Elements of Effective Thinking Response
The five elements of effective thinking are useful in guiding one’s success in terms of their career, helping students focus and succeed in their academia and even success in general life. Edward B. Burger & Michael Starbird, the authors of the book “The Five Elements of Effective Thinking,” wrote on tactics to support the students in their thinking with the book’s main motto encouraging the thinkers to be their own Socrates (Burger & Starbird, 2012). The Authors suggested five elements of effective thinking that include: Understanding concepts deeply, embracing one’s failure and learning from the mistakes or their inability to succeed, raising questions, following the flow of ideas, and finally, Engaging in personal transformation. The five elements are equated to Earth, fire, air, water and change, respectively depicting a set of strategies useful in fostering practical thinking skills. Every aspect offers several strategies useful in sharpening an individual’s thinking abilities.
Practical thinking skills are not inborn; they are developed and sharpened. Understanding concepts deeply, asking questions and yearning for constant transformation has been part of my thinking strategy. According to the authors, understanding deeply is associated with the Earth. The thinking strategy calls for an understanding of the gist of the idea in question. For one to have a deep understanding, focus helps in concentrating on a singular concept and going more rooted in the knowledge of how the concept works rather than having random ungrounded ideas. Knowledge of concepts goes across a spectrum or layers so that regardless of our understanding, it is possible to go deeper incrementally (Burger & Starbird, 2012). Deeper understanding enables one to see an idea or concept from a different light and may even allow one to see something new within the idea. As we learn something new, we tend to lose concentration along the process absorbing basic principles; however, according to Edward, a learner must have rock-solid understanding differentiating their understanding from what they do not know to bridge the gaps.
Asking question is an essential strategy in thinking and gaining knowledge. As a learner or an individual either at work or other aspects of life, asking questions helps in clarification rather than making conclusions based on assumptions. Edward equated asking questions to air, whereby the strategy acknowledges raising questions from the “air” in search for understanding. “Be your own Socrates” is the motto of the book encouraging the inquisitive nature of humanity where one applies critical thinking to come up with questions that aid understanding. The Socrates way involves learning how to improve the quality of questions working towards quality answers, developing their questioning skills to more analytical and harder questions also referred to as meta-questions (Burger & Starbird, 2012). When one fails to question a concept, the conclusion lies between either complete understanding of the concept or lack of interest in the idea at question. Asking questions has been essential in fostering innovation in the past and fostering focus in learning concepts.
Learning is a continuing process so that an individual is a life long learner that Edward equates to change. Change is inevitable and also good in life, so that we should all embrace it as a part of life. Transforming oneself has been an essential part of effective thinking since it puts into action the knowledge and skills learned via a deep understanding of concepts as well as asking of questions. My past experiences in practical thinking have helped in the transformation to a different and better version of myself amplifying knowledge, understanding and skills (Burger & Starbird, 2012). While implementing all strategies from deep understanding, making mistakes, raising questions and following the flow of ideas, change comes more naturally. Learning as a continuous process changes an individual attitude towards learning and growing in new ideas keeping the thought process all warmed up.
“The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking” by Edward and Michael is a thought-provoking book with some new and exciting ideas I had never considered as a key to effective thinking in the past. Human beings seek perfection, and making or acknowledging mistakes is a challenging task. Edward equated making mistakes and learning from them like fire. Fire is a dangerous element yet not useless. Equally, as a learner or even in career life, one should not be afraid to make mistakes since after making a mistake, one learns from it eventually avoiding similar mistakes in future (Burger & Starbird, 2012). Mistakes as part of our lives should be confronted rather than avoided acknowledging the fact that something went wrong, giving one a chance to correct their mistake. As a learner, mistakes provoke one to learn the right concepts and ideas, changing the thought process to become better versions of ourselves. Failing to succeed has been one of my favourite part of the book since I understood mistakes from a learning point rather than failure; mistakes form a transformation step giving one more than one chance towards success.
Following the flow of ideas is an essential strategy in learning equated to water. The approach cultivates on the connection existing between prior knowledge and the present knowledge in preparation for future understanding. According to the author, the great minds of today build upon the knowledge and inventions of the past, adding improved and fresh content. As a learner in search for knowledge and understanding, it is crucial to make a connection between the new idea and old one for a better understanding (Burger & Starbird, 2012). Following the flow of ideas are an essential thinking strategy for present and future learning and skill development. Every thought, skill or piece of knowledge comes from something so that ideas and concepts learned today lie on preexisting ideas in history actualizing the famous quote by Issac Newton, “If I have seen farther than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”. The different strategies present a set of skills fostering all aspects useful for effective thinking.
References
Burger, E. B., & Starbird, M. (2012). The 5 elements of effective thinking. Princeton University Press.