 define terms...
I am thinking that defining terms a little here would help out. The philosophic terms related to your question are induction and deduction. Deduction seems be what you are describing as your better skill set. Deduction is taking known facts and principles and applying them. The standard example is algebra. Induction is taking observations from the world around us and abstracting out principles and new ideas.
That may sound like gobbledegook. But its not. Deduction is using algebra. Induction is inventing algebra (or a new algebraic principle). Almost all thinking processes are a combination, but we all have a proclivity towards one or the other.
So, my thought on how to improve the induction side of your thought process. Find something creative that you enjoy doing. Painting, writing, creating New mathematical solutions.. something or maybe several things. Do a lot of this and you will find that you approach a problem more inductively and less deductively. I have to work on myself all the time the other direction.
good luck
Wayne
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