People think all day, but they seldom think about how they think. In practice, people follow certain thinking routines to which they have become accustomed, often taking mental shortcuts (called cognitive heuristics) to make life easier. Yet, such habits of the mind limit and color what people see. This makes everyone susceptible to cognitive biases.
As alternative to such “quick and dirty” judgement, you can also use more “slow and thorough” thinking methods. These structured approaches to thinking discipline you to follow a certain line of inquiry, aiding you to explore issues and potential solutions more meticulously.
The Thinking Directions framework outlines five complementary thinking methods that are applicable to every challenging issue, in business or elsewhere. Each of the thinking methods points the exploration into a certain direction, to ensure that an issue and/or solution are looked at from all angles. No examination is complete until all five have been used.
The five thinking directions are the following: