How to think smart and what is critical thinking

Fortunately, there are steps that you can take, today and in the coming year, to increase your mental strength--to think smarter. Here's my take on Hess's ideas:

1. Question your assumptions.

Lazy thinkers instinctively seek information that validates their view of the world and filter out information that contradicts what they already "know" to be true. That takes much less mental energy than thinking things through.

When you question your assumptions, however, you develop the mental muscle to look more closely for mistakes in your thinking. Questioning your assumptions also makes you more open to new ideas.

2. Stop being so judgmental.

Another form of lazy thinking is making quick judgments about other people and situations. We do it in work and in life all the time: "That's a terrible idea." "He's an idiot." "She doesn't try hard enough." And so on.

These automatic judgments tend to create division, resentment, and roadblocks. By contrast, suspending judgment until you know more or (better yet) accepting people as they are creates collaboration, dialogue, and progress.

3. Defy your rigid rules.

Rigid rules are the classic product of lazy thinking. After all, if all you need to do to get what you want is to follow a simple recipe, why spend precious brain energy figuring out new ways to get that same result?

In the past, that laziness made evolutionary sense, because following the "tried and true" meant comfort, shelter, and sustenance. However, today's insanely fast business environment demands constant risk-taking and the breaking of new ground.

Defying rigidity forces you to devise multiple pathways to achieve your goals. It's taking the training wheels off your mental bicycle; now you've got to think fast to continue moving forward.

4. Get calm before making decisions.

Arguably the greatest form of lazy thinking is the fight or flight reaction. You're confronted with a situation or person who seems threatening? Boom! Either hit hard or run and hide. No deep thoughts required, thank you very much.

In the business world, however, this kind of reaction almost always leads to dumb decisions. Either you react aggressively, which alienates people, or you play it safe and miss real opportunities.

When you wait until you're calm to make decisions, you bring your intellect to bear upon the situation. Rather than just reacting, you can analyze, plan, and then execute a real strategy.

5. Get over yourself.

Seeing things only from your perspective is definitely lazy thinking. It's instinctive to evaluate events and people on the basis of how they might affect you and how you can use them to your advantage.

It takes far more mental effort to exercise empathy and imagination to consider how a situation affects others, and how everyone might be able to work together to make truly amazing things happen.

6. Listen more carefully.

Most people speak at a rate of 100 to 150 words per minute, but your brain can cognitively process speech at up to 600 words per minute. In other words, your brain naturally wants to move about four times faster than the other person is speaking.

In this case, the mental laziness is allowing your brain to chatter to itself, thinking about what to say next, where you'll be in an hour, what's for dinner tonight, and so forth.

To think smarter, slow your brain down so that it's moving at the same speed as the other person is talking. Make no mistake: This kind of active listening takes more mental effort. It's like the difference between swinging a dumbbell up and down (easy) and taking 10 seconds to do each curl (difficult).

The benefits, however, are spectacular, because you hear more, learn more, and remember more. Just as important, your customers, colleagues, and co-workers will know that you cared enough to hear them out and are truly interested in what they have to say.

What is critical thinking?

Thinking is the foundation of everything we do. Every action, every  solution, and every decision we make is the result of thinking.  We think when we decide what to eat for lunch, how to meet a project schedule, and what to say during a conversation.  We think when we drive a car (although, unfortunately, we’re not always thinking about driving).  We’re thinking all the time, and although not always filled with valuable thinking, our brains are always in gear. Even when sleeping, we’re thinking.

Some paraphrase critical thinking as “thinking smarter.”
 I paraphrase it as “headscratching.”
 Most would agree critical thinking is not our everyday, automatic, not-really-thinking-about-it thinking.
  Critical thinking  is: •manual thinking (not automatic); •purposeful; •being aware of the partiality of your thinking;

Try reading this text:

 You mghit tnihk i’ts aaminzg taht you can raed tihs with vrlialuty no diluftficuy even tuohg the ltetres are mxeid up. It trnus out taht all you need are the fsrit and lsat leetrts in the crocert pcale. Tihs is an eaxplme of yuor barin rnuning in aoumtatic mdoe


How can you read that?  When I ask that question, the answer I inevitably get these days is “Because I can read my kid’s text messages.” Well, that’s partially true; but really, how are you able to read that? If English is your native language, you probably even read this as quickly as you would have if the letters were not scrambled.

Your brain does several activities to enable you to read this mixed-up text, one of which is pattern recognition.  Your brain is a very powerful pattern recognition machine.

Critical thinking means that you’re aware of the partiality of your thinking. Most of the people we ask assume critical thinking is nonemotional

Benefits of Critical  Thinking Critical thinking can significantly enhance your problem-solving and decision making skills.

You make better-quality decisions, come up with more innovative solutions, and enjoy faster outcomes.

 Some benefits of critical thinking include:

 •clear understanding of problems or situations .
 •faster and accurate conclusions and quality decisions .
 •a richer variety of explanations and solutions .
 •opportunity recognition .
 •mistake avoidance .
 •thought-out strategies and early elimination of dead ends Critical thinking achieves these benefits by affecting three main aspects of your thought process, explained next.

  When to Use Critical Thinking The previous paragraph outlined some of the benefits of critical thinking.

 With so many advantages, it would seem we should think critically all the time. Although critical thinking is always useful and can be applied everywhere, it’s not practical to think this way all the time.

 It’s not only about where you apply critical thinking but also about when you apply it. A simple rule to determine whether you should employ critical thinking in a given situation is when the result of a problem, initiative, goal, or circumstance (a headscratcher) is substantially.

 In other words, use critical thinking when the outcome makes a significant difference in your business or personal situation. For example, a casual e-mail about where to eat lunch usually isn’t  catastrophic if there’s a miscommunication.

 However, a misunderstood e-mail about the requirements of a product, or about a customer issue, may have far-reaching ramifications.

As a result, you might want to use a little critical thinking on the e-mail that describes a customer issue, as opposed to the e-mail about lunch.

 T he following are three lists of examples of where and when you might use critical thinking.

The first list contains high-level business functions; the second, specific business issues or goals; and the third, day-to-day activities many use to achieve those business goals.
Once you learn the critical thinking tools, you’ll add to this list with areas specific to your job.

To think smarter, we need to be open-minded

“True open-mindedness is a process of being intensely worried about being wrong and asking questions instead of defending a position.

It demands that you get over your ego-driven desire to have whatever answer you happen to have in your head be right. Instead, you need to actively question all of your opinions and seek out the reasoning behind alternative points of view.” – Ray Dalio, American businessman.

Rather than being the enemy of science, open-mindedness is what drives scientific inquiry.

It can be defined as a childlike attitude of wonder and interest in new ideas, coupled with a determination to have your beliefs properly grounded.

True open-mindedness prevents habit and desire from making us unable or unwilling to entertain the idea that earlier beliefs may have to be revised or abandoned. Being open-minded means challenging the fanaticism that comes from a conviction that our views are absolutely certain.

Being open-minded does notimply that we are indecisive or incapable of thinking logically. After considering various alternatives, an open-minded person can take a firm stand on a position and act accordingly.

And now you know that being creative is such a part of life.
And imagination should be your own.
Always think big.