How to Improve Analytical Thinking

This post is about how to improve analytical thinking. Whether you’re a creative thinker, an analytical thinker, or something in between, we all use our brains in different ways. The way that you use your brain has direct implications on what type of thinking will come more naturally to you, and how it can be improved with practice.

Tuning your brain for analytical thinking is a matter of training the right skills – just like strengthening any other muscle group at the gym. And no need to fear: these skills are just as accessible to anyone as any exercise machine in the weight room. We’ll go through five concrete steps on how to get started today!

First, let’s talk about what ‘analytical’ actually means… If you’re not quite sure what ‘analytical thinking’ is, it refers to a set of skills that are useful for virtually any area you’d like to apply your intellectual powers. The skills we’re going to focus on include: predicting outcomes, making decisions, planning and organizing, and solving problems.

In order to develop these skills in yourself, the best place to start is by learning how to improve your ‘sense of space.’ This is often referred to as a “metacognitive awareness” – but the two terms are interchangeable. Understanding where you are in time and space will help you build the foundation for all of your other thinking skills. You’ll know exactly when an opportunity arises – which allows you to take advantage of it. You’ll know when to stay in a situation – or when to leave. And you’ll know – with absolute certainty – how you’re doing along the way.

And that’s just scratching the surface! You can apply these skills towards a huge range of scenarios: as simple as buying groceries, or as complex as leading a business. To keep things simple, though, we’ll focus on three main areas:

1) Predicting outcomes; 2) Making decisions; and 3) Solving problems.

So let’s get into it! Here are 5 steps to get started improving your analytical thinking abilities right now…

Step 1: Identify what area of your life you’d like to work on…
Step 2: Visualize two versions of the goal you’d like to achieve…
Step 3: Determine which version you will choose…
Step 4: Create a series of steps to achieve your goal…
Step 5: Write down your plan and how it will help you succeed!

The more information that you take the time to write down, the better. This way, you’ll be able to check back up on your progress in the future.

And that’s it! This is a simple set of skills that anyone can improve with practice. If you follow these steps, success is guaranteed. But don’t get ahead of yourself; simply taking the steps will give you the best results.