The Science Of Deep Thinking

Making Deep Thinking Possible for All

Let us start with a simple quiz. Which of these is the easiest and takes least effort ?

(a) Running UP a steep, rugged, hill

(b) Running HORIZONTALLY on a plane

(c) Running DOWN a steep, rugged hill

Any vertical movement requires a lot of focus, effort and stress. It is easy to just rush forward. Running forward a 100 metres seems far convenient that taking a flight of 20 steps on a staircase.

It is no wonder that even in the thinking realm, moving towards a solution is the most common reflex while working on a problem. Moving deeper into a problem or a concept requires a lot of focus, effort and stress.

Every programmer who spends a night-out fixing a bug knows that if he just took a few minutes to analyze everything, he could have had everything fixed within a matter of next few minutes. All those design and planning discussions that go on for days and still do not reach a consensus are reflective of complete lack of deep thinking.

Every project in a state of crisis, every project mired in a lot of struggle, every project that overshoots time and budget, every project that fails and reaches a dead end - is a testimony - not to the complexity of the project, but to the lack of Deep Thinking involved in the execution of the project.

The paradox of Deep Thinking

The need for Deep Thinking is too self-evident to merit any further discussion. We know that Deep Thinking doesn't only lead to better solutions - it takes ideas beyond several orders of complexity. More often than not, it is the difference between a job being "doable" and a job being "impossible".

Yet, it is a common experience that we feel more comfortable in just sticking to our intuitive ideas about the solution to a problem at hand. Whenever we look at a problem or a concept, all the present "knowingness" about the problem - whether from training or experience - gets into action. We apply all the intuitive answers that come to us one after the other, "trying things out" and "checking how it works".

It is often a long, unwinding road, it takes a very long time to get to the solution, but it is comfortable - it is a horizontal motion forward, rather than being an uphill or a downhill task. It gives us a safe feeling of refuge. It gives a constant thought of comfort that we are on the way home. It keeps us in the zone of familiarity and gives a perception of progress being made. Something in the hand is better than being in the vacuum.

How do we normally use our thinking mechanism ?

Consider the very popular problem about 12 identical weights - "You are given 12 weights which are supposed to be identical. However, it is known that one of them is faulty - either lighter or heavier than the other 11. Given a beam balance, you need to find out the faulty weight in 3 weighings, and also indicate if it is lighter or heavier."

Everyone has come across this problem, and its solution. A lot of us can solve it ourselves, too. What is the usual conversation around the discussions of this problem ?

A simple google search would give you an access to thousands of sites which describe the solution to this problem. I would invite you to peruse several such solutions and notice the common threads that's prevalent across all those discussions.

Here is a sample taken from one such site in the public domain.

The problem has several cases and conditions. The above diagram presents the 1st case. The diagram below presents the 2nd case of the problem. The 3rd case is symmetrical to the 2nd case.

Every discussion that you see around this problem has the exact same language : it painstakingly enumerates all possible conditions and sub-conditions that could arise in the problem. There are many steps in these solutions, which are completely abrupt. For example, why does case 2a in the above solution compare (A4,B3,B4) with (B1,B2,C1). In retrospect, once we know that this is answer, it makes complete sense. But does a solver arrive at these as the candidate weights for this step, while solving the problem ?

All discussions around this problem focus on elaborating upon these 2 points :

These results are approached at, through a process of intuition or trial-and-error.

Deep Thinking takes you to the solution of this problem through a completely different route.

The Deep Thinking route to the solution of this problem is full of several interesting getaways, called "insights". Instead of pricking your brain to what weights you should compare next, Deep Thinking leads you to an exploratory path of asking insightful questions, which makes every step seem obvious and self-evident. You know clearly and unambiguously what are the weights you should compare in the next step. You would see without any doubt that comparing (A4,B3,B4) with (B1,B2,C1) in case 2a of the above solution is the right, perfect and the most obvious comparison to make.

In a later article, we will take that voyage of solving the 12-weights problem through deep, insightful thinking. The experience would be similar to "deriving the solution from first principles", getting the whole sequence of the required comparisons, conditions and sub-conditions in an obvious, self-evident manner.

"If I make this move, then ..."

As another example of the most common mode of the Thinking Mechanism, let us consider chess. The most common approach to chess, especially by non-chess-players, is to get into a mode of lookaheads and trial-and-error. Even expert chess players would resort to their past learning and experience for familiar situations, but could resort to lookaheads and trial-and-error for new, unfamiliar board positions.

As an example, the chess puzzle shown above, where Black is supposed to move and win, the most common way of analysis is to try out all the possible candidate moves that look promising, and then playing it out in your mind for next few moves to "see what happens if you play that move ...".

The most common language of chess analysis begins with "If I play this move, then this happens, and if I play that move, then that happens ..."

A Deep Thinking approach desists from such forward-lookahead-analysis. Instead of picking up a promising move and wondering what happens when you make this move, a deep thinking approach allows you to "deconstruct" the board completely. While you do so, you reach a point where the winning move becomes obvious and self-evident. It would feel like "deriving" the best move. One would still need to try out the lookaheads with this move, but that would be similar to "testing a product" - just to ensure that the move really is what it appears to be. It would be an after-check of the solution, not the process to finding the solution.

A Deep Thinking approach to playing chess or solving chess puzzles could instantly give you insights at par with professional chess experts.

We would explore a Deep Thinking approach to this chess puzzle in a future article.

The Scope of Deep Thinking

The applicability of Deep Thinking extends to all personal and professional skills that require any kind of cognition.

Deep Thinking plays a very important role in designing and architecting new products, management and leadership, communication, influence, negotiations, teaching, learning, innovation, creativity - it impacts every aspect of our personal and professional lives that depends on thinking.

Creative Tension

The most spontaneous, reflex response of an untrained thinking mechanism is to move in the forward direction - run horizontally on a plane - rush to the solution. The most practiced approach - across all domains - is to "try out" what intuitively comes to us. When we run out of all such intuitive ideas, we feel "we don't know", and that "we cannot solve this".

Why is it that even with a very certain knowledge that merely "trying out ideas" do not grant much success, that remains the defacto mode of thinking ?

The mind, on encountering any question or any uncertain situation finds itself in a stretch. This state of stretch is referred to as Creative Tension. This state of stretch is very uncomfortable for the mind, and it seeks an immediate resolution. The most obvious way to do that is for the mind to rush for the answer, so that it gets relieved of this stretch.

The mind always NEEDS an answer urgently. Some answer would do. Any answer would do. Even the perception that we have an answer would do.

When we collapse this Creative Tension ourselves by providing an answer (that probably comes from our past knowledge and experience), we remain in the familiar realm of our known capabilities. By doing this, we deprive our mind the time and opportunity to provide us with a creatively elegant solution.

This the secret of creativity - the Creative Tension of the mind, if kept alive, would eventually collapse to provide us the right, creative answer.

This is what scientists refer to when they talk about "sleeping with the problem". This is what Einstein meant when he said :

“It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.”

Staying with the problem longer

Staying with the problem longer is the one and only key to all creative solutions. This keeps the Creative Tension alive, eventually leading to the spontaneous collapsing of the Creative Tension by our thinking mechanism, bringing creative ideas and answers to our mind-space.

An important step towards causing the Creative Tension to collapse is to change the direction of our thinking mechanism.

Making Deep Thinking Feasible

The most common reflex of individuals, when asked to think deeply, is to strain their foreheads. Probably close the eyes, too. The "palms or fingers on the forehead" makes it feel even deeper.

Deep Thinking is often associated with a stressed and strained state of the brain and the mind - and this, is the primary reason why Deep Thinking becomes so prohibiting.

It is the natural state of the mind to be in a state of "flow". The mind is more inclined to "expressing" rather than "imbibing"

That's why we love to talk more than to listen. It's in-built in us. Expressing is a basic, fundamental need of our minds. When we indulge in trial-and-error - we are expressing. When we are trying out an intuitive idea - we are expressing. The mind feels a sense of relief and let-go when it expresses itself this way.

Deep Thinking is prohibitive because it is too upstream in nature. It is like fighting against our natural flow of our mind.

That's why it is more likely for an individual to put in 10 more hours to a task than to spend 10 minutes of deep thinking.

Deep Thinking can be made mainstream only if there is a downstream approach to it.

When Deep Thinking starts to feel like a flow, this would be our undoubted choice for the mode of thinking. We would feel like we are in the state of constant flow even when involved in Deep Thinking - a flow, where we do not just flow randomly forward, but we flow deeper. Depth is where all the pearls of insights lie.

Deep Thinking begins when we shift our focus away from "answers" to "questions".

The mind has a dying need to express. Unfortunately, when we start expressing our answers and ideas in response to a problem, there aren't many answers to express except for those which come intuitively to use from our past knowledge and experience. Very soon we run out of them. Even if this process leads us to an answer or a new idea, it is a rejig of the answers and ideas we already have had. That's why years down the line, we come up with the similar styles of ideas and similar style of thoughts. Style is just a thinking pattern frozen in time, because of continuously rehashing what ever has already found place in our mind space.

Deep Thinking begins by expressing your "questions" freely without any pressing need to get an answer right away.

Expressing questions is a very precise skill, and nothing short of a miracle. This is one skill that is necessary and sufficient for every individual to go ahead with his personal as well as professional life.

Expressing answers can be compared to a palliative pill, that gives you a feeling of comfort without actually getting you to the real solution. Expression questions, on the other hand, creates a massive Creative Tension that collapses almost immediately, leading you to astoundingly creative ideas almost effortlessly.

The 3-Step Deep Thinking Framework

To make Deep Thinking an accessible skill, we present a 3-step Framework for Deep Thinking. This would enable every individual to transform Deep Thinking from a vague, abstract skill to a precise scientific step.

The 3-steps of our Deep Thinking Framework are :

(a) Deconstruct (b) Insight (c) Reconstruct

(a) Deconstruct

Deconstructing a problem or a concept or an idea involves :

(i) Breaking down the problem/concept/idea into simpler components

(ii) Creating a perfect visual representation of the problem.

This step requires us to desist from making a forward dash to the answer or a conclusion. It allows us to pause the forward motion and go deeper instead. Going deep requires breaking down the problem into simpler components and creating a representation of the problem that sufficiently triggers our mind. Every problem has its own perfect representation. Training our thinking mechanism to come up with the perfect representation of a problem is the biggest transformative step we can take towards Deep Thinking.

(b) Insight

When we have deconstructed the problem enough, we reach a point where the solution just pops up, as a "flash of insight". We do not need to stretch ourselves and reach out strenuously for the answer. If we have broken down the problem sufficiently, and found a near-perfect representation of it, we would be able to see the answer right there in front of us. We just need to bend over and pick it up.

This process is similar to what can be articulated as "connecting the dots". When the dots are coarse-grained and far apart, we may not know what they stand for. But as we make the dots more fine-grained, there is a point where the dots connect themselves automatically in our mind-space. It gives a clear, unambiguous, answer.

In the above images, at which point, could you conclude with absolute certainty whether the dots would connect to form N or to form H?

It is in the nature of the dots to keep connecting themselves in our thinking mechanism. Whenever our minds perceive a collection of dots, it automatically connects them. The art of deep, insightful thinking is not to teach our mind how to connect dots, but to make the dots appropriately fine-grained.

Deconstruction makes it possible for the mind to connect the dots constructively and productively.

(c) Reconstruct

Any process requiring deep thinking has only a few steps that require a big flash of insight. Once the insight is there, everything else seems straightforward. Beyond that, it is just a matter of going ahead and completing the solution.

The primary skill of operating our Thinking Mechanism is to deconstruct skillfully so that it leads to an insight. The rest just follows naturally.

It is very simple to train our thinking mechanism to align itself to these 3-steps. These 3-steps carry the key to solving ANYTHING. When we get skilled in these 3 steps, we can solve problems and learn concepts beyond our innate abilities, prior training and experience.

The 3-Step Framework completely transforms the way we think, learn and solve problems. We learn to take a problems heads-on. We learn to take a problem at its face value. Instead of forcing the problem to fit into the mould of our past knowledge and experience, we learn how to approach every problem with fresh eyes. It makes "domain-expertise" redundant and outdated. One can learn and master any new skill in any domain, get insightful ideas about any domain. We begin to look at ideas and principles as "obvious" and "making sense". We approach our tasks grounds-up from first principles, and can assemble our way to the end-result with ease.

Deconstructing Deconstruction

This transformation begins when we make Deconstruction the primary mode of our thinking process. When Deconstruction becomes the way we look at things, we stop taking ideas and concepts for granted - and as a result of this, we instantly transform from being a mindless user of a concept to being an expert that understands everything down to details. We stop being unconscious participants of various life processses.

We learn to break down everything down to its atomic and sub-atomic components. We spontaneously take a step back and observe the complex processes unfold and take shape. We learn to question everything spontaneously, triggering lines of thought that looks for new ways to organize our worlds.

Deconstruction is the entry point to the portal of Deep Thinking.

How well we execute the task of Deconstruction defines the complete Deep Thinking experience.

Creative Tension, on its own, keeps us uncomfortable, restless and fidgety. The great thinkers, scientists and artists are those who have found comfort in this state. They can comfortably stay in this state of Creative Tension for long. But for the majority, being in Creative Tension is too much of heat to withstand.

Deconstruction makes Creative Tension accessible to all, by providing us a comfortable way to be in this state. It provides us a "lounge" in the mansion of Creative Tension, where we can stay longer without getting uncomfortable. That's how it becomes the key to collapsing the "Creative Tension". A problem / concept / idea sufficiently deconstructed collapses effortlessly.

Deconstruction, being a counter-intuitive skill, requires a great amount of self-awareness. However, once trained in the art of Deconstruction - the mind becomes capable of solving, learning and creating far beyond what is possible by its innate capability.

If you do not know what to do with a problem, just "deconstruct". Deconstructing a problem is all we need to solve it.

The Next Thinking Revolution

What is possible through Deep Thinking is obvious to all. Everyone is aware of the impact that Deep Thinking could create. However, Deep Thinking has failed to become a part of our regular thinking style because of two primary reasons :

(i) Deep thinking is very "upstream" in nature. It requires a lot of effort against the spontaneous and intrinsic nature of mind. The mind loves to flow and express, while Deep Thinking requires us to swim against this flow, creating a push that is strenuously prohibiting in effort.

(ii) Deep thinking is a very vague, abstract term. It is very difficult for us to conceive of what to do when one is thinking deep - other than straining one's forehead.

In this article, we have presented a solution to both these limiting points, making Deep Thinking possible for all.

(i) Deep Thinking can be made totally downstream by mastering the skill of expressing ourselves in terms of Questions.

(ii) Deep Thinking can be made a scientific, learnable skill. We have introduced a 3-step framework to Deep Thinking that can be learnt, mastered and put into practice by one and all very easily and effortlessly. Of these 3 steps, the first step - Deconstruction - is the entry point to the portal of Deep Thinking.

This is the most powerful tool a professional could have in his thinking toolkit.

Other articles in the series :

The Professional Thinker

Taking Problems Head-On

Diving Into Deep Thinking

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