Critical and Creative Thinking Can Lead to Higher Income

Despite the conventional wisdom that we must work like dogs to ever achieve success there are other factors that really help us. Other factors might include diligence, intelligence, resources, education, timing, etc. The one factor that is often neglected is creativity.

Creativity allows us to build new and unique relationships together where ones did not previously exist. For example, a creative person might be able to find an adaptation to a tool, a new product or develop their company to compete more effectively. Creativity gives you an edge over people who cannot "think out of the box".

Some may wonder why school children are allowed to waste government money and their learning time doing things like drawing and painting. The truth is that one of the greatest American assets is to have unique thoughts. These activities encourage children to develop new ways of doing things.

Creativity can't work in a vacuum where free flowing thoughts run rampant all over the place. Creativity should be mixed with critical thinking. Critical thinking allows you to break down and separate elements of a problem. By breaking these elements down we are better able to decipher the causes of these problems.

There are nine components to being able to think critically. They include perception, assumption, emotion, language, argument, fallacies, scientific reasoning, reasoning/logic and problem solving skills. Missing one of these abilities is likely to lower the ability to critically think about issues we face in the workplace.

We must perceive the problem, we may make some assumptions about it, we recognize our feelings, we learn to express in verbally, we can argue the issue, learn about it fallacies, use our scientific reasoning to deduct/induct the problem, use reasoning to find a cause and use our problem solving skills to find the best solution.

The dynamic duo is when we combine critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking breaks it down while creativity puts it all together in a unique fashion. When we understand the problem, what causes the problem and are able to develop new and innovative ways of solving problems then we are more likely to have better solutions.

It has been said that "business is about solving problems". The more able we are to solve problems the more likely we are able to succeed in our careers or life. Problems are a result of the normal function of attempting to generate wealth. The more problems we solve and the quicker we solve them the more money we will make. Being creative allows us to find the best solutions.