Your Six Thinking Hats

College is a time when a lot of weighty decisions need to be made. Decisions about college majors, career paths, geographic relocation, relationships with friends, family and potential partners, and the list goes on. These decisions will have an impact not only on your happiness today and tomorrow, but also on the opportunities available to you in the future. You might even feel like you are laying the foundation for the rest of your life and one wrong cornerstone could cause the whole structure to collapse. The pressure to make the right choices is tremendous.

To add to this pressure cooker, this might also be the first time in your life that you have had the authority to make so many of your own decisions. You are now out of your parents’ house and living on your own. You are legally an adult and responsible for yourself. Your parents, teachers, and coaches aren’t looking over your shoulder and making sure you follow the rules anymore.

While the pressure to make the right decisions may be overwhelming and terrifying; the freedom to make your own decisions can be exhilarating. The key to turning terrifying into exhilarating is your confidence in your ability to make good decisions.

Hard Decisions

Do you have a hard decision to make? Do you have a problem which feels insurmountable? Are you out of ideas and at the end of your patience?

Which major should I choose? This decision will impact my future career choices.

I am working as hard as I can and I am still failing a class. What should I try next?

Should I stop being friends with this toxic person in my life? I might lose other friends if I do, but this friend is not much of a friend.

Is this the right school for me or would I be happier if I transferred? What would it be like to start over again at a new school?

I hate my major, but I’ve always thought I wanted to pursue this field. If I don’t study this field, I don’t know what I should study instead.

Which internship should I pursue for the summer? Should I stay close to home or go for it with the company I want to work for after I graduate?

Are your thoughts about this decision muddled and murky? Are they unruly as a swarm of bees? Are your competing priorities and desires related to the decision pulling you in too many directions? Are you stuck in a pattern of thinking which is not helping to solve the problem?

A Different Approach

When you are feeling overwhelmed and terrified by an important decision, consider using the six thinking hats model developed by Edward deBono (https://www.debonogroup.com/services/core-programs/six-thinking-hats/).

When using this model, you will practice taking one perspective at a time to think about the problem or decision in a more orderly and logical way. When you are "wearing" a certain color of hat you need to engage only in thoughts which support the ideals of that hat. Let’s use the example problem of, “I hate my major, but I’ve always thought I wanted to pursue this field. If I don’t study this field, I don’t know what I should study instead.”

The Six Hats

The first hat is the white hat. Think of it as a blank white sheet of paper which you need to fill with information. While you are wearing this hat, focus on facts and data. This is the place to think about average salaries and projected demand for jobs in each major you are considering. Gather all of the data you can about each major and the implications pursuing it will have on your life.

The second hat is the red hat. Think about your heart, your feelings, and your emotions when you are wearing this hat. This hat is as close to the opposite of the white hat as you can get! Divorce yourself from facts and data; use your intuition, feelings and emotions to analyze the problem or decision. If your heart is telling you that you will be happy one type of career field and miserable in other, this is the time to consider those feelings and write them down.

The third hat is the yellow hat. This hat is your sunny day hat. When you are wearing this hat, you can see only the positive. You are an eternal optimist and the glass is always half full. Use this hat to think about all of the best possible outcomes of each choice. Dream big here and explore all of the opportunities associated with each major. What careers would be open to you; what chances would you have to change the world for the better; who might you meet; where might you be able to go; what type of lifestyle could you live?

The fourth hat is the black hat. The black hat blocks out all of the sunshine and requires you to take a darker perspective. When you are wearing this hat, you should look for threats and potential problems. Be as critical as you can be when you are wearing this hat. If you choose each major: what could go wrong; what are the worst outcomes; which paths would be closed to you; what would be the most difficult and least satisfying things about this major and career path?

The fifth hat is the green hat. This hat is for growth and creativity. It is for seeing the world with new eyes. This is the place to think outside the box and brainstorm your craziest ideas and solutions. Everything is possible when you have the green hat on. Look past limitations and obstacles to see new options. When you are wearing this hat, you should consider majors you might never have thought possible for you because they are so far outside of the future you had envisioned for yourself. You might even consider majors which are not offered at your school and the possibility of transferring to another school. You could even consider career options which do not require a college degree. Put all of the options on the table at this point.

The sixth and final hat is the blue hat. Think about the sky when you are wearing this hat. Pull yourself up above the problem and all of the work you have done with the other hats to look at the big picture when you are wearing this hat. The blue hat calls for strategic thinking, for pulling your disparate and competing thoughts together into one cohesive and comprehensive picture, for drawing conclusions and for decisions and action. This is the end of the decision-making process. You have thought through all of the angles of the problem or decision in the previous steps and should be ready to choose a path forward and follow it confidently knowing that you were thorough in your decision-making process.

The next time you have an overwhelming decision to make and aren’t sure where to start, try using the six thinking hats to help you sort through your thoughts and make the right decision.

If you are still struggling to make decisions and need an extra set of eyes and ears on your decision-making process, one-on-one student success coaching might be for you. Let’s talk about your next big decision together!