Critical Thinking: A life skill!

We all act critically in our daily lives, from choosing between which product to buy  to making crucial decisions at a workplace. In the movie Titanic, why did Rose turn her back to the privileged life she had, wonder why critical thinking is so important!

Critical thinking is an aspect of life which introduces you to the sense of discovery. Over the years it has been all about asking the right questions, questions that help you to assess both the meaning and significance of claims and arguments. It gives a comprehensive and finer look at what resonates as right or wrong.

For me, choosing my career path was the most difficult situation I had to deal with. But then I hopped into my critical thoughts and landed in the best I could ever be in. Being critically thoughtful shows how creative, reflective and adaptable you are.

Critical thinking involves analysis accompanied by shrewdness. It is a stepping stone into decision making. Since the ultimate goal of decision making is to arrive at actionable judgements, and critical thinking is the process that proves whether the conclusion is sound.

The U.S National Council for excellence in Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as the “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” 

Critical thinking is the ability to make decisions and solve problems based on logical reasoning and evidence while leaving out emotions to enable evaluation and improvement of one’s own thought process.The seven key critical thinking skills are:

  • Analysis – ability to carefully examine something, whether it is a problem, a set of data, or even a text.
  • Interpretation – deduce what the meaning of processed information is.
  • Inference – assessing whether the knowledge is sufficient and reliable.
  • Explanation – communicating findings and reasoning accurately.
  • Self regulation – directing the thoughts and allowing them to apply cognitive efforts.
  • Open mindedness – open and receptive to all ideas and arguments.
  • Problem solving – using knowledge, facts and data to effectively find solutions.

Being critical requires not only gathering appropriate data and information but examining it carefully and questioning its reliability and authority. While this seems like a simple thing to do, most people do not have the ability to apply critical thinking to their decision making process. Still, one can enhance critical thinking by investing themselves via latching on to becoming more self aware, understanding mental processes, practicing active listening, developing foresight, asking questions, evaluating existing evidence. Furthermore it can be said that critical thinking is an acquirable skill and one can develop it with enough practice. A person can feel more confident as he/she is able to conquer the dilemma situations that occur usually and  come in the way of succeeding. Allow yourself to practice thinking. It is  simply a “deliberate thought process”, which means that you are using reason and logic to come to a conclusion about an issue or decision you are tangling with.

In a nutshell, critical thinking is self directed, self disciplined, self monitored and self corrective thinking. It is a life skill one should possess in order to prosper in life as it inculcates positive attitude towards life and life decisions.

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30 thoughts on “Critical Thinking: A life skill!”

  7. Rahul Pawar

    I believe your work will bring joy to many people in the future. May your creativity shine bright in the days to come. 😉

    Reply ↓

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