

12 Principles of Analytical Thinking

Keep the following principles in mind when faced with a problem and trying to find an effective solution:

Gather information that is related to a topic or issue.
Focus on facts and evidence, not opinion and speculation.
Read the information carefully.
Give a precise definition of the problem.
Divide complex information into simple chunks.
Look for patterns and spot trends.
Determine cause and effect.
Learn to understand the connections between concepts and their interrelationships.
Eliminate redundant and extraneous information.
Organize information.
Draw reasonable conclusions.

How to develop analytical skills

Play analytic games

There are many games that will help you improve your analytical skills. Some of the most popular:

Chess
Puzzles
Backgammon
Sudoku
Various puzzles

There are many online games, exercises and simulators for developing analytical thinking. There are, for example, in our program "", and are also included in.

Make lists, mind maps and spreadsheets

You can train analytical skills by creating lists like this:

List of your values and life rules
To-do list
List of things not to do
Reading List
List of films
List of habits to instill in yourself
List of habits to get rid of

You can learn more about mental maps from.

Use the Five Whys Technique

This simple and powerful technique will allow you to focus on what really matters.

Find the root cause of the problem. Ask yourself the question "Why?" whenever you encounter something incomprehensible or difficult. The reason may be hidden so deep that it takes a very long time to find it. For example, the reason for poor sales may not be in the quality of services or goods, but in the fact that the site takes a long time to load or applications are processed for a long time.

Use the SWOT technique

Created by Albert Humphrey back in the 1960s, the tool has stood the test of time and is still useful. You can use it in two ways - as a simple icebreaker to help the team get together to start developing a strategy, or in a more complex way, as a serious tool for solving a whole range of problems.

By using this technique, you create an entire strategy, rather than trying to deal with one problem.

Let's see how you can use this analytical tool for self-development.

Strengths

Ask yourself the following questions:

What are your benefits?
What do you do better than anyone else?
What unique and cheap resources can be used?
What do other people consider to be your strengths?

By answering them, you can evaluate your personality in terms of skills.

Weak sides

What can you improve in yourself?
What should you avoid?
What do other people see as your weaknesses?

The third question is especially important. We are so used to knowing everything about ourselves that we ignore the opinions of others. From the outside, some problems are easier to see.

Opportunities

Answer the following questions:

What opportunities do you currently have?
Can you turn your weaknesses into strengths?
What global trends in self-development exist and what can be used?

Threats

Answer the following questions:

What threats are you facing?
Will your skills and knowledge be in demand in 5 years?
Can technological change hurt your life and career?
Do you have debts?

When conducting your analysis, be realistic and rigorous. The more honest the answers are, the more correct conclusions you can draw.

The SWOT tool can also be used to analyze and create a strategy for your business.

Learn to Program

Knowing how to "communicate" with machines is one of the most valuable skills a person can have today. Programming also enhances cognitive and analytical skills.

Everything we talked about in this article is involved in writing code.

Play the game "Argument - Counterargument"

According to Scott Fitzgerald, this is what you achieve with this exercise: "You pass the first-class intelligence test when you can hold two opposing ideas in your mind and still retain the ability to think."

Experiment regularly

Become a kind of scientist who spends, collecting information of various kinds. Write down your assumptions about how you intend to prove or disprove the theory, and then run them.

For example, figure out how to deal with conflict in order to resolve it. Can:

Reply with reproach
Stay calm
To ask questions
Tell jokes
Refrain from criticism

Each such action has its consequences. Write down in detail what this or that tactic led to. Analyze what all this could mean. This will help you find effective ways to communicate with other people.

Review 100 articles on a specific topic and write down the main points

This is a great exercise for getting the big picture of a particular topic and broadening your horizons. As you review articles, look for recurring and unique ideas in structure, semantics, and language clarity.

Imagine that after the work done, you will have dozens of points of view on one issue. It is not necessary to agree with them, it is important to know that they exist. This gives a huge advantage in controversy and defense of one's point of view.

Analyze what is happening in a room full of people

Describe the various processes in your life

When you collect information, do not try to interpret it in any way. Just write it down. At the end of the week, certain conclusions can be drawn. In this way, you will improve your analytical skills, as well as begin to understand what is happening in your life.

Create a strategy for your life

The greatest generals were strategists and possessed excellent analytical skills. They constantly changed the angle of view and considered the situation in detail, then as a big picture.

To play any strategy game, you must understand the rules (and which ones you can break), the other players, and their goals. It takes a smart strategy to get what you want. Sometimes you have to sacrifice momentary pleasure. But be inspired by the fact that all great people have done this. They knew how to endure and wait to appear on stage at the most important moment.

The methods of development of analytical abilities listed and described above are the most common. Here is a list of additional tips:

Try to draw the idea or problem you are thinking about right now.
Try to make graphs of different trends by year or month.
List various arguments for implementing some of your ideas.
Explain complex concepts in simple language using metaphors and analogies.
Create pros and cons lists for any decision.

The more you practice, the more your brain gets used to analytical thinking. Don't forget that practice makes perfect.

Books

The development of analytical skills requires reading, especially complex reading. The following books will help you move to the next level. Remember: it will be hard.

"How people think" Dmitry Chernyshev.
“Brain development. How to Read Faster, Remember Better, and Achieve Bigger Goals by Roger Sipe.
"Puzzles of Sherlock Holmes" Richard W. Galland.
"Teach Your Brain to Work" by Matthew McDonald.
"Japanese system for the development of intelligence and memory" Ryuta Kawashima.
“Charging for the brain. Raise your IQ by Joel Levy.
"5 minutes to think" Yan Perelman.
"Quick Count" Jan Perelman.
"Entertaining problems and experiments" Yan Perelman.
"Developing Critical Thinking" by Diane Halpern.

Creativity will help you get brilliant ideas, create impressive things and be unique. They will help you stand out. But creativity and innovation must always be backed by the right strategy and perfect execution. That's when analytical skills will help you. They are the basis for building a flexible plan and a feedback mechanism that will allow even the most complex and improbable decisions to be implemented.

We wish you good luck!

AT Everyday life- both in work and in personal affairs - we often face difficulties. Some situations are easy to deal with. Others can quickly knock the ground out from under their feet. On solving individual problems, the brain can get hung up on enough long time. This is where analytical thinking can help us. The primary goals of analyzing any situation are to find the root of the problem, to predict its impact on everyday reality, and to develop a strategy to solve it.

So, in general, analytical thinking is the ability to imagine a given situation, consider it from different angles and break it down into smaller components. How to develop analytical thinking? Let's look at a few methods to do this.

Of course, the first step in developing analytical skills will be direct work on the development of logic. It can be anything from chess and solving puzzles to solving problems from a seventh grade algebra textbook. Various tasks for the development of logic can be found in special publications on the Internet.
The second step is to ensure the regularity of classes. You need to understand that in developing the ability to think analytically there can be no concessions and easy ways. Especially for those who from their youth consider themselves "humanists". Decision logical tasks like exercising a muscle. Classes should be carried out in doses, but regularly. In addition to the fact that with constant practice of mathematics or chess you will develop more analytical skills, you will find that these activities also develop willpower. After all, forcing yourself to puzzle over the next task, when there is no direct need for this, is not an occupation for lazy people. Therefore, in addition to analytical thinking, the “muscle” of the will will also be developed.
Third, provide a variety of cognitive loads. Scientists conducted the following experiment. Adults who had never held Tetris in their hands were given the task of playing this game. After some time in the areas of the brain responsible for the execution of mental operations accompanying the game, the number of neural connections increased.
This happened at a time when the subjects were making significant progress in their ability to play. But after this increase in neural connections did not occur. People continued to play the machine, no worse than they did before. However, they were no longer making any progress. The development of their analytical abilities within the framework of this game stopped at this point.
There can be only one conclusion: in order to develop the ability to analyze the situation, you need to constantly supply the brain with new tasks. At the same time, they must carry a more or less serious load for thinking, since it is impossible to develop an analytical mindset by teaching the brain to act automatically.

Analytical thinking can make life easier in all aspects that require the ability to make decisions or solve problems. However, having correctly analyzed the situation, it is necessary to be able to assess the degree of usefulness of the decisions taken.

There will always be some pros and cons to any given strategy for solving a problem. To understand which approach will be the most effective, it is necessary to evaluate the "weight" of each of them, the degree and depth of its effectiveness. And also during the analysis of the situation, it may turn out that its components can fall into one of the categories - “important” or “urgent”. In this case, it is worth working with each of them separately. One way or another, having developed the ability to think analytically, the solution of various problems will be faster and more successful.

We often come across the words “analysis”, “analyst”, “analyze the situation”, but does everyone understand well what analytical thinking means? How is it different from logic? Can it be developed? What is it for?

Something good is definitely associated with analytical thinking. A person with developed analytical skills we usually admire him, we consider him very smart, able to figure out any riddle. It is easy to remember in this context the hero of the books by C. Doyle Sherlock Holmes. He skillfully used both types of analysis: inductive (from the frequent to the general), as well as deductive (from the general to the particular). It was thanks to the ability to grasp the little things, to catch the causal relationship that he achieved success.

Many people like to solve crossword puzzles, someone plays chess, there are lovers of reading detective stories. Undoubtedly, all this develops the analytics of your thinking, but for whom is this skill vital?

The Need for Analytical Thinking

Any person working with large amounts of information should be able to isolate the meaning, discarding secondary details. Periodically, we are faced with the need to build a forecast, to assess the likelihood of an emergency situation. It is also important to have the ability to structure information and evaluate it. These skills are highly valued in logistics, economics, programming, and sales. That is why in a crisis, employers especially carefully check candidates, paying attention not only to resumes and work experience, but also checking the flexibility of the mind, as well as other analytical abilities of job applicants.

It turns out that the ability to think analytically can be useful to anyone who wants to achieve success in life and career. Any task will be solved more qualitatively, efficiently, and it will take less time to complete it, which is also important in the increasing time pressure. Consider the problem with different parties, do not rush to conclusions, do not let yourself be overwhelmed by emotions - these are the qualities that a person with good analytical thinking possesses.

What is the difference between analytical and logical thinking?

Analytical thinking refers to the ability of a person to apply logic to analyze information and draw conclusions. What does the process of analytical thinking look like in practice?

It is necessary to break complex information into simpler parts.
Analyze all parts separately, as well as the original information as a whole.
Recover the missing information with the help of judgments and inferences.
Outline several options for solving the problem based on the previous paragraphs.
Analyze each option, consider its pros and cons.
Choose the optimal solution.

In the course of these operations, of course, logic is applied. But for analysis, the process of solving the problem and the result are important.

Is it possible to develop your ability to analyze?

Of course you can. Analytical ability has two components: natural talent and purposeful development.

Most likely, it is the natural talent for analysis or its absence that explains the traditional division into "humanities" and "techies". This separation simplifies the lives of teachers: who would load a humanities class with complex logarithms and problems? Or in the physics and mathematics team they reduce the role of literature, the study of languages, paying attention to specialized subjects. It also makes life easier for teenagers. It's much easier to say, "I can't decide math problems, because I have a humanitarian mindset ”- than to pore over a difficult task.

However, this approach does not subsequently become useful for children. It turns out that the humanities will be deprived of analytical abilities only because they were not developed at school. But the school is a fertile place and time for the study of science. Just here they get acquainted with the conceptual apparatus, learn to perform logical operations. It is up to the age of 15 that the ability to analyze is most effectively developed.

Of course, this does not mean that adults can no longer train to improve their abilities. It's never too late to start! Read about how to develop analytical thinking.

Ten Ways to Develop Analytical Qualities:

Study mathematics and physics, read popular science, educational and scientific literature.
Solve logic puzzles, puzzles, etc.
Play intellectually developing games (chess, quests and strategies - any where you need the ability to calculate several moves ahead).
Get creative. Remember Sherlock Holmes' passion for the violin?
Communicate with people. Let them be different: those who have developed thinking, and those who do not. There will be a great opportunity to compare.
Don't neglect quality fiction. A book is the best food for the brain.
No matter how trite it may sound: analyze. Your behavior, the behavior of other people. Why do they do this? What are the consequences of this?
Doubt everything, even the most obvious things.
Engage in planning your life. What will you be doing tomorrow? What should be done in a week? What do you want to achieve this year? Where do you want to be in 10 years? Process this information, analyze it. This will help develop not only analytical qualities, but will make life more orderly.
Get involved in discussions. Be curious, try to understand the opponent's opinion, prove your own. This technique perfectly trains logic.

Don't focus on developing just one hemisphere. Our brains must work in harmony. Admit that being a versatile person is much more pleasant than a dry analyst. Both hemispheres are interconnected: the development of one accelerates the improvement of the other, and overwork leads to mental passivity. Do not forget also about a healthy diet and rest.

And now I propose to train your thinking on life example(real, by the way).

1. The warehouse sends the client the wrong product that she ordered. 2. She sends it back, but not to the address of the return service, but to the address of the delivery service, which should not receive such returns. 3. The delivery service receives the goods and sends them to the warehouse, but at the same time loses the document confirming this. 4. The warehouse receives nothing, but has no evidence. Question: who is to blame and what to do?

I look forward to your responses in the comments. Be smart and train your brain!

If you liked the article, click on the repost, share with your friends.

Sincerely, Alexander Fadeev.

Add to bookmarks: https://site

Hello. My name is Alexander. I am a blogger. I have been developing websites for more than 7 years: blogs, landing pages, online stores. Always glad to meet new people and your questions, comments. Add in social networks. I hope the blog is helpful to you.

Each of us is unique in its own way, and for a reason personality traits gravitates towards a particular type of thinking. It is very easy to determine such predispositions, because. they are manifested in behavior, strategy of action, worldview, attitude to what is happening and to people around. You can read more about thinking in psychology (and if you are interested in the development of thinking, then we have it on this topic), so we just recall that scientists currently distinguish five main styles of thinking, namely:

idealistic type;
Realistic type;
Synthetic type;
Pragmatic type;
Analytic type.

There are no people belonging to any one type, but for everyone some one always prevails. Today, various methods, tests, and so on help to establish the leading type. In this article, we want to talk specifically about what the analytical type of thinking is and how analytical thinking is formed, as well as present several exercises and recommendations on this topic.

What is analytical thinking

First of all, we note that the analytical type of thinking is closely related to the logical one. Often, even, although this is not entirely true, they identify the analytical: how they differ from each other is the topic of another article, but we note that the first is responsible for analyzing the data received, comparing them, etc., and the second is based on the search and establishing causal relationships. Analytical thinking also implies the ability to carry out logical analysis and synthesize information. So, its features are manifested in the fact that a person rather painstakingly studies a problem or situation or builds detailed plans while simultaneously analyzing all the data and weighing all the advantages and disadvantages.

The principle of analytical thinking is based on two basic processes:

Creative process accompanied by the search for new knowledge and information;
A formal process accompanied by data analysis and synthesis, as well as conclusions and consolidation of the final result in the mind.

The formal process is built mainly on the laws of physics and mathematics, because based on them, then everything material has common properties, similar features and structure (here, logic is manifested to a greater extent). And the creative process is characterized by the fact that it is responsible for everything that is either not connected with material laws, or goes beyond the scope of knowledge and experience. specific person(in this case, is used).

Based on all this, the task of the analytical type of thinking is to systematically and comprehensively consider the issues and problems that are set by objective criteria. At the same time, this style is characterized by a methodical and thorough manner of working with problems and difficulties, focused on details.

Why develop analytical thinking

The development of analytical thinking is a very important issue, because Analytical skills themselves are required by each of us in order to better understand, remember and assimilate information, draw conclusions, and make decisions. If we try to find some common denominator, then the formation of analytical thinking is required for:

Quick definition of the main and secondary;
Solutions to complex everyday, life and professional problems and tasks;
Search for advantages and disadvantages in ongoing events;
Identification of limitations and opportunities;
Analysis of the experience gained;
Creation of reasonable conclusions and conclusions;
Making decisions based on statistical data;
Planning your work and activities based on real goals;
Competent division of the process of achieving goals into stages.

The formation of analytical thinking (as, in fact, in general) is useful for a person in his usual daily life, and in studies, and in professional activities.

Development of analytical thinking

In this block of our article, we will present several ways to develop analytical thinking. Among them there will be several exercises, descriptions of some methods and a number of effective recommendations. Whether you have the ability to think analytically or not, this information will be extremely helpful to you.

So, let's start with what are the general ways to train analytical thinking.

Ways to train analytical thinking

The development of analytical thinking is possible in the following ways:

If at the moment you are getting an education and studying, for example, at a university, it will not be difficult for you to practice more in solving mathematical and physical problems, as well as problems in other natural sciences.
At least once a week, do exercises that knead the brain: solve crossword puzzles, solve puzzles and charades, puzzles and riddles, play l, mahjong, etc.
If time permits and there is an opportunity, play educational computer games, for example, in quests (including the search for items) or strategies.
Watch the news. Yes, that's exactly what we mean. Despite the fact that in some cases they simply clog the brain, in others they can become cool way analytical thinking training. Watching the news on TV, don't just take it with critical point view, but conduct your own analysis of the facts, search for cause-and-effect relationships, draw conclusions and even develop your own.
Read books. Moreover, more attention should be paid to detective and fantasy literature, for example, the works of Robert Heinlein, Earl Gardner, Agatha Christie and other authors.
Solve all sorts of codes and ciphers. Such an activity will also serve as an excellent training for analytical thinking. And you can find these codes and ciphers on the Internet or by playing the same quests on a computer.
Collect puzzles. They are also very good for training the mind. Today you can find a great many puzzles with the most different amount items in bookstores. Better yet, make your own puzzles, and besides, creative thinking will also be trained.
Play board games. Even the most familiar traditional board games will help you in your studies. But you need to choose among them those where you need not just to throw a die and make the number of moves that have fallen out, but to think over your next steps, develop tactics and think strategically. An excellent option would be "Millionaire" or "Monopoly". Apart from general development analytical thinking, you will specifically develop the skills of recognizing the actions of other people and understanding the logic of their actions, foresight possible solutions and choosing the most design options reactions to the actions of rivals.
Play . An excellent example of one of these is the Scrabble game, which promotes training in quick analysis and evaluation of data and the development of skills right choice definitions of a particular concept.

Note also that people who naturally have the ability to think analytically like to play games on a subconscious level, and also prefer to participate in activities where one way or another requires the use of logic and analysis. However, the rest cannot be neglected, because logical and analytical competence are extremely important in life and work. Do not forget that thinking needs to be developed in principle, for which it is very useful to master new thinking techniques (by the way, with more than a dozen interesting techniques you can meet).

Exercises for the development of analytical thinking

Here we bring to your attention four good and effective exercises:

Modeling situations. Performing the first exercise is very easy and simple, because. all you need is some free time and your mind. The point is that you need to come up with a specific situation, or several goals, and develop an effective method to achieve it. Let your goal be, for example, to fly into the orbit of the moon. To carry out these ventures, you will either need to participate in some kind of space program, or find a certain amount of money to buy a ticket for a space tour. Among other things, if you have some kind of health problem, just useless physical fitness, or by age you no longer pull on a person in the prime of life, you have only one way out - to buy a ticket.

So: start developing this idea, come up with all sorts of ways out of the situation, analyze what you know, and develop a strategy for action. And in case you don’t want to waste time on fantasizing, try traveling around the world or purchasing an expensive car - the main thing is to create conditions for activating analytical thinking.

The second exercise also deals with modeling situations, but it is performed in a slightly different way. To begin with, come up with some kind of not very difficult or just ordinary situation for yourself, and then try to resolve it as soon as you can. Develop several options for action, but keep in mind that it should not take you a lot of effort and time to implement them. As soon as the situation is ready, analyze it, determine why it arose in the first place, think about how it can develop further and what its negative or positive consequences may be. Only after carefully weighing all the pros and cons, make a decision.

By by and large, you can perform such an exercise not only with fictitious, but also with real situations that have arisen, although it is applicable only in those cases (at least for training) where there is always some time to think, otherwise you can make a mistake.

In this exercise, you will need to do some thought experiments. You can learn more about them, as well as the most popular ones, by reading. We want to say only that they are based largely on the question "What will happen if ...?". For example, you could do your own thought experiment, "Mary's Room" (substitute your name for "Mary").

Imagine that you are a talented and capable researcher. You sit in a special room and look at the world around you through special glasses arranged so that the world is seen by you in black and white. You, of course, know about colors, and about light waves However, your information is purely theoretical. You have never had the opportunity to go out into the street and observe the real state of things. Think about what will happen if you do leave the room? What will happen when the real world appears before you? Can you tell which color is which? The meaning of such an experiment is that you analyze the situation and develop and justify all possible variants of color recognition.

You have probably heard about the Turing test, and if not, then read. Do a similar test with yourself and some of your friends. You will need an interlocutor and a couple (or at least one) people on the jury. Start with your opponent on some topic. First, listen to the arguments of the opponent, then analyze, and then apply in your speech in such a way that none of the jury members guess who the true author of the argument is your opponent or you.

This exercise will allow you to practice your skills in analyzing the opposite position, and will also become good fun for the entire company. In the same case, if you consider yourself a great scholar, you may be interested in finding answers to unresolved scientific questions, for example:

Is a person capable of being objective in principle, and if so, in what particular life situations?
Does a person have free will or is it something like a programmed being, and does not even suspect it?
What actually gives each of us the right to claim that he and the world around him are real and not illusory?
Why is the human brain an aggregate of atoms, while consciousness, which is considered a product of the brain, has nothing to do with atoms?

Remember that even today there are questions to which no one can answer: neither philosophers, nor scientists, nor ordinary people. And any such question always excites the mind, and even a simple attempt to realize and perceive its depth will involve you in the game of the mind, stimulate you to search for an answer and make your brain work to its fullest.

Recommendations for every day for the development of analytical thinking

Here we are unlikely to "discover America", because. these tips are common truths that each of us should follow:

Try to at least partially systematize your life in order to be able to analyze what is happening;
In everything and always strive to see patterns;
, developing the brain, for example, count in the mind, read, compare, consciously draw conclusions;
When reading books or watching movies, imagine yourself in the place of the characters, determine the reasons for their actions and think about how you would act;
Analyze all your actions and actions, as well as the actions of those with whom you encounter in everyday life;
Look for the reasons for the events happening to you, victories and defeats;
Before you say or do something, think ahead: what could be the consequences;
Learn from your own and others' mistakes so you don't make them in the future.

Following these recommendations, you will notice that your mind has become more flexible and consolidated in itself the tendency to analyze, and you yourself have become much better at understanding why something happens in your life. We also advise you to develop not only analytical thinking, but also thinking in general, and the first step towards this can be mastering the twelve thinking techniques that we have collected in.

Remember that good analysts are rare, so regular practice, even if it's just games or simple exercises, will help you improve significantly in this regard. We wish you success and a flexible mind!