Proven Strategies To Improve Decision
Making Skills, Increase Intuition And
Think Smarter!
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Published by lucky bardele
Your brain is a three-pound supercomputer that is the command center for your
body and your life. It’s involved in every aspect of what you do in your life, as
well as every bodily function. It determines your thoughts, your feelings, your
actions and your social disposition. Your brain regulates the kind of person you
are. It controls how thoughtful you are, how polite or rude you are, how well you
think in a dangerous situation and how you behave around your colleagues and
family. It influences your emotional well being and how well you perform with
the opposite sex. Your brain is literally involved in everything about your life.
It’s more complicated than any computer that has ever been created or have even
imagined. It has one hundred billion nerve cells in it, and all of those nerve
endings have connections with other cells. Your brain has more connections in it
than the amount of stars in the universe. If you want to be the best person you
can be at work, in a relationship or even when performing leisure activities, you
need to optimize your brain’s functioning!
Many of us exercise, lift weights, eat healthy and do yoga in order to keep our
bodies in good condition, but what about the brain? Your brain is the epicenter
of your life, and houses the computer that helps you to make every decision that
touches your life. Chances are, we’re just ignoring it and hoping that it will do
its job without further input from you.
No matter how old you are, mental exercise will have a positive effect on your
brain, which will, in turn, have a positive effect on your life. Besides, your brain
needs to be fundamentally healthy to be able to go through the process of critical
thinking, which is the basis for many problem-solving initiatives. The critical
thinking discussed in this book encompasses smart strategies, logical thinking as
well as great decision making skills. All these call for high level reasoning from
a brain in tip top shape.
So let’s discuss how you can exercise your brain and make yourself into a
logical thinker, as well as improving your decision-making skills.
Understanding Critical Thinking
Is it all right to say that critical thinking is what plain thinking is not? Well,
possibly so. In critical thinking, you begin to evaluate something the minute you
hear it; that is before deciding whether to believe it or not. Actually what you
begin with is analyzing all the parts of what has been said and then assessing
each of them in the context within which it has been uttered. After consolidating
everything that you come up with, whatever you make of the intended meaning,
as a whole, is bound to be objective.
For you to be efficient in critical thinking, you need to know how to structure the
entire process. The following points can help:
Make a deliberate effort to single out the ideas contained in the piece
of information you are analyzing
Weigh the ideas you find against each other to try and see what their
correlation is.
Find out the relevance and importance, if any, of each of your ideas.
Pick out the arguments involved in the situation you are assessing and
see how weighty or flimsy they are.
After evaluating the arguments that you find, create your own
arguments to demonstrate how many of the ideas that were presented
were ideas that you agree with and which of the arguments go against
what you believe in.
Identify any inconsistencies contained in the text or arguments during
your analysis. You also need to be on the lookout for any glaring
mistakes in the arguments presented.
Think up solutions that can rectify any shortcomings that you find.
As you do your analysis and construct your counter arguments, you
want to bring your personal values into play.One important thing that needs to be said at this juncture is that, as a critical
thinker, you can only argue from a point of knowledge. Your arguments should
be distinguishable from those of people who get their information from the
grapevine or try to rely upon conjecture. That is why you need to have your facts
correct from the very beginning.
In addition, you need to have a relatively clear mind about the sequence of
events and even know how to organize the facts you have in a logical manner. A
critical thinker, therefore, has a great body of knowledge to tap into as well as
the competence to analyze issues and make sense out of the information. Of
great importance as a critical thinker is the ability to put facts in their proper
perspective. That way, your work becomes a tool to be used for a higher cause or
improvement.What do you accomplish by critical thinking?
Highlighting any unfounded arguments that you can detect
Highlighting any fallacies contained in the arguments presented
Introducing or strengthening objective reasoning
Strengthening existing good arguments with your knowledge and
logic
Contributing positively towards tasks that are constructive
Contributing to improvement of theories that are already in use
Improvement of working processes
Improvement and strengthening of institutions
In short, critical thinking is handy wherever knowledge, objectivity and
analytical skills are necessary.Critics say critical thinking is a hindrance to creativity – true or false?
False! If you believe this premise, you would be implying that creative people
are basically illogical – and, yes… shallow as well. Yet that is far from the truth.
Creative people are vastly informed. And they are often critical and not always
as carefree as you may imagine, but they can also be spontaneous. How else do
you think they set about improving their work if not on the basis of critical
thinking?
In short, critical thinking does not prevent you from being creative. In fact, you
often don’t understand about “thinking outside of the box” unless you have
already understood the in’s and out’s of a regular response. Usually after a
session of critical thinking you’ll able to see what the “out of the box” response
would involve because you have likely exhausted other avenues through critical
thinking.On the whole, these are the main benefits of critical thinking:
It streamlines your thinking process
If you are wondering why streamlining the thought process is important,
consider having one set of information in the hands of several people.
Depending on your competence in critical thinking and your values as well, all
of those people could come up with varying arguments. This is what happens in
the legal field where the basis of argument is always the constitution and
common statutes, yet experts end up with varying legal standpoints. And their
critical thinking ends up getting someone acquitted, fined or otherwise. Each
viewpoint is based upon the same facts, although each person using critical
thinking to strengthen their case will be looking at every facet of the information
from their own individual viewpoint, and presenting it to support their cause.
Critical thinking, as already mentioned, is meant to accomplish a higher cause.
For that reason, it is useful in all spheres of life. School curriculums are
improved on the basis of critical thinking; research findings are published on the
same basis and so on.
It is central to the development of the world knowledge economy
What this essentially means is that you need critical thinking to be able to put the
available data and information to good use. Crude information, without the
benefit of critical thinking, is useless and often dangerous. That is why we need
people to be able to analyze available information in the right context and come
up with useful application of that information. It is actually the reason political
parties that have great think tanks end up doing well. Organizations that value
critical thinking are able to seize wonderful market opportunities at a global
level.
You also need to take into account that anything you come up with has no
geographical limitations in this era of information technology. Luckily, critical
thinking is also broad enough to embrace the manner in which you communicate
your findings taking into account the suitability of the timing and the sensitivity
of potential markets.It helps to improve communication
What do you do in communication? Well, you provide information. Facts…?
No, not just facts – analyzed and evaluated facts. In fact, it includes data that has
not just been analyzed and evaluated; it can also be organized in a logical
manner to tell a story or to create a particular image. So, really, you need to be
able to think critically if you are to present your ideas in an effective way that
others will be able to agree with.
It encourages and improves creativity
Think of the process it takes for you to be satisfied that you have evaluated an
issue with critical thinking. Often, it requires the effort to analyze the
information at hand within varying contexts – all in your mind – imagining how
workable each of those scenarios might be and so on. And at the end of the day,
you come up with your conclusion, having discarded some ideas, modified
others and adopted others entirely. Doesn’t that process call for a creative mind?
It encourages and improves self reflection
How on earth do you decide what is good for you when you have so many
options at your disposal? Obviously, you want your life to be meaningful, and so
you often find yourself reflecting on your values and choosing to do things that
you can justify to yourself. In that sense, are you not already on the path of self-
reflection?
It provides a basis for scientific development
Science is an area that seeks precise results based on specific facts evaluated
within clearly set parameters. To establish a credible working formula in
science, for instance, you need to think critically, taking into account what your
observations are and how each fact relates to others. Even when it comes to
conducting experiments, as well as making your deductions, the process of
critical thinking is central to all of the results that you derive from that
information.
In fact, scientists are fully engaged in critical thinking as they formulate various
theories. They take into account not just facts but also circumstances and all
other criteria involved in conducting their experiments.It serves as a basis for democracy
Does this proposition sound farfetched? Well, it isn’t. Think about how much
lobbying takes place during political campaigns and even thereafter when
politicians want to have their way? If you are not adept at critical thinking, you
may end up supporting candidates who have contrasting values from your own.
And you even risk supporting political opportunists at the expense of forward-
looking leaders.
Critical thinking also helps people to look at important social issues critically
and make up their mind as to how to vote without being swayed by prejudices.
Authority and Tradition as Set by Socrates
The onerous conversation between members of society often remains ponderous
and mundane. Everybody has a different ‘sticking point’ and everyone wants a
hearing. Is this basic flaw inherent in all languages and learning processes? Or is
this ineptness a cultural hangover that people take for granted, forever?
This overhanging aspect of society has conjugations that Socrates used (do you
mean that it has been hanging since then?) to conduct investigation and analyze
the fallacies hiding behind empty speech. Misdirected beliefs that often proved
to trip over themselves and arguments formed without much realistic basis
seems to be the order of the day. Needless to say, there was no particular
direction to the argument and the meaning remained as clear as muddy water.
The outcome of all this analysis was that Socrates established unequivocally that
it was useless to depend on the ‘authorities’ for complete awareness or
dependable information. Through a demonstration, he brought out the total
confusion and irrational behavior exhibited by a person holding a high position
in society.
In order to include an idea into our thinking as a belief, the way forward - he
stated was to conduct a deep probe with explicit questions on the subject.
Socrates was insistent on setting aside those ideas that did not give a rational
explanation, though they were very helpful to people’s interests or served to
comfort people looking for a way forward. People possessed an undesirable
egocentric quality, which made them make the wrong choices.
While analyzing, he traced out complete implications of the expressed idea and
the actions accompanying them. Socratic Questioning thereby becomes the basis
for the critical thinking agenda. One needed to study fundamental concepts, step
by step, taking into account the assumptions used and how the idea took shape
and its basis, too. Through Socratic Questioning we understand the need for
logical consistency in order to arrive at clarity.
Next in the historical path of critical thinking came his successors Plato and
Aristotle. All these Greek skeptics underlined the fact that everything differed
from their external manifestation. Incidentally, Plato kept records of the sayings
of Socrates, which is why we know so much about it. Greek tradition thus helped
set up the foundation for seeking the way of thinking that was comprehensive
yet responsive to arguments, and help systematic thinking. One could then see
deeper realities and not be deluded by superficial impressions. People needed to
think deeper and not be swayed by first impressions.
Systematic Critical Thinking
The practice of critical thinking carried on through the Dark Ages due to the
works and teachings of eminent writers and philosophers. Prominent among
them was St. Thomas Aquinas. His work “Summa Theologica” had a profound
influence on Western literature and philosophy. Following the trend of critical
thinking, this work put forward the teachings of the Church explaining in detail
every point in Christian theology. It follows a circle of Purpose of Man, namely
Christ. It then goes on to the next, which are the Sacraments. From there it
reaches God. So, this existence of God explains the creation of Man.
The laymen of those days (and even today) follow the ‘five ways’ prescribed in
the book. This but forward the arguments and proves the existence of God.
However, compared to the rest of his work, this part takes up only 5 pages. The
book in all has 3,500 pages. There are many references to people in society
having respect during the days of Aquinas.
At the top of the page, we have Aristotle, the Philosopher. People investigated
into theological practices and notions with a precise system of logic that he was
famous for. The Philosopher defined many technicalities that served to help
with the analysis. Alongside the works of Aristotle were publications of the
commentaries given by Ibn Rushid on the Philosopher’s. Ibn Rushid became
famous as the Commentator. Aristotle often writes about Ibn Rushid (as
Avicenna) in his works. Other people mentioned in the Summa are Peter
Lombard the Master, Rabbi Moses, Augustine of Hippo the Theologician and
Dionysius thought of as the disciple of St. Paul. The teaching of Aristotle
showed that critical thinkers are not blindly opposed to established faith. They
only discarded beliefs that lacked a proper foundation.Sir Francis Bacon and the Advancement of Learning
Sir Francis Bacon lived in England during this period. His book, “The
Advancement of Learning”, encouraged readers to make empirical studies of the
world. While seeking knowledge, people misuse their brains. He understood the
need for using processes for information gathering (search Google…) that today
forms the foundation for science. Left to their own devices, people show the
tendency to become bad. They accumulate bad habits. Their thoughts become
corrupt and lead them away from reality. He terms these thoughts as ‘idols’ and
it forms the central object for his explanation of various deviations in thinking.
Idols of Tribe: You see instances where your mind betrays your
beliefs.
Idols of School: Person develops unscientific thinking methods if the
instruction is poor or they have to follow blind rules.
Idols of Marketplace: This is a reference to our own misuse of words
just because it is convenient.
Idols of theater: This occurs when people begin to act without
thinking because of custom.
People consider the book very modern because it conveys ideas that we use
today. This book, which explains that the mind cannot exist without support
from other people in society, is the forerunner to all texts on critical thinking.
Descartes principle of systematic doubt
Five decades later in France, we see the rise of another philosopher named
Descartes. His main contention was for clarity with accuracy. People recognize
his famous saying, “I think, therefore I am”. He spoke about it; he argued for it.
Scientifically sound, he had good mathematical abilities. His work in physics
might be familiar to many: refraction. He is known for his book, “Meditations on
First Philosophy”. He explains that one can only be certain about one’s own
existence. His work established the epistemological trend that has lasted for 300 The mind needed systematic disciplining to be able to think clearly and
perfectly. His book, “Rules for the direction of the mind” is a close second to the
Summa. His approach was to base thinking on sound fundamentals that had been
thought out from all angles. This critical thinking method is based on the
principle of systematic doubt. He wanted testing and questioning for all parts of
thinking.
As opposed to ordinary thinking that assumed everything and questioned
nothing, Descartes tended to keep inquiring into ones beliefs with a wall of
doubt. Beliefs derived from the senses, usually deceived. Looking at a stick in
the water, a person might be led to assume that the stick is bent. This was an
optical illusion.
For Descartes, the ability to think and reason, which underlies critical thinking,
had basis on existence. Opening the portals of knowledge to scientific
questioning, he wanted people to use arithmetic knowledge along with
perspective analysis with the use of geometry. Sensory experience needed to be
reliably distinct to formulate an opinion.
The power to reason and judge the mechanism by which the world functioned
came from the intellect. Descartes thus established by way of critical thinking
that one might acquire knowledge that had scientific origins. He also showed
that this knowledge of material aspects could have a mathematical basis.
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