5 Essential Critical Thinking Skills For Making Good Decisions

Are you looking to improve your critical thinking skills? Or have you ever been told by your manager or your boss to put more focus on critical thinking? Let's take a look at the word critical. When the word critical in the English language refers to judgment. When we are critical, we are putting judgment onto something. It also refers to an evaluation of the merits of that thing that we see as critical. It also means crucial. When something's critical, it is crucial. It's extremely important. Critical also refers to a point of crisis or some sort of danger. So what if the word critical is used to describe thinking as in critical thinking? So what does it mean? Understand that critical thinking is a form of thinking. And there are many forms of thinking. For example, you have habitual thinking, which is based simply on past practices. We have done this. We've always thought this way before. This is always the direction we thought of before. So therefore, this is the way I'm going to continue to think. And then we do this habitual thinking without considering our current data, without considering what's changed since the past. So it becomes a habit, which is what we refer to as habitual thinking. There's also brainstorming. I'm sure you're a lot very familiar with brainstorming. Brainstorming is also another form of thinking. And it's really when you're brainstorming, you're really seeing whatever comes to mind without evaluation, right? That's brainstorming. Just whatever comes to mind, the first thought, just write it down, write it down, keep writing it down. And that is a form of thinking, brainstorming. We also have what's called emotive thinking, right? And this is when we respond to the emotion that arises instead of the content of what was said. So these are examples of different forms of thinking. Now, these three forms of thinking, habitual thinking, brainstorming, emotive thinking, all of these three forms of thinking are non-critical thinking. It's non-critical. So I want to share with you in this video about critical thinking. What are the five key skills of critical thinking, right? So critical thinking is different from those three forms of thinking I just shared with you, but it involves five key skills, right? The first skill, number one, is gathering knowledge. This is the learning part, gathering knowledge. You're gathering bits of information, data, or concepts, or basic elements from different sources. And that's the learning part. You're gathering these things so that you can consider current data. Because remember, habitual thinking is the absence of current data. So now this is critical thinking. We need to consider what is current, what is now, what's the new information that has developed in this time frame, right? What are some new considerations that I need to have that will help me analyze more effectively? We must also have knowledge of the basic elements to be acquainted with a certain discipline. So basic elements include things like terminology, especially if it's industry-specific terms. It can also be components of that body of knowledge or that domain of knowledge. This is also about knowing the interrelationships among the basic elements. So for example, what are the different categories of that information or that data? What are some key principles involved in that industry? Or maybe some theories that are turning into solid facts. And so this is the learning part. Gathering data is the learning part. But we can't stay there. Critical thinking doesn't just mean gathering data or points of information or concepts. We must elevate from knowledge. Because the first step is gathering knowledge. And now you've grown your knowledge base. But it doesn't stop there. Having a big knowledge base doesn't mean that now you know what to do. Having a big knowledge base just means that you've gathered, you've collected all of this information. But now we've got to be able to recall it and recognize the information. So which means that we must escalate from knowledge to understanding. We don't stay at just knowing something. The purpose of learning is not just to know something. We've got to go from knowing it to understanding it. It means comprehending or being able to interpret information that you learned. And this involves the ability to analyze the facts. Analyze that knowledge base that you just acquired. But it requires the mindset to acknowledge that really there's no one single correct way to analyze and therefore understand information. And not all attempts at understanding the knowledge are going to be successful. So that's the first step. Gathering knowledge but we don't stay there. The intention is to increase our knowledge base but we must elevate from knowledge to understanding. Then the second skill set that is important for critical thinking is evaluation. This is where we evaluate arguments. We're evaluating the information that we're taking in. We're also evaluating experiences with utmost reflection, deep inner reflection. This means when you evaluate, it means that you're appraising it or critiquing it on the basis of specific standards and criteria. Now keep in mind that evaluation is completely a conscious effort. It's also deliberate. Because it's conscious and deliberate, this is very different from habitual thinking that I talked about earlier. Habitual thinking is literally, it is non-deliberate. It's become a habit which means that it's no longer deliberate. It's second nature. We just do it because that's been the default. That's just been the way we've been doing it. So think about this. Critical thinking is completely on the other end of the spectrum. It's conscious and deliberate. Evaluation is conscious and deliberate versus habitual thinking which is not. Evaluation also requires an attitude of reflection versus reaction. An attitude of reaction, right? Because when we are practicing emotive thinking, we're reacting to it emotionally. We're responding to our emotions, but we have an initial reaction and that's usually an emotional reaction. So that's involved in emotive thinking, but not in critical thinking. We must have an attitude of reflection because we don't learn from our experiences. We learn from reflecting upon our experiences. So that is the second skill, is the skill of evaluation. Skill number three, the third skill is application. And this is where you apply the content that is gathered from communications. Apply the content that you've gathered from how you have picked up, where you've picked up those nuggets of information, data, concepts, theories. So this is where you got to apply it. And you cannot apply it until you have an understanding of it, which is why going back to the first skill, gathering knowledge, you can't stay there. You must elevate to an understanding. From the place of understanding, you can apply. Application is simply, the definition of that is simply using a concept or you're using a certain principle that you've gathered or data in a new situation. How do you apply it to a new situation? Or how do you apply it to complete a task? Or how do you apply it to solve a problem? So in order to do any of these things, solve a problem in a new situation or complete a task, in order for you to do any of those things, you must involve coordinating a series of actions. But it starts with your actions. So that's why application is part of a skill of critical thinking, right? So we have gathering knowledge, or we have evaluation, we have application. Number four, skill number four for critical thinking is articulation. And this is the expression of your depth of knowledge. It's the actualization of your impact and potential. Because your potential, you may know it, you may know how much you know, you may know how deep your knowledge goes. But until you can truly articulate it, until you can clearly articulate it, you cannot actualize it. So it's insufficient for it to be clear inside your head. Self-actualization requires the application of it, which means we must articulate and move what's in our heads out there. And this, right, articulation, this is what allows you to coordinate action to achieve a desired outcome. To effectively apply what you have assimilated into an understanding is to be able to articulate it. And all of this, what I've talked to you about so far, it all accumulates to the fifth skill, skill number five. But before we get there, by the way, if you are serious about how do I do this now? I'm teaching you the skills, you're learning this right here in this video. But if you are a established career professional or a business owner and you're asking yourself, how do I get to the next level? What do I do from here? And you're serious and you're committed to developing this skill of critical thinking, then I invite you to book a call with me. In the description below this video, the first link is a call, is a link to book a call with myself. And you'll be either speaking to me or a member of my team. And this is where we're going to explore whether or not it's the right fit to invite you into my coaching program, where I will personally guide you and coach you on how to develop critical thinking skills so that you can take your leadership to the next level. This is only if you are serious about taking your personal fulfillment and your leadership, your career to the next level. It's not for you if you're just exploring it or you're dabbling or maybe you're at the beginning of your career, then this is not for you. If you are serious, then book a call below and I look forward to seeing you on the inside. So far, I've shared with you the four skills, but there are five. All of this cumulates to skill number five, which is number five is to decide what to believe or do. It's a decision. From articulation, you move into decision because simply being involved in the process of critical thinking is not enough. It's not enough to just be involved in it. In order for critical thinking to be done well, it must guide what we believe and it must also impact our behaviors and our actions. So this is going to go right back to how we make decisions so that we can be empowered to make better and better decisions that will continuously make sense to us no matter what comes our way. So that is the epitome of masterful critical thinking. When it is done well, it guides our beliefs. It guides our beliefs in very empowering ways. And this is the epitome of personal development and growth. So let me hear from you because knowledge is not enough. Applied knowledge is what's more powerful. Just increasing your knowledge base is not good enough. So apply it. Let me hear from you. Comment below. Let me hear from you. What is your key takeaway from this video? It's really important that we begin to be able to articulate what we've learned so that we can begin exercising our knowledge and our articulation skills. So comment below and share with me. What is your key takeaway? And what are you going to do next? What are you going to commit to next? If you haven't done so already, subscribe to my channel. Ring that bell as well so you can be notified every time I release a new video.