The ability to analyse common sense, facts, experience and make a rational or critical judgment is a skill.
But it’s your responsibility to improve how you think.
You have to deliberately learn better tools and models to become a rational and critical thinker.
“I cannot teach anyone anything, I can only make them think.” Socrates said.
How we think is life-changing — it affects our ability to make informed choices and solve life problems.
The quality of your thinking process is proportional to your thinking tools. The more tools you have, the better the outcomes of your judgements.
The right thinking tools can improve how you reason.
Failing to put your conventional beliefs, perceptions, worldview, mental models and observations to the test can lead to lazy thinking.
Our subjective realities are not the whole truth. Becoming a rigorous thinker starts with a learning/open mindset and embracing a sense of wonder.
Lloyd Alexander was right, “We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
Clarity of mind only gets better if you are serious about becoming wiser tomorrow and making quality time for the brain to make better connections.
“Think time” without the many distractions of the modern world allows your mind to make new connections between your neurons. When you allow your brain to communicate well with itself, it will surprise you.
Intelligence is just the brain making better connections between existing knowledge. That’s why you need to improve what’s already there.
This way of focusing your mind for a short period will enable you to tackle any challenge that comes your way more effectively.
It will also enable you to react more quickly in times of stress or emergency by staying calm and focused on what needs to be done right now.
You can easily remove or reduce the misery of making wrong decisions by asking yourself a few critical questions.
I like what Peter Abelard once said, “The key to wisdom is this — constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.”
To connect ideas, cross-pollinate facts and combine pieces of information better, ask yourself these crucial questions
- Am I holding on to convention beliefs for too long and are they still helping me become a wiser version of myself?
- How many of my immediate connections are independent-minded? Conventional thinkers think alike. For rigorous thinking, break the chain.
- When was the last time I had a rational conversation with multi-disciplinary thinkers? Embrace cross-domain thinking.
- Are the books I read on the same topic? Reading books outside your usual scope can broaden your knowledge and expand your working memory.
- Do I read biographies? Make time to get into the heads of intelligent people by reading good books that talk about their habits, routines and experiences.
- Am I curious enough? Rational scepticism encourages rigorous thinking — question almost every common sense.
- What habits, behaviours, routines and beliefs control my judgements? Are they all accurate and objective? Can they be improved? Remember what Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
- Am I unconsciously forcing myself into a fixed mindset? “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool,” Richard Feynman said.
- Do I easily discount knowledge I disagree with? Our blind spots can easily lead us to make wrong conclusions. Keep an open mind.
- Do I look for answers at the same places? We tend to rely on the same set of information to make judgments. Start considering places/information you usually ignore.
- Have I considered all the possible choices and outcomes? Think first, second, third and fourth-order consequences of your decisions.
- When was the last time I changed my mind? Learn to change your mind when you find new knowledge that proves your existing beliefs, models and perceptions were wrong.
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This post was previously published on Personal Growth.
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