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How to Develop Critical Thinking Skills
By Sam Milam
Do you react to
situations based on your emotions or personal biases?
Are you looking
for ways to
improve communication and the flow of ideas with those around
you?
There are skills
that have the capability to greatly improve your capacity to make objective,
effective choices and arguments, and those are critical thinking skills.
Without these
skills, arguments can often be one-sided.
Criticism can feel
like a personal attack on your character rather than an opportunity to open up
dialogue and communicate productively.
Let’s take a look at
how to develop critical thinking skills so that you can walk into any situation
with the tools needed to set intense emotions aside and make
insightful decisions.
1. Become a
self-critic.
The very first and
most important step for developing critical thinking skills is becoming a
critic of your own thoughts and actions. Without self-reflection, there can’t
be growth.
You can break down
your own thoughts by asking
yourself why you believe something.
When you do this,
you need to clarify your thoughts by assessing this information objectively and
finding a solid logic to what you believe, rather than just a muddled
idea.
Why do I believe
this? Can I think of examples in my life when this proved true or false? Am I
attached to this idea emotionally? Why?
When we
self-reflect, we are able to observe how we respond to a situation, in our
minds and out loud.
Another aspect of
becoming a self-critic is acknowledging
your strengths, weaknesses, personal preferences and biases.
When you know this
information, you can understand why you approach certain situations from a
specific perspective, and then you can step around that viewpoint because you
are aware of its presence.
2. Active
listening.
Thinking and
listening are nearly impossible to do at the same time.
To become a critical
thinker, you need to be able to listen to others’ ideas, arguments and
criticisms without thinking of your response or reaction while they are
speaking.
You can’t properly
absorb the information someone is trying to convey to you if you don’t take the
time to truly listen.
Listening allows
us to feel empathy. We hear someone else’s story, struggles,
ideas, successes and passions, and how they reached them.
When we hear their
perspective, we can take that information and analyze it.
When we use active
listening skills, we can fully understand what someone is trying to tell us
because that conversation continues until all parties can reiterate what the
other is trying to say.
3. Analyzing
information.
Analyzing
information is paramount for critical thinking. No one thinks critically at all
times.
Sometimes our joy,
anger, sadness or other emotions are too great, and other times we struggle to
focus on the central issue at hand.
To reach
success, we need to analyze the information before us, whether it is
information in our mind or being shared by others.
We can break it down
by assessing what is being said, and ensuring that we clearly understand what
it is that needs to happen.
Then we can dissect
and appraise all arguments, including our own, and think about how the
decisions would impact others, as well as the bottom line.
When we can step
back and analyze an argument, it allows us to approach it from an objective
viewpoint.
4. Nonviolent
communication.
Critical thinking
isn’t much help if you can’t communicate in a nonviolent, productive way.
When listening and
analyzing different arguments, you first need the ability to recognize
valid logic. Then you need to be able to communicate with other
people in a productive way.
The basis of
nonviolent communication is compassion, observation and collaboration.
When we approach any
scenario with compassion, we are already in a peaceful
mindset, rather than a defensive one.
When we observe, we
can observe our arguments and others without judgment and evaluation.
We can detach our
emotions from an idea. He doesn’t like my idea, so he must not like me.
And collaboration
naturally happens when everyone comes into the process with a compassionate,
open mind, with the focus on solving the objective at hand rather than
protecting anyone’s ego.
5. Developing
foresight.
The ability to predict the
future impact of a decision is foresight. Foresight is a
critical component for success in all aspects of your life.
When you move
somewhere, you plan ahead to see what the job outlook is and the safety of a
neighborhood. If you are moving a business, it is wise to examine the impact of
that decision.
Will it be too far
for some of your talented employees to drive? Will you lose business because of
the change? What will you gain?
Every decision
should be weighed carefully, with consideration of how the choice affects your
bottom line, but also for the people who are working toward success alongside
you.
Critical thinking
requires the ability to reflect on one’s own beliefs, as well as someone else’s
ideas, and then see the connections between those things.
It requires the
ability to actively listen to others, to assess, dissect and appraise
arguments, and to separate intense emotions from the topic at hand.
Sam Milam is a freelance writer hailing from the
Pacific Northwest. Her focus is on discovering passions, developing skill sets,
and honing the best, most productive version of ourselves. She loves to travel,
meet new people and do yoga.
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