How many of the eight types of thinking do you use?

With regard to thinking, someone once noted, “Many a man thinks over a wide field, but thinks too lightly. Others confine their thinking to certain narrow grooves. The one will be flighty and the other threadbare.”

Someone else once claimed, “A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.”

So let me ask you a question: How do YOU think?

Actually there’s not just one way to think about anything. In fact, there are eight different “types” of thinking we can employ depending on the need and circumstances.

1. Critical thinking. Critical thinking is the habit of checking whether an idea is actually true before you accept it or act on it. It is especially useful when information matters — when decisions have consequences, when claims conflict with each other, or when you are trying to separate fact from opinion or persuasion.

To use it, begin by isolating the exact claim being made. Be precise about what is being asserted, not just the general topic around it. Then ask what evidence is being offered to support it. Evidence can include data, examples, direct observation, or credible testimony but it must be identifiable, not implied. If no evidence is given, or if it is weak or irrelevant, that is itself an important finding.

Next, examine the assumptions underneath the claim. Most arguments rely on things that are not stated directly. These might include beliefs about how the world works, what counts as important, or what is being left out. Critical thinking requires making those hidden assumptions visible so they can be evaluated rather than absorbed unknowingly.

After that, check the internal logic. Even if the evidence seems plausible, you still have to ask whether the conclusion actually follows from it. A claim can feel convincing while still containing gaps, overgeneralizations, or leaps that are not justified by what is known.

Finally, examine your own response. People tend to accept ideas that fit their preferences and reject ones that clash with them. Critical thinking requires noticing that tendency and setting it aside so that agreement or disagreement is based on reasons rather than instinct.

Critical thinking is not about being skeptical of everything or slowing decisions down unnecessarily, it’s about making sure that what you believe is supported strongly enough to rely on when it matters.

2. Analytical thinking. Analytical thinking is the practice of understanding a complex situation by breaking it into parts and then examining how those parts connect. It is most useful when something feels confusing or “messy” — when looking at the situation as a whole does not clearly explain what is going wrong or what is driving the outcome.

For example, imagine a business notices that sales have dropped. Looking at the drop as one single problem does not give much clarity, so you begin by breaking it down. You separate the situation into parts: customer traffic, pricing, product availability, marketing activity, and customer feedback. Each of these becomes something you can examine on its own.

Next, you look at each part individually. Are fewer people visiting the store or website? Have prices changed recently? Are products out of stock more often? Has marketing activity decreased? Are customers leaving negative feedback about a specific issue? At this stage, you are not trying to solve anything yet, you’re just understanding what each part is doing.

Then you look at how these parts relate to each other. For example, lower marketing activity might explain reduced traffic, or stock shortages might explain why visitors are not buying. This step is about connections, not isolated facts: how one part influences another.

Finally, you look for the part of the system that explains most of the problem. In the example, that might be something like fewer customers seeing the business in the first place, or products not being available when people try to buy them. This is the point where the problem is actually being created, not just where it shows up. Once you find it, you can focus your attention where it will make the most difference.

Analytical thinking is ultimately about turning a confusing situation into a structured one by understanding its parts and how they work together.

3. Creative thinking. Creative thinking is the ability to produce new ideas by combining existing information in ways that are not immediately obvious. It is most useful when familiar approaches stop working, when a problem has no clear path forward, or when you need solutions that go beyond standard procedures.

To use it, begin by clearly defining the problem without assuming how it “should” be solved. Then deliberately widen your attention to include information, ideas, or examples that are not usually considered together. Instead of evaluating ideas immediately, focus first on generating possible directions, even if they seem unusual or incomplete at first.

A key step is recombination: taking elements that already exist — facts, concepts, methods, or experiences — and testing different ways they might connect. This often involves shifting perspective, reframing the problem, or asking how the same situation would look under different conditions or constraints.

During this stage, avoid narrowing too early. The goal is to explore variation before selection. Only after a range of possibilities has been generated do you begin evaluating which ideas are workable and worth refining.

Creative thinking is not about random invention or ignoring structure, it’s about deliberately expanding the space of possible solutions so that useful but non-obvious options have a chance to emerge.

4. Abstract thinking. Abstract thinking is the ability to see the idea behind the details, the common pattern that shows up across different situations.

Imagine you notice that every time you skip sleep, you feel unfocused the next day. Then you see it again in another week, and again after a late night on the weekend. The details change — what you were doing, what you stayed up for — but the result is the same. Abstract thinking is what lets you step back and say: lack of sleep affects my focus, instead of treating each tired day as a separate mystery.

To use this way of thinking, start with a few real examples from your experience. Don’t try to explain them immediately. First, just collect them: what happened in one situation, then another, then another.

Next, look across them instead of inside them. Ask: what is the common thread? It might be a repeated outcome, a repeated trigger, or a repeated condition. You are no longer focused on the story of each individual case, you’re looking for what keeps showing up underneath all of them.

Once you think you’ve found a pattern, turn it into a simple sentence that could apply more generally, like: “When X happens, Y tends to follow.” Then test it against more examples. If it still holds, it becomes a useful way of understanding new situations faster, because you are no longer starting from zero each time.

Abstract thinking is what lets you move from “this happened” to “this is how things tend to work.”

5. Concrete thinking. Concrete thinking is focusing on what is directly real, specific, and verifiable, rather than on interpretations, guesses, or general ideas. It is most useful when you need accuracy, when you are following instructions, or when you are dealing with situations where assumptions can easily lead you in the wrong direction.

To use it, you start by paying attention only to what can be confirmed in front of you. What is actually present? What is actually happening? What can you directly observe or measure without needing to interpret it?

For example, if a machine stops working, concrete thinking begins with what you can immediately check: whether it is plugged in, whether a light is on, whether a switch is in the correct position. You deal first with what is physically verifiable before moving to explanations.

From there, you take the next step based on what those facts allow. Each action is tied to something observable, and each result is checked against what you can directly see or measure. You avoid jumping ahead to explanations that are not yet supported by evidence.

Concrete thinking keeps you grounded in what is actually in front of you, so that your understanding builds from facts first, not assumptions.

6. Convergent thinking. Convergent thinking is the process of narrowing many possible options down to the single best answer. It is useful when you are finishing a decision, solving a problem with a clear goal, or choosing between several competing possibilities where only one can be acted on.

To use it, start by gathering all the relevant information or options in one place. At this stage, nothing is judged yet, you’re simply making sure you can see everything available.

Next, compare each option against the goal you are trying to reach. Ask a simple question for each one: does this actually move me toward the outcome I want? If it doesn’t, it gets set aside. If it does, it stays in consideration.

As you go, the list becomes smaller. You remove what is weak, irrelevant, or less effective, and keep only what consistently aligns with the goal. The process continues until only one option remains, or one option clearly stands out as the strongest choice.

Convergent thinking is what you use when exploration is no longer the point, and the task is to choose the most reliable, practical conclusion from what you already have.

7. Divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the practice of generating many different possible ideas or solutions instead of focusing on a single answer. It is most useful at the start of a project, or anytime you feel stuck using the same type of thinking and need to open up new directions.

To use it, begin by clearly stating the problem or question, then deliberately delay judgment. At this stage, you are not evaluating ideas or deciding what is best, you’re trying to produce variety. The aim is to create as many different options as possible, even if some seem unusual, incomplete, or impractical at first.

You might approach the same problem from different angles: change one condition, imagine a different constraint, or ask what would happen if you reversed a key assumption. Each shift can produce a new line of thinking, and the goal is to keep those lines multiplying rather than narrowing them down.

Only after you have built a broad set of possibilities do you begin evaluating them. Before that point, the focus stays on expansion, not selection.

Divergent thinking is what allows you to move beyond obvious answers by ensuring you have actually explored a wide enough range of possibilities before choosing a direction.

8. Christlike thinking. Having “the mind of Christ” is the foundation of how a Christian should think. In 1 Corinthians 2:16, the Apostle Paul writes, “For, ‘Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?’ But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” This means that believers are no longer guided solely by human reasoning, but are called to think according to the truth, wisdom, and character of Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit.

You use this way of thinking in every area of life because it shapes all the other styles of thinking. Whether you are analyzing a problem, making a decision, generating ideas, or discerning the truth, your goal is not simply to be intelligent but to think in a way that is like, and honors, Jesus. To do this, you measure your thoughts, motives, attitudes, and decisions against God’s Word rather than your own opinions or the world’s standards. You seek wisdom through prayer, depend on the Holy Spirit for discernment, and ask, “How would Jesus have me think and respond in this situation?”

Philippians 2:5 gives this instruction: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” As you grow in your relationship with Jesus, your thinking is gradually transformed. You become more concerned with truth than personal preference, more interested in serving others than promoting yourself, and more desirous and willing to obey God than follow the changing values of the world. This is the mind of Christ, a way of thinking that guides every thought, decision, and action according to His will.

Thinking does not stay in one mode for long. It shifts continuously as situations change, often within the same problem. The practical skill is noticing what type of thinking a moment is demanding and adjusting without hesitation or self-consciousness. Over time, this becomes less deliberate selection and more immediate responsiveness to the structure of the problem itself.

Scotty