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• Critical thinking is an important predictor of professional creativity. • Critical thinking one year ago can predict professional creativity one year later. • Design structured reading and diary tasks to train critical thinking. • Structured diary introspection training method can improve professional creativity. Pro-C creativity refers to professional creativity, which plays a key role in designing novel and practical works for designers in practical work. In order to verify the significance of critical thinking and Pro-C creativity and explore how to improve Pro-C creativity through critical thinking training, we carried out two studies. In Study 1, we recruited 58 designers using a longitudinal research approach and employed the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) to measure designers' critical thinking. Designers were tasked with completing assignments related to Pro-C level of creativity A, and their creativity was assessed by experts. Through a one-year follow-up analysis, we examined how their critical thinking influenced Pro-C creativity in the design domain. The results of the cross-lagged analysis indicate that scores on critical thinking positively predicted the creativity levels of designers one year later. Study 2 is a controlled intervention study. We developed an intervention program for training critical thinking, named the "Structured diary introspection Training Method", which is based on the online technique. Through a 21-day critical thinking training intervention, the results of repeated measures analysis of variance showed that, compared to the control group, designers in the intervention group scored significantly higher in a creative task related to designing a living room. Our findings support critical thinking as an important predictor of Pro-C creativity in the real world and provide a feasible training program for those who need to improve their Pro-C creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]